Computing Science

This course, which is prescribed for level 1 undergraduate students (and articulating students who are in their first year at the University), is studied entirely online, takes approximately 2-3 hours to complete and can be taken in one sitting, or spread across the first 4 weeks of term.

Topics include University orientation overview, equality & diversity, MySkills, health, safety and cyber security, and academic integrity.

View detailed information about the Getting Started at the University of Aberdeen course

This course will introduce students to techniques that support problem solving and modelling with computers, and concepts and methods that are fundamental to computing science. The techniques and concepts will be illustrated with numerous computing examples.

View detailed information about the Modelling and Problem Solving for Computing course

This course will be delivered in two halves. The first half will provide a self-contained introduction to computer programming. The second half will be particularly of use to those studying Science and Engineering subjects, broadly interpreted, as well as Computing and IT specialists.

View detailed information about the Programming 1 course

View detailed information about the Understanding the Physical World course

his course will build on the basic programming skills acquired in the first half-session and equip the students with advanced object oriented programming knowledge, implementation of data structure and algorithms, and basic software engineering techniques.

View detailed information about the Object-Oriented Programming course

View detailed information about the Web Development course

View detailed information about the Mathematics for Science course

This course is concerned with tools and techniques for scalable and dependable software programming. It focusses primarily on the Java programming language and related technologies.

View detailed information about the Software Programming course

The course aims to teach the material using case studies from real-world applications, both in lectures and lab classes.

View detailed information about the Databases and Data Management course

View detailed information about the Algebra course

This course looks at why a computer system that interacts with human beings needs to be usable.

View detailed information about the Human-Computer Interaction course

View detailed information about the Algorithms and Data Structures course

View detailed information about the Understanding Data course

The module will focus on the early stage of software development, encompassing team building, requirements specification, architectural and detailed design, and software construction.

View detailed information about the Principles of Software Engineering course

View detailed information about the Operating Systems course

This course provides a basic-level introduction to formal languages, mathematical models of computation, and the theory of computation. Application areas include the design of programming languages, and the recognition of fundamental limits of computation in solving problems.

This course provides an introduction to machine learning and data mining. Students will learn how to analyse complex datasets by applying data pre-processing, exploration, clustering and classification, time-series analysis, neural networks, and many other techniques. This course is particularly suitable for those who are interested in working as data analysts or data scientists in the future.

In this module, which is the follow-up of CS3028, students will focus on the team-based development of a previously specified, designed, and concept-proofed software system.

View detailed information about the Software Engineering and Professional Practice course

View detailed information about the Distributed Systems and Security course

View detailed information about the Security course

View detailed information about the Research Methods courses

This course provides an introduction to machine learning and data mining. Students will learn how to analyse complex datasets by applying data pre-processing, exploration, clustering and classification, time-series analysis, neural networks, and many other techniques. This course is particularly suitable for those who are interested in working as data analysts or data scientists in the future.

The overall learning aim (goal) of this course is to equip students with the foundational academic practice skills for studying business. The course will identify key areas of Academic Practice and consider how students can use and develop these within their studies as they progress through their four year programme. It will equip students with the knowledge and practical skills needed for studying at the HE level and act as a building block for all other courses. This course teaches knowledge and develops key transferable skills.

View detailed information about the Academic Practice for Study courses

The course provides an introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI). It discusses fundamental problems of AI and their computational solution via key concepts. 

View detailed information about the Artificial Intelligence courses

This course will introduce students to techniques that support problem solving and modelling with computers, and concepts and methods that are fundamental to computing science. The techniques and concepts will be illustrated with numerous computing examples.

View detailed information about the Modelling and Problem Solving for Computing course

This course introduces the fundamental components and characteristics of the Scottish legal system. It includes a study skills programme which covers different facets of the study of law along with a series of practical workshops which introduce key legal information sources (both electronic and paper) and appropriate search strategies.

View detailed information about the Legal System course

This course introduces students to the world of the built environment, professional surveying practice and the construction industry.

View detailed information about the Understanding Property course

The course approaches a selection of current problems in contract law doctrine from the theoretical, comparative and philosophical perspectives.

View detailed information about the course

This course introduces students to two of the key branches of the Scots law of obligations, namely Delict (which governs legal liability for situations such as the negligent infliction of harm upon others, or liability for breach of privacy) and Unjustified Enrichment (which is concerned with questions such as, if I pay you money in error, am I entitled to demand that you return it?).

View detailed information about the Contract Law course

This course extends the operational tools and techniques introduced in AC1514. It develops more complex problem-solving techniques in the planning, control and decision-making process.

View detailed information about the Management Accounting 2 course

The main aim of this course is to develop a sound understanding of fundamental principles underlying the theory and practice of finance, thereby providing a strong basis for further study of advanced finance theory and cognate disciplines.

View detailed information about the Finance 2: Business Finance course

This course designed is for Business Management students and covers one of the most important functions in an organisation/business, that of Human Resource Management (HRM).

View detailed information about the Introduction to Human Resource Management course

This course provides students with an overview of the underpinning concepts of marketing, and the requirements for the development of a market oriented organisation.

View detailed information about the Marketing course

This course provides students with an understanding of the financial system, primarily from a UK perspective, introducing students to the reasons for, and nature of, financial markets and institutions before moving on to explore the need and importance of financial regulation, and investigating the causes and consequences of the recent global financial crisis.

View detailed information about the Financial Markets and Regulation course

The objective of FA2 is to build upon material introduced in first year in order to develop students' technical skills in financial statement preparation.

View detailed information about the Financial Accounting 2 course

This course is designed to provide non-LLB students with an understanding of the main issues in business law.

View detailed information about the Business Law course

This course aims to provide students with an understanding of statistical concepts and methods relevant to accounting, management, finance, real estate and economics.

View detailed information about the Understanding Statistics course

Operations is the part of management that considers processes rather than people and focuses on the organisation rather than its environment.

View detailed information about the Operations Management course

This course is an introductory course in microeconomics where we study the decision making of individual actors (consumers, employees, firms, governments, etc.) in an economy.  Actors must make decisions about behaviours because they face scarce resources, but often they find that trading with other actors in markets can increase the wellbeing of all parties.  This course models and examines the nature of these interactions, highlighting when they work well and when they fail to increase wellbeing and what might be the solution to these failures.

View detailed information about the Economics of Business and Society course

The aim of this course is to introduce students to the fundamentals of management, the internal structure and processes of organisations. Students will understand the main functions of management, what management is, what managers do and the factors that influence behaviour and performance of managers and other employees within an organisation.

The course will introduce a range of theories, research and real-life illustrations of a diverse range of management practices and organisational behaviour.  The course will cover areas of: Staffing, Groups and Teams, Leadership and Management, Human Resource Management, Organisational Structure, Culture and Change, Communication, Marketing, Branding and Organisational Processes.

View detailed information about the Managing Organisations course

This course introduces the theoretical and contextual foundation of accounting.  It does not involve any technical aspects of accounting or bookkeeping but provides an introduction to the political, economic, institutional, professional and managerial context of accounting.  The main content includes:

• Socio-political and economic mechanisms of accountability; theories of accountability.

• Constitution of organisations and the role of accounting within organisations.

• Constitution of accounting as a business function: how accounting is organised within organisations.

• Constitution of Accountancy as a Profession:  how accountancy is organised as a profession.

• Sustainability and accounting:  how accounting is reorganised to address sustainability issues.

View detailed information about the Accounting and Accountability course

Legal culture can be described as ‘ideas and expectations of law made operational by institutional practices’ (Sunde). Differing ideas and expectations about how law should be made operational lead to significant differences across legal systems globally, e.g. in terms of legal methodologies. Using a tried and tested analytical model, students become critically aware of these differences, enabling them to appreciate the rich cultural ‘grammar’ underlying laws as practised around the world.

The common law tradition is one of the major legal traditions of the world. This course briefly introduces students to the conceptual and institutional structures of the common law tradition. This in turn introduces the fundamentals of the modern English legal system and its practical operation. A large section of the course then turns to the practical operation of English law through study of English Criminal Law.

This course introduces students to the challenges of reading legal sources. It introduces them to reading different ways in which legal norms may be produced or developed in different legal cultures (e.g. through legislative activity, judicial decisions and juristic writings and international treaties). It assesses students by requiring them to read and then analyse a range of primary legal sources in a manner sympathetic to their legal cultures.

This course presents legal history over several millennia and from many different original cultures. This course carries the student through a legal adventure, exploring a wide range of legal systems around the globe and throughout human history.

The course covers the origins of law from Africa, South Asia, East Asia and beyond. From those beginnings, it traces how legal cultures emerged, evolved, or transformed. The course will explore the interplay of law and religion over the centuries. The goal of the course is to enable students to become aware of the wonderful diversity of legal systems before the Era of Exploration.

The Foundations of Public Law course provides students with an overview of the fundamental principles and institutions shared by constitutional democracies.  It will cover four broad topics: (1) conceptual building blocks; (2) the main institutions of the government; (3) the state and its citizens; and (4) the state in the context of international relations. The course lays down the foundation for both jurisdiction-specific courses and courses on comparative constitutional law.

This course provides an introduction to key theories and concepts in Human Resource Management (HRM). Key themes to be covered include core HRM topics such as the link between strategy and HRM, reward and performance management, training and development, equality and diversity management.

View detailed information about the Human Resource Management course

Politics and International Relations impacts on all parts of our lives, with more specifically it being the study of ideas, events, institutions and choice. Studying these provides us with both knowledge of the world and also how it operates and functions. It also changes our perception of our surroundings and makes us aware of an ever changing global context. This course will introduce students to concepts and ideas that form the basis for the study of these disciplines while simultaneously also helping us understand our own place within a global context.

View detailed information about the Politics and International Relations 1: Democracy and Governance course

Politics is the study of multiple forms of power that impacts our lives and the world we live in. It shapes how people and groups cooperate or clash with each other. In this course, we will explore the ideas, institutions, complex histories, global dynamics, and systems that shape politics and international relations. Students will learn key concepts and theories of the discipline, and develop their skills in understanding and analysing global politics.

View detailed information about the Politics and International Relations 2: Power and Conflict course

The course provides firstly a map of private law as drawn from the Roman-law-derived institutional scheme. It then progresses to an equivalent of the medical student’s study of anatomy in the sense that, concentrating on the law of property and obligations, it examines the main concepts of private law in the Roman-law-derived civilian tradition and how they operate together as a system to solve every day legal problems.

View detailed information about the Foundations of Private Law course