Re: Macquarie University Unofficial BoS FAQ
Glossary
Area of study
A subject area (such as economics, mathematics) from which you can choose your major.
Assumed Knowledge
This is a level of achievement in the Higher School Certificate Examination (or its equivalent) considered desirable for successful study in a first-year unit.
Census dates
These are dates by which you must discontinue enrolment in a unit to avoid being liable for student contribution charges or tuition fees for that unit and consuming Student Learning Entitlement (SLE). For first half-year 2006 units the census date is Friday 31 March; for second half-year units Thursday 31 August. Other census dates apply to other study periods and units.
Coherent study
A coherent study represents a particular stream of study, and consists of a specific set of units you have to complete at 300 level or higher (generally speaking, in your final year). It will have to be preceded by other units at 100 level and 200 level, but these are generally not listed as part of the coherent study – they are either prerequisites for your 300-level units or part of the general requirements for your degree, given in the section of the Handbook entitled General Requirements for Bachelor Degree Awards. A small number of coherent studies have some prescribed units also listed.
Colleges
The University has three Colleges, the College of Commerce; College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the College of Science and Technology. Each College is divided into Divisions and the Divisions into Departments.
Concurrent Enrolment
If you have approval to undertake a unit of study at another university as part of your program, you may be granted credit for that unit.
Corequisite
A corequisite is a unit of study which has to be completed prior to or concurrently with another. Prerequisites and corequisites are listed in the Schedule of Undergraduate Units in the Handbook of Undergraduate Studies.
Credit
You are doing units for credit if you are doing them to count towards an award, such as a degree or diploma. This is normally the case unless you are a non-award student or unless the unit cannot be taken for credit with (NCCW) one that you have previously passed either at Macquarie or elsewhere.
Credit for Previous Studies
If you have studied at another academic institution, you may be eligible for credit towards your degree at Macquarie. This credit is called credit for previous studies and is expressed in the form of Macquarie credit points. If you are eligible for credit for previous studies you should request advice about credit when accepting the offer of admission. Students who receive some credit will also be advised of any areas in which exemptions may apply. If you are a postgraduate student you should contact the Postgraduate Studies Office for advice.
Credit Point
Each unit of study is worth a specified number of credit points. The credit point value of a unit reflects the amount of work required in the unit. Each credit point in a half-year unit would indicate that you should expect to spend about 3 hours each week on that unit (including class contact hours).
Degree
A degree is the major kind of qualification awarded by a university. It is awarded either for successful work at undergraduate (bachelor degree) or postgraduate (higher degree) level, or as an honorary recognition (honorary degree) of achievement.
Department
Each of the Divisions of the University is divided into Departments, the name of which usually, but not always, reflects the discipline being studied, eg the subject of English is in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Division of Humanities, Department of English.
Discontinue
If you decide to discontinue, or abandon, your enrolment in a unit, you must have the change entered on the student system either via the web or a change of program form. The date by which you do this is important. You must discontinue by the census date in order to be “not effectively enrolled” (NE) and to be not liable for student contribution
charges or tuition fees. If you withdraw after the census date, your official transcript will show a Fail grade for the unit.
Distance Education
Certain units of study are offered on a distance education (or external) basis; these units are identified with an X code in the Schedule of Undergraduate Units. Students who are otherwise doing their course by internal study may apply for enrolment in these units (other than law units).
Division
There are eight Divisions in the University, within the three Colleges. All undergraduate students will be registered in a Division.
Elective units
Most undergraduate study patterns do not specify all the units you need to complete to finish your degree; they allow room for elective units (or electives) to make up the total number of credit points required. You can choose your elective units from anywhere in the Schedule of Undergraduate Units, so long as you have the appropriate prerequisites.
Exclusion
Exclusion from the University means that you are barred from re-enrolling for a set period. You may be excluded for taking an unduly long time to complete your degree, for failing to pay fees or charges by the due date, or for disciplinary reasons.
Exemptions
An exemption is a decision made by a member of the academic staff that you may not take a particular unit at Macquarie University because you have studied and passed a similar unit at another institution. These exemptions are determined on the basis of overlap of content, and only apply to students who have been granted credit from previous studies. The number of credit points from which a student is exempted is related to the amount of credit for previous studies given. You will be advised of the areas in which exemptions may apply at the same time as credit is notified. If you are exempt from a unit which is a prerequisite for another unit, you are considered to have satisfied that prerequisite.
Full-time
You are classified as a full-time undergraduate student if you are enrolled for the year in 17 or more credit points
for the full year or 9 credit points for the half year, or if, as a postgraduate student, the total of your unit weights is
0.75 or more.
Grade Point Average
Your grade point average (GPA) is a calculation which reflects the overall quality of your grades throughout your course. It is printed on your academic record; a grade point average of 4, for example, would indicate that all your grades have been D or HD grades.
Graduand
A graduand is someone who has completed all the requirements for a degree but who has not yet had the degree conferred.
Graduate
A graduate is someone who has been awarded a degree.
Graduate diploma
Graduate diplomas are available to students who have already completed a bachelor degree in any field and who now wish to complete the equivalent of a major study in another field without attempting a second undergraduate degree. Graduate diplomas consist wholly of undergraduate units in a particular discipline.
HECS-HELP
HECS — Higher Education Loan Program. The booklet information for Commonwealth supported students is available from the Student Enquiry Service.
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is material, research, knowledge or inventions developed or discovered by staff or by students as part of their studies towards a degree. Any such material is the property of the University. If you have a query regarding intellectual property, you should refer it to the Research Committee before you begin your research.
Level
The level at which a unit is taught indicates the amount of prior knowledge required to study it successfully. For example, 100-level units may be entered in the first year of study and often do not have any prerequisite units, while 200-level units generally have 100-level prerequisites.
Major
A major is a structured sequence of units, represented either by a coherent study or by a particular study pattern. Some majors are represented by only one such program, others by several.
Misconduct
Misconduct occurs when a student does not follow the Bylaws or rules set down by the University. A student may be punished for misconduct or breach of discipline by suspension from classes, payment of fines, or exclusion from the University.
Mode of offering
The mode of offering for a unit of study indicates whether it is a day (D or D*), evening (E), distance education (external) (X), composite mode (n), vacation or field work (V2) unit, or winter vacation (wv).
NCCW
A unit labelled NCCW may Not Count for Credit With another specified unit.
Non-award
Non-award enrolment, available in most undergraduate and some postgraduate units, lets you enrol without counting those units towards a degree or diploma. It is not available to you if you are currently enrolled in a Macquarie degree or if you have one partly completed from a previous enrolment.
Non-degree
Non-degree enrolment is enrolment by a current Macquarie degree student in a unit which will not be counted for credit towards the degree. Such a unit may be an NCCW unit.
Not effectively enrolled
You are not effectively enrolled if you withdraw from a unit before the census date. Your enrolment in that unit
will not be permanently recorded and you will not be liable for student contribution charges or tuition fees for that unit or consume any SLE.
Part-time
You are regarded as a part-time undergraduate student if you are enrolled in fewer than 17 credit points in a year
or less than 9 credit points in a half year, or, as a postgraduate student, in units with a total weight of less than 0.75.
Pass degree
A pass degree is the normal form of a bachelor degree or a master degree, when an honours program has not been undertaken.
Pink form
The “Application for Special Approval (Waiver)” form is commonly known as a Pink Form.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism involves using the work of another person and presenting it as one’s own. Any of the following acts constitutes plagiarism unless the source of each quotation or piece of borrowed material is clearly acknowledged:
- copying out part(s) of any document or audio-visual material (including computer based material);
- using or extracting another person’s concepts, experimental results, or conclusions;
- summarising another person’s work;
- in an assignment where there was collaborative preparatory work, submitting substantially the same final version of any material as another student.
Encouraging or assisting another person to commit plagiarism is a form of improper collusion and may attract the same penalties which apply to plagiarism.
Practical
Practical work or practical sessions are usually a compulsory component in the scientific subjects of the University. They are often carried out in a laboratory or in the field and involve “hands-on” techniques.
Prerequisite
A prerequisite is a unit of study which must be completed or a requirement which must be satisfied before you enrol in a particular unit. Prerequisites and corequisites are listed in the Schedule of Undergraduate Units.
Prescribed unit
Units which are compulsory for completion of a degree have been specified by the Academic Senate and are referred to as prescribed units.
Program code
An individual code has been allocated to each Program of Study, whether it is a coherent study or a study pattern. Coherent studies have a code which consists of three letters followed by two numerals (for example, LNG01). Study patterns have four letters followed by two numerals (for example. LING01)
Program of Study
Your Program of Study is the combination of units or research work required to satisfy your major and to enable you to qualify for the degree for which you are enrolled. It takes the form of a coherent study or a study pattern.
Remission or re-crediting
A practice where a student's FEE-Help balance or SLE (including any HECS-HELP debt) is re-credited because of special circumstances.
Schedule of Undergraduate Units
The Schedule of Undergraduate Units in the Undergraduate Handbook is the official list of units offered, specifying time of offering, credit points, corequisites and prerequisites, and so on. The Descriptions of Undergraduate Units give more detailed information on each of the units.
Special examination
If you were unable to attend a compulsory examination because of illness or misadventure, you may apply to the Academic Program Section to sit a special examination at a later date. The temporary grade awarded is “IS” (Incomplete - Special Examination)
Student Learning Entitlement (SLE)
An entitlement that gives eligible students access to a Commonwealth supported place. All eligible students start with an SLE of seven effective full time years.
Study pattern
A study pattern is a particular way of representing a major, which is a structured sequence of units taken to satisfy the relevant degree requirements. It consists of core units at each level (unlike a coherency which specifies only 300-level units) and usually a number of elective units to make up the total number of credit points required for the degree.
Supplementary Schedule of Units
The Supplementary Schedule of Units is the list of units offered by other institutions which you may take as part of your degree here.
TEP
Teacher Education Program
Testamur
Your testamur is the official document with the University’s seal on it which certifies that you have been awarded your degree or diploma.
UAC
Universities Admissions Centre.
Unavoidable disruption
Unavoidable disruption is the result of a set of circumstances beyond normal expectation and over which you have no control. Documentary evidence of such disruption or illness may be accepted as reason for withdrawal from a unit or for the award of a special examination.
Unit code
An individual code has been allotted to each unit of study. The code is three or four letters to represent the subject area followed by one digit to represent the level of the unit: 1 = 100 level, 2 = 200 level, 3 = 300 level etc followed by two further digits to distinguish the particular unit. For example, the unit code for Language and Social Life is LING312, indicating that it is a Linguistics unit and 300 level.
Unit of study
Your Program of Study, whether it is for a degree or diploma, is made up of a number of units of study (generally referred to as units, and sometimes informally called subjects), each worth a fixed number of credit points. For instance, if studying for the Bachelor of Arts, the student must complete units totalling at least 68 credit points. A unit of study may be a half-year or full-year unit of instruction, involving lectures, assignments, practical sessions and tutorials or on-campus sessions.
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