PROGRAM REGULATIONS
(Updated, 2013-2014)
NAMS REGISTRATION
Please note that all students who intend to take NAMS classes this semester should register by email to janne.korkka[at]utu.fi by the deadline 12:00 Friday 6 September 2013.
Please, when registering, remember to state your TY student number and your Major subject; also, for international students, your home university and Major.
NOTE: 1 'study point' (opintopiste, op) is exactly equivalent to one ECTS credit point.
The North American Studies program (NAMS) offers an interdisciplinary range of classes and study opportunities relating to North America: for the most part, specifically to the United States and Canada, either examined together or separately. NAMS can be taken as a free-access Minor (sivuaine) by any student registered for a degree with the University of Turku (Turun yliopisto) or with Åbo Akademi University, as a smaller package of 25 op (25 ECTS credits, 'Basic Studies'), or as a larger package including a further 35 op (35 ECTS credits, 'Intermadiate Studies') (total 60 op).
All classes and study units in the NAMS program are also open to any degree student registered with Turun yliopisto or Åbo Akademi, or as a visiting international or exchange student, and these courses can be included for credit in exchange students? Learning Agreements. Please note, however, that exchange students are not admitted to the University of Turku only or primarily for the North American Studies program.
Classes in the North American Studies program do not usually start until the Second Week of each semester. The foundation course for the program, Crossing the Atlantic (4 op; + 4 op for an optional Term Paper), is taught in the Fall Semester, and offers a historical introduction to the interdisciplinary study of the societies of North America (the United States and Canada). Students are expected if possible to attend the annual two-day American Voices seminar held in mid-October (1 op).
In addition to the foundation course, the NAMS program offers taught electives, which vary from year to year, and units consisting of independent study.
The introductory course is taught in English; all of the book examinations can be taken in English. Occasionally, courses taught in Finnish or Swedish may be offered within the program. The choice of language used in classes and for written assignments is at the teacher?s discretion and can usually be identified from the title of the class quoted in the course listing.
Registration
All students (both Finnish and international) intending to take any classes or unit offered under the North American Studies program should register in advance with the Program Coordinator by email (janne.korkka[at]utu.fi), by Friday 6 September 2013 for classes held in the Autumn Semester, and no later than on Friday 17 January 2014 for classes taught in the Spring Semester.
In Autumn 2013, the obligatory introductory course, Crossing the Atlantic, will start in the Second Week of the Autumn Semester, on Wednesday 11 September, at 12:00.
Curriculum
Degree students who take North American Studies as a minor within a Turku degree start by taking the obligatory introductory class Crossing the Atlantic, taught in the Autumn Semester (Wednesday afternoons 12-14), which offers an introduction to the origins and character of the North American societies from a multidisciplinary perspective.
Students then choose electives from the modules available, either by taught classes or by independent study. Electives may be taken concurrently with the introductory class or in later semesters. In addition, to complete the 25 op for Basic Studies, each student is required to attend the American Voices seminar held in October each year and to submit a written report on this (1 op).
Where an elective is a taught class, students from the North American Studies program take part alongside students from the Department offering the class. If places on particular classes are restricted, priority has to be given to that Department?s own students. Students who also hold the right to study in the Department concerned may choose whether to register their credits under the subject concerned, or under North American Studies: in the latter case, students are personally responsible for informing the Program Coordinator.
The grades given for Basic Studies and for Intermediate Studies as a whole are the average of the grades obtained for the relevant modules, weighted in proportion to the credit points.
The final component in intermediate Studies is the Interdisciplinary Project (10 op), for which students propose a North American topic of their own choice which involves a multidisciplinary approach. Group projects, involving more than one student, are warmly encouraged. In addition, to complete the 35 op for Intermediate Studies, each student is also required to attend a second American Voices seminar held in October each year and to submit a written report on this (1 op). (Students are encouraged in any case to attend American Voices each year and to submit a written report for credit.)