Pillars, Blocks and Slots
As part of the review of Joint Honours entry routes (undertaken outside of TEP), subjects in the new Joint Honours structure were grouped into four pillars. Subjects in any pillar can, in principle, be combined with a subject in any other pillar. In practice, only a subset of these combinations will be offered. The Joint Honours pillars (approved by Council in March 2018) have been used as the basis for the rotational timetable block structure of the fixed timetable.
Non-pillar subjects (Business, Computer Science, Law, Political Science, and Linguistics) have been successfully fitted into the pillars (approved by Council on 3 June 2020. In summary, what has been achieved under TEP is:
- A timetable that accommodates core contact hours for all shared modules for the Joint Honours offerings at entry (for Years 1 and 2).
- Rotating time slots for each pillar each year (to prevent modules from all years of any given subject having to be taught in the same block).
- The facilitation of a range of possible Open Modules and New Minor Subjects for any given student.
- Dedicated timetable slots for the Trinity Electives which makes student choice possible.
The fixed timetable brings many benefits. It accommodates all of the requirements of the Common Architecture and features under a single general structure. New combinations of subjects across pillars require no additional timetabling – they are already enabled. New degree subjects can readily be accommodated without affecting any other subjects, by slotting new subjects into a pillar. It will also greatly enhance compatibility of modules for visiting students.