Reporter 24/2/99: Report of the Faculty Board of Biology on the regulations for Part II (General) of the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos

1. In this Report the Faculty Board of Biology propose a revision of the third-year course that forms part of the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos.

2. Part II (General) of the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos is designed for students who wish to follow a third-year course that is relevant to their medical or veterinary studies, but who do not wish to devote themselves to a single subject in depth. The present examination comprises subjects that fall into three classes, Special Subjects, Elective Subjects, and subjects drawn from Part IB of the Natural Sciences Tripos. The examination for each subject in the first and third of these classes consists of two papers; a single paper is set for each Elective Subject. Candidates take one Elective Subject and either two Special Subjects or one Special Subject and one subject from Part IB, making a total of five written papers; in addition, candidates are required to submit a dissertation or a project report associated with one of the subjects that they offer in the examination.

3. Broadly based courses of this sort are endorsed by the General Medical Council (GMC); in their 1993 publication Tomorrow's Doctors the GMC drew attention to the wide range of expertise that medical practitioners will need in the future. Some of this specialized knowledge is of course based on the traditional medical curriculum, but the GMC believe that medicine will become 'increasingly dependent on the ideas and techniques of other disciplines, … on the social sciences and philosophy in confronting the wide range of cultural, environmental, and ethical issues that will increasingly impinge on the problems of health. It is hoped that the student of tomorrow will be drawn towards some of these other disciplines and that opportunities to study …. for example … the history of medicine may be offered.' While this advice emanates from the body responsible for the medical profession, there is equally strong support for a broadly based curriculum for those entering the veterinary profession.

4. Against this background the Faculty Board propose to retain the wide-ranging course offered in the present Part II (General) and to introduce a number of changes which are designed to make the course academically more rigorous and at the same time more attractive to students. In particular, they propose to discontinue the arrangements under which the course for Part II (General) includes subjects taken from Part IB of the Natural Sciences Tripos, and to replace these by a new range of examination subjects, which would be either drawn from Part II of the Natural Sciences Tripos or specially set for the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos.

(a) The Faculty Board propose that the examination should be open not only to candidates who have previously taken Part IB of the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos, but also to those who have taken Part IB of the Natural Sciences Tripos. It is, of course, important that Directors of Studies should satisfy themselves that any candidate wishing to switch from the Natural Sciences Tripos is adequately prepared in the relevant disciplines.

(b) To make the structure of the examination more transparent, the existing Special Subjects and Elective Subjects would be redesignated as 'two-paper subjects' and 'one-paper subjects' respectively; there would also be a number of four-paper subjects.

(c) In order to give students adequate time to make informed choices of subject, the titles of the one-paper subjects (which, like the present Elective Subjects, might vary from year to year) would be announced by the division of the Lent Term.

(d) Arrangements for the dissertation would be revised; the last date for the approval of dissertation titles would be brought back by four weeks to the division of the Michaelmas Term, so as to allow candidates more time for this important element of the examination, and the maximum length of the dissertation would be increased from 5,000 words to 8,000. Every candidate would prepare his or her dissertation under the guidance of a supervisor, who would be appointed by the Faculty Board on the nomination of the course organizer.

(e) The Faculty Board believe that the present title 'Part II (General)' is misleading. The Part II course is no more 'general' in character than the courses for Part IA and Part IB of the Tripos, which are similarly composed of a range of specialist disciplines. The Board therefore propose that the term 'General' should be dropped from the title of the examination.

6. The Faculty Board have given careful consideration to the arrangements for teaching and examining under the proposed regulations and for the administration of the new course. They are satisfied that their proposals can be successfully implemented within existing resources.

7. Supplementary regulations for the revised examination have been approved by the Faculty Board. These are set out in the Appendix to this Report.

That the regulations for the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 328) be amended, with effect from 1 October 1999, as follows:

4. Subject to the provisions of Regulation 7, a student who has obtained honours in Part IB of the Medical and Veterinary Sciences Tripos or in Part IB of the Natural Sciences Tripos may be a candidate for honours in Part II, provided that twelve complete terms have not passed after his or her first term of residence.

9. There shall be three bodies of Examiners, one for each Part of the Tripos. For each of the three bodies there shall be a Chairman of Examiners and an Assistant Chairman, appointed on the nomination of the Faculty Board of Biology.

10. In each Part of the Tripos there shall be appointed for each subject a Senior Examiner and such number of Examiners and Assessors as are required to conduct the examination.

For each subject of Part IA and Part IB Examiners shall be nominated by the Faculty Board of Biology. For the subjects of Part II the Examiners shall be as follows:

(a) For each one-paper subject, and for each of the following other subjects, Examiners shall be nominated by the Faculty Board of Biology:

(b) For each of the following subjects Examiners shall be nominated by the Faculty Board of Biology in consultation with the authority specified below:

(c) For each of the following subjects the Examiners shall be the Examiners appointed for the corresponding Special Subject in Part II (General) of the Natural Sciences Tripos.

(d) For each of the following subjects the Examiners shall be the Examiners appointed for that subject in Part II of the Natural Sciences Tripos:

Behaviour and Veterinary Ethology
Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology
Cellular Pathology (Pathology A)
Clinical Physiology and Neurobiology
Genetic Pathology (Pathology E)
History of Medicine, Body and Mind
Human Genetics and Ecology
Human Impact on the Environment
Immunology (Pathology B)
Microbial and Parasitic Disease (Pathology C)
Pharmacology of Integrated Systems
Primate and Human Evolutionary Biology and Behaviour
Vertebrate Evolution
Virology (Pathology D)

26. In addition to the written papers, the examination for each of the subjects specified in Regula-tion 25 may include the submission, in accordance with the provisions of Regulation 27(c), of practical note-books.

27. Public notice of one-paper subjects, which shall not exceed ten in number, shall be given by the Faculty Board not later than the division of the Lent Term in the year next preceding the examination concerned, provided that the Board shall have the power of subsequently issuing amendments if they have due reason for doing so and if they are satisfied that no student's preparation for the examination is adversely affected. When giving notice of one-paper subjects, the Faculty Board shall have power, in respect of four-paper, two-paper, and one-paper subjects:

28. Subject to any restrictions announced in a particular year by the Faculty Board under the provisions of Regulation 27(a), each candidate shall offer:

The maximum marks allocated to each component of the examination shall be in the following proportions:

29. The dissertation required under Regulation 28(b) shall be of not less than 5,000 words and not more than 8,000 words, and shall be on a topic associated with one of the subjects that the candidate is offering in the examination. The subject of a dissertation shall be either proposed by the candidate and approved by the Faculty Board or chosen by the candidate from a list of approved subjects which shall be published by the Faculty Board by Notice in the relevant Department not later than the first day of the Full Michaelmas Term next preceding the examination. Each candidate shall, not later than the division of the Michaelmas Term, either notify the Secretary of the Faculty Board of the subject chosen from the list or obtain the approval of the Faculty Board for the subject proposed. Dissertations shall be prepared in accordance with guidelines which shall be issued by the Faculty Board not later than the division of the Michaelmas Term. Each dissertation shall be typewritten or computer-printed, and shall be submitted to the Secretary of the Faculty Board not later than the seventh day of the Full Easter Term in which the examination is to be held. A dissertation shall be accompanied by a declaration signed by the candidate that it is his or her own original work, unaided except as may be specified in the declaration, and that it does not contain material that has already been used to any substantial extent for a comparable purpose; if two or more candidates have undertaken a dissertation in collaboration, they will each be required to indicate the extent of their contribution. The Examiners shall have power to examine a candidate viva voce on the subject of his or her dissertation.

31. In arranging the class-list the Examiners may take into account the standard attained by candidates in each subject and in the dissertation, as well as the aggregate of marks obtained by them.

A. L. R. FINDLAY, Chairman	WILLIAM A. HARRIS	N. J. MACKINTOSH
C. M. C. ALLEN	S. B. HLADKY	J. MURRAY
TOM BLUNDELL	N. HOLMES	P. E. REYNOLDS
M. BURROWS	ANDREW R. JEFFERIES	R. B. RICKARDS
ALAN CUTHBERT	M. H. JOHNSON	JANE SIMPSON
M. J. EVANS	KEITH JOHNSTONE	MARGARET STANLEY
B. J. EVERITT	RON LASKEY	R. C. THOMAS
W. A. FOSTER	R. A. LEIGH	D. J. TOLHURST
A. E. FRIDAY	D. MACDONALD	ANDREW H. WYLLIE
JOHN GRANDAGE

APPENDIX

The Faculty Board of Biology have approved the following supplementary regulations for the subjects of Part II, replacing the existing regulations for the subjects of Part II (General):

The written papers will be the papers set for the subject Pathology in Part II of the Natural Sciences Tripos.

The written papers will be the papers set for the following two-paper subjects: Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, Pharmacology of Integrated Systems.

The written papers will be the papers set for the subject Psychology in Part II of the Natural Sciences Tripos.

The written papers will be Papers 1 and 3 set for the subject Pharmacology in Part II of the Natural Sciences Tripos.

Paper 1 will consist of questions on topics in clinical physiology. Paper 2 will consist of questions on medical aspects of neurobiology.

The written papers will be Papers 7 and 8 set for the subject History and Philosophy of Science in Part II of the Natural Sciences Tripos.

The written papers will be Papers B4 and B5 set for the subject Biological Anthropology in Part IIB of the Archaeological and Anthropological Tripos.

The written papers will be the papers set for the Special Subject Human Impact on the Environment in Part II (General) of the Natural Sciences Tripos.

The written papers will be the papers set for the Special Subject Pathology in Part II (General) of the Natural Sciences Tripos. Each paper will be divided into five sections, corresponding to the following five Special Subjects: A, Cellular Pathology; B, Immunology; C, Microbial and Parasitic Disease; D, Virology; E, Genetic Pathology.

The written papers will be Papers 2 and 4 set for the subject Pharmacology in Part II of the Natural Sciences Tripos. In the second paper (Paper 4 from the Natural Sciences Tripos) the choice of questions may be restricted to certain sections of which notice will be given.

The written papers will be Papers B6 and B7 set for the subject Biological Anthropology in Part IIB of the Archaeological and Anthropological Tripos.

Two-paper subjects	History of Medicine, Body and Mind	Board of History and Philosophy of Science
	Human Genetics and Ecology	Faculty Board of Archaeology and Anthropology
	Primate and Human Evolutionary Biology and Behaviour	Faculty Board of Archaeology and Anthropology

(a)	a combination of subjects comprising five written papers, provided that every candidate shall include among the subjects offered either one four-paper subject or at least one two-paper subject,
and
(b)	a dissertation, which shall be submitted in accordance with the provisions of Regulation 29.

Four-paper subject	40
Two-paper subject	20
One-paper subject	10
Dissertation	10

Four-paper subjects	Mechanisms of Disease
Four-paper subjects	Psychology
Two-paper subjects	Behaviour and Veterinary Ethology
	Clinical Physiology and Neurobiology
	Vertebrate Evolution

Two-paper subjects	Cellular Pathology (Pathology A)
	Genetic Pathology (Pathology E)
	Human Impact on the Environment
	Immunology (Pathology B)
	Microbial and Parasitic Disease (Pathology C)
	Virology (Pathology D)

Four-paper subjects	Pathology
	Pharmacology
Two-paper subjects	Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology
	Pharmacology of Integrated Systems

(a)	in consultation with the Board of Examinations, to announce restrictions on the combinations of subjects that candidates may offer in the examination;
(b)	to announce restrictions on the number of candidates who may be permitted to offer a particular subject;
(c)	to specify that candidates offering a particular subject shall be required to present to the Examiners on the first day of the written examination note-books containing a record of the practical work done by them and bearing, as an indication of the good faith of the record, the signatures of the teachers under whose direction the work was performed.