Issues

A three‐term year, with three courses per term instead of the usual four or five per semester, has helped to provide a logical layout for a program that is meant as an introduction to graduate studies.

Strong faculty involvement in research has led to undergraduate interest and participation that provides some of the excitement of graduate school often missing at a liberal‐arts college.

Emphasis on an extensive senior‐year special project forms part of a program designed both as preparation for graduate school and as training for immediate employment in industry.

Highly motivated upper‐class students can take part in an honors program wherein independent study leads to the presentation of seminars and eventual grading by invited outside examiners.

Feedback from alumni has been important in illuminating faults in the physics program of the past and lighting the way to improvements now and in the future.

Upper‐division physics courses are currently being reassessed after further experience with the Berkeley Physics Course. A wide variety of alternative elementary courses is offered.

Joint treatment of physics and chemistry courses as a coherent unit is part of a curriculum designed primarily as a preparation for graduate study.

Two major programs are offered, one of which is a preparation for graduate school. Emphasis is on independent undergraduate work which has led in some cases to published research results.

Improved coördination among courses is one aim of the new physics undergraduate program. Of particular concern is the difficulty of providing courses for students not headed for graduate school.

British methods are different from those in America, hut they are not so rooted in tradition as to he incapable of change. London students now have the option of completing their BSc in three or four years.

Some attempts to provide combined physics—chemistry—biology courses have not survived, despite enthusiastic beginnings. What is the recipe for success?