University of Edinburgh

This course gives students with no previous knowledge of Scottish Gaelic a general introduction to the language and a general overview of the history and culture of Gaelic Scotland. Students gain a basic competence in spoken and written Scottish Gaelic and acquire a general understanding of the history and culture of Gaelic Scotland.

This course explores the main approaches to the interdisciplinary study of gender and provides grounding to major feminist debates in the field. It examines the development of feminist social and political thought from the 1960s onwards and relates theory to "real life" issues and debates. Topics include gender and power, feminist debates on equality and difference, masculinities in the military, gender and technology, feminism and multiculturalism, and post-feminism. 

This course provides insights into one of the darkest, most disturbing, and most formative eras of European history in the 20th century. The place of the Third Reich in German and European history, as well as reflections on continuity, modernity, and radical change, are discussed in detail. The seminars pay particular attention to conflicting interpretations of how the Third Reich came into being, the reasons for its "success," and how a complete breakdown of a civilization was possible. The seminars develop students' capacity to distinguish between fundamental knowledge and historical interpretations. Different methodological approaches to key questions are presented and discussed next to different political interpretations of the Third Reich. The critical use of different theoretical models is presented and encouraged throughout the course.

Linear Algebra is one of the most widely used topics in the mathematical sciences. At lower levels students are taught standard techniques for basic linear algebra tasks including the solution of linear systems, finding eigenvalues/eigenvectors, and orthogonalization of bases. However, these techniques are usually computationally too intensive to be used for the large matrices encountered in practical applications. This course introduces students to these practical issues, and presents, analyzes, and applies algorithms for these tasks which are reliable and computationally efficient. The course includes significant lab work using an advanced programming language. The course studies three main topics: the solution of linear systems of equations, the solution of least squares problems and finding the eigenvectors and/or eigenvalues of a matrix.