Glossary of Terms
Used in Course and Subject Approval and Amendments

The following is an adaptation of terms in current usage which have been redefined, in some instances, to fit within the new academic structures and Student System Project, (SSP) that will be introduced during 2008.

Assessment: The method of determining: (a) whether a student has passed; or (b) whether a student has otherwise satisfied the examiners; or (c) the grade (e.g. H1, P) or mark (e.g. 83, 59) to be awarded to a student. NB the University’s assessment policy is under review and a revised assessment policy is expected to be approved during 2008. Readers are also invited to view existing policies and reports on assessment.

Breadth Subjects: see Principles of breadth in new generation undergraduate degrees.

Combined Course: An approved program in which two degree courses are undertaken concurrently and where the requirements of the two degrees may be completed within less than the normal aggregate time for completion of both degrees, as a result of the granting of credit for specified subjects. Undergraduate combined degrees have been replaced in the Melbourne Model by sequential double degrees.

Concurrent Diploma: A concurrent diploma is an undergraduate program typically of 100 or 112.5 points that is completed during the course of completing an undergraduate degree. The concurrent diploma cannot be awarded until the related undergraduate degree is completed.

Continuing Degrees: Undergraduate degrees offered by the University that predate the introduction of the New Generation undergraduate degrees under the Melbourne Model.

Co-requisite: Subject which mustbe undertaken in conjunction with another subject. See also ‘Pre-requisite’ below.

Course: A program of study leading to the award of a degree or diploma. The term ‘course’ is the official term used within the University’s Student System, where previously the term ‘program’ also was used.

Course Standing Committee: There is a course standing committee for each New Generation Undergraduate degree. Any changes to the degrees must be approved by the relevant course standing committee. Each new generation degree is managed by a designated custodial faculty.

Credit points: Method of indicating the relative magnitude of subjects that are available in a course. The standard University year is 100 points, and most subjects are 12.5 points or multiples thereof.

Distance Delivery: The offering of courses, programs or subjects in which there is no requirement that students will attend the campus. In traditional distance delivery, packages of materials are posted out to students. In online delivery, students access the teaching materials and interact with teaching staff via the Web. In off-campus (including off-shore) delivery, the subject is taught face-to-face at a site away from one of the University’s campuses.

Faculties, Graduate Schools and Schools: Faculties are academic units established under Regulation R5.1R1. For the purposes of this document, wherever faculties are referred to, this should be understood to include the Melbourne Business School, the Victorian College of the Arts, the School of Graduate Research and those graduate schools/schools that have been established as faculties, viz. the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, the Melbourne School of Engineering and the Melbourne Law School. (See Regulation R5.1.R1)

There are also graduate schools that are designated as schools under Statute 6.1 although these are not designated as faculties and thus do not have the delegated authority to make minor changes that faculties possess.

Handbook: The handbook is the consolidated statement of all course and subject offerings in the University, produced annually, which henceforth will be published on-line. A date is specified each year at which the on-line Handbook is considered to be published (“goes live”), and after this, students enrolling in courses and subjects are to complete under the terms given. Published information cannot be varied without Academic Board approval, and any amendments to published information must be made under the Late Change process (see below).

Hurdle Requirement: A condition which must be fulfilled for a student to be eligible for assessment in a particular subject or course. Hurdle requirements may be subject-specific or course-specific. Hurdle requirements must be approved at the time of approval of the course or subjects concerned.

Intensive Mode: A subject taken in an uninterrupted block (or small number of blocks) of time e.g. a 5 x 1 day block, frequently undertaken in a semester break.

Late change : A change to a subject or course for the current year (i.e. requiring amendment of a current student handbook), involving amendment to published information. Late changes can only be approved by the President of the Academic Board on recommendation from a UGPC/PCPC Shepherd.

Level: Sequenced divisions of a course, normally equated with years and further defined by the number of points accrued (e.g. 100 level = first year = first 100 points in a degree).

Major: Theme or area of study undertaken in consecutive subjects over three year levels, usually with a specified minimum number of points at each level.,.

Major change: Change affecting the requirements for an award, including: alterations to the overall structure and/or total duration of a course or a program/stream within a course; introduction or deletion of compulsory subjects and amendments affecting points values or the level of study of compulsory subjects; changes in honours requirements, including to year of entry into honours; major changes in mode of offering, e.g. introduction of summer semester, introduction of distance delivery, introduction of intensive teaching, changes to transfer of EFTSU or changes to the involvement of another faculty, etc. A major change requires the completion of Parts A and C of the course approval form.

The term also applies to University Breadth Subjects (UBS) A major change to a UBS is a change of mode of delivery, level, points value or prerequisite requirements, and must be approved by Academic Programs Management Committee, Undergraduate Programs Committee and Academic Board.

Minor: Only available within the Bachelor of Arts Degree, a minor is a 75 credit point sequence of study undertaken in a specific discipline.

Minor change: Introduction of or change to an elective subject for the following academic year (i.e. requiring no change to a current student handbook). Changes to compulsory subjects are also considered minor if they do not affect point values or level of study for that subject and are to be implemented in the following academic year. Minor changes can be made by the Faculty/Graduate School or Course Standing Committee under delegated authority and reported to UGPC/PCPC in a quarterly report.

New Generation Degree Broad based undergraduate degree introduced in 2008 under the Melbourne Model. New generation undergraduate degrees will gradually replace the pre-existing undergraduate degrees, most of which will be taught out from 2008.

Objectives: Statements of what students are expected to learn in a subject or course. Objectives should cover both specific and generic learning outcomes of the subject or course. They must be stated conditionally rather than absolutely (i.e. “should” rather than “will”) and in terms of outcomes, for example “on completion of the course, students should possess the following skills, knowledge and abilities...”

Prerequisite: Subject(s) which must be completed if a student wishes to be eligible to enter a particular course or enrol in a particular subject. (See also Co-requisite, above.)

Professional Entry Program: From 2008, the University introduced a range of new postgraduate professional degrees which qualify students for initial professional registration and employment and provide a pathway to further study, including higher research degrees, eg Master of Teaching.

Professional Development Program : From 2008, postgraduate programs, usually of a specialist nature, for students who are already qualified and/or working in a particular profession.

Program: The term is often used generally to cover a course or streams within a course, It also has the specific meaning of a recognised coherent cluster of subjects within a course for which there are particular structural requirements specified (e.g. compulsory core subjects, sequencing of subjects). The term is used to cover complementary subjects which may be counted within a major, streams and interdepartmental programs. The term ‘program’ will not be recognised by the new Student System, which will use the term ‘course’ instead.

Quarterly Report: A report submitted four times a year by each Faculty/Graduate School and Course Standing Committee through Academic Programs Management Committee to UGPC/PCPC, , in which details are given of minor course changes made under delegated authority during the previous three months.

Resolutions on Selection Details on the resolutions on selection into individual courses, approved by Academic Board are contained in Regulation 11.1R3 –Principles of Selection.

Research Degree: A degree in which the research element constitutes 66% or more.

Requisite : A general term, covering both co-requisites and pre-requisites.

Sequential double degree : A program in which a 300-point New Generation undergraduate degree is followed by a second New Generation undergraduate degree in which the student studies 200 points, the 100 points for which credit is given consisting largely of breadth studies.

Shared Program: A course taught by two or more faculties or graduate schools within the University or jointly by the University of Melbourne and other tertiary institutions, leading to the award of a degree from one or both of the participating institutions. The successful completion of a shared program may result in the conferral of a degree of this University.

Shepherd: Designated UGPC or PCPC member who provides advice and guidance on:

• the completion of Parts B and C of the course approval form, including currciulum design
• procedures for a new course or change to an existing course, new subjects etc.
• recommendations to the President of Academic Board on late change requests

An undergraduate and postgraduate shepherd is usually appointed for each Faculty.

Specialisation: A specialisation is a sequence of study within a particular course that is intended to lead to particular academic or vocational outcomes.

Stream: A pathway to completion of a course, involving focussed study within a specific area, and intended to produce specific outcomes. The term ‘stream’ will no longer be used in the Student System to be introduced in 2008. From 2008 this term will be subsumed under the term ‘course’.

In the past the term ‘stream’ has been used to mean either (a) a combination of subjects giving students a qualification in a particular area of a degree course, often designed to satisfy requirements of a professional institute, e.g. civil engineering stream in Bachelor of Engineering course, building stream in Bachelor of Planning and Design course; or (b) a combination of subjects defining different ways in which a student can meet the requirements of a course.

Subject: Individually assessable component of a course, designated by a separate code, e.g. German 1A: Beginners' German; Introductory Climatology and Meteorology. See new coding system at www