Course coding principles

This course coding outline summarises the principles behind JACS and SCAS. However, it does not cover all the complexities of the system. For further information, please contact Lin Goodwin.

Introduction

Under both course coding systems (JACS and SCAS) subjects are classified in terms of material taught and studied. Academic subjects are given a code, which is a descriptor of each subject and unique to it. From that subject descriptor UCAS constructs a course code, which describes the content of any particular course. The course code is therefore a derivation of the subject code. It is possible to represent some distinctions between otherwise similar courses.

Subject coding

Character 1

Each principal subject of academic study is identified and grouped together by topic. Each group is labelled with a letter of the alphabet, e.g. Group A Medicine and Dentistry.

Character 2
The groups are then sub-divided into the various principal subjects, which logically belong to them. The subject is identified by the group letter followed by a single digit 1-9, where 9 is a generic grouping, eg Group F Physical Sciences: F1 Chemistry, F2 Materials science, etc.

Course coding

The code for a course is described using the subject codes that make it up. The title of the course is discounted for classification purposes, although it is in the institution's interest to ensure that the title accurately reflects the content. The course classification consists of four characters to make the system flexible enough to cope with distinctions between related subjects, and also with combinations of subjects.

Character 3/4

To add further clarity to course codes, the main principal subject can be sub-divided using the third and fourth characters. This gives more detailed information about the course, e.g. Chemistry F100, Medicinal Chemistry F110, Industrial Chemistry F111.

A second use of the third and fourth characters in the code is to allow for combinations of principal subjects within a single course. Where the two subjects are of equal importance (equally balanced combinations) this is indicated by placing the two group letters in the first and second position, and the principal subject digits in the third and fourth, eg Chemistry (Fl) and Mathematics (G1): FG11 or GF11.

For neatness and clarity the convention is to allocate the codes for combined courses in alphabetic order wherever possible. Thus Chemistry and Mathematics would routinely be FG11.

Where a smaller proportion of course time is devoted to studying the second subject, the code of the minor subject occupies the third and fourth positions, eg Chemistry (Fl) with Mathematics (G1): F1G1 or Mathematics (G1) with Chemistry (Fl): G1F1. Note that Chemistry is the major subject in the first example, whereas Mathematics is the major in the second.

Institutions are encouraged to link equally-balanced combinations with the word 'and'. This differentiates from major/minor combinations where the convention is to use the word 'with'. This is illustrated in the examples above.

Combinations

Equally-balanced and major/minor combinations are distinguished as follows:

adviser in libraryEqually-balanced combinations
When each subject forms at least 40% of the course of study the combination is regarded as equally balanced. The order in which the subjects are named is not important.

Major/minor combinations
If one subject forms more than 60% of the whole, with the other forming between 40% and 25% of the whole, the combination is major/minor. The order in which the subjects are named reflects the relative proportion of the two topics.

A subject encompassing less than 25% of the course is ignored from the point of view of combined courses, although its contribution to the course may sometimes be enough to justify assigning a course code different from that of the principal subject studied entirely on its own.

Where two subjects being combined are both within one principal subject, the combination will be coded within that subject.

Triple combinations and modular courses

General courses, or those that combine a range of subjects, including some modular courses, did not fit easily into SCAS course coding (covered by Group Y). However, with the new JACS coding, triple combinations are allocated a generic code showing each of the three subject groups studied:

JACS derived course code:
MVL0





HESA Student Record: Field 43 M000 Field 45 V000 Field 45 L000 Field 46 Blank

Although this system of generic codes does not provide a way of coding truly interdisciplinary programmes of study, UCAS research has indicated that there are only a limited number of such programmes. For these remaining interdisciplinary programmes, UCAS will use the prefix of Y followed by 001, 002 etc. Y codes will continue to be used to identify the subject at the programme of study level in the HESA record.

Find out more about generic codes