Award Structures
The following information details the basic principles according to which degrees are structured. A unit structure replaced a point structure in 1996.
1. UNIT STRUCTURE
Each subject is based on a unit structure with three, four or six units per subject being acceptable. In exceptional cases especially at honours and postgraduate levels, Faculties may approve subjects that are multiples of three or four units. (For translation with the previous system, a unit subject equates to 15 points.)
2. THE MODEL
2.1 A three-year degree normally requires 72 units based on an 8/6/6 structure (ie 8 subjects of three units at the first level, 6 subjects of four units at the second and third levels) or 8/8/8 structure or any configuration thereof. A four-year degree requires 96 units based on 8/6/6/6 or 8/8/8/8 structure or any configuration thereof. Faculties may allow students, with the approval of the appropriate officer, to graduate with 70 units for a three-year degree or 94 units for a four-year degree where the student is within one or two units of completing the normal requirements for the degree.
2.2 Postgraduate degrees are based on a 24 unit year. Subjects are normally either 3, 4 or 6 units.
2.3 A full-time student load is a minimum of 18 units per year.
2.4 The maximum enrolment normally permitted is 16 units per semester. The normal enrolment for a full-time candidate is 24 units in an academic year.
3. SUBJECTS
3.1 Subjects may not have different unit values for the same content at the same level.
3.2 Subjects that have substantial overlap in content must be listed as inadmissible combinations.
3.3 Level 1
The first year of an undergraduate degree requires eight 3 unit semester subjects at level 1.
3.4 Level 2, 3 or 4
The second, third and fourth years of the degree normally require eight 3 unit semester subjects, six 4 unit semester subjects, or combinations thereof which may include 6 unit subjects at levels 3 and 4. Year long subjects and subjects of a greater size are only accepted in the third and fourth years with the approval of the faculty. Honours and professional subjects can be any size in multiples of 3 or 4 up to 24 units.
3.5 Postgraduate
Postgraduate subjects are normally 3, 4 or 6 units.
4. CONTACT HOURS
4.1 Degrees should be designed with the expectation that the average student undertaking 24 units in a year can reasonably expect that the workload including contact and non-contact hours will be between 40 and 48 hours per week.
4.2 At the undergraduate level, each 3 unit subject is of one semester’s duration and requires up to six hours of contact time per week. Each 4 unit subject is of one semester’s duration and requires up to eight hours of contact time per week. The maximum contact for a 24 unit year should be 24 hours per week. Field work and practicums can be conducted outside the designated teaching weeks.
5. PREREQUISITES
5.1 Definition — A prerequisite is a subject or subjects or a set of conditions which must be met before enrolment in a subject is approved.
5.2 Prerequisite subjects should be kept to a minimum and used only where sequential learning is involved. Prerequisite subjects may be implied in program structures.
6. PROGRAMS AND STRANDS
The University has adopted the terms Program and Strand as the terminology used to describe the content of its Awards. (The term Strand subsumes what was previously referred to as a major within a degree.)
6.1. Programs
Definition — A program is a specialised scheme of study within an Award (e.g. Bachelor of Education in Early Childhood Education).
6.1.1 A Program of study has specifications within the Award requirements.
6.2 Strands
Definition — A Strand is a sequence or cluster of subjects which together form a coherent course of study (e.g. Bachelor of Arts in History; Bachelor of Science in Ecology).
6.2.1 The subjects included in a Strand may be chosen from one or more schools.