1 Policy Statement

1. The University’s programs shall consist of courses.

2. The content of every course offer shall be described in a course specification.

2 Procedures

2.1 Examiners and Moderators

1. The Dean shall, on the recommendation of the Head of Department, appoint an examiner and a moderator for each course.

2. Examiners shall be members of the staff of the University. Moderators may be appointed from outside the University.

2.2 Courses and Course Specifications

1. The unit value or weighting for an on-campus course must not be more than four units. The unit value or weighting for an external course and for an online course must not be more than two units.

2. Courses shall be conducted over one term.

3. Each course offer shall be defined by a course specification that contains the following information:

   1. rationale and synopsis of the course

   2. objectives of the course

   3. details and weighting of topics to be covered

   4. texts and materials required to be purchased or accessed and other reference material

   5. student workload

   6. format, timing and weighting of assessments

   7. the examination period when deferred/supplementary examinations will be held

   8. penalties for late submission of required work

   9. names of the examiner and moderator of the course

   10. the requirements for students to be deemed to have satisfactorily completed each item of assessment in the course specification

   11. the method of combining the results on each item of assessment to produce the students' final grade for the course

   12. the requirements for the student to be awarded a passing grade in the course

   13. a statement about attendance requirements where there are safety issues involved, use of equipment, professional body requirements, links between objectives and attendance, etc

   14. any other requirements deemed necessary by the examiner or the Faculty.

4. Each course specification shall be approved by the Dean before distribution to students. At the beginning of the term, course specifications must be conveyed to students by examiners using at least one of the following methods:

   • as a printed constituent of the standard distance education material for the course and/or as part of the material issued to, or required to be purchased by, on-campus students enrolled in the course;

   • electronically, using the Web, provided that all students enrolled in the course are informed through other means of how to retrieve the information.

5. It is the responsibility of the Dean and the examiner to ensure that course specifications issued to students are accurate and up to date. Any changes to course specifications made after the first day of the term are subject to the same policies for approval and notification as stated above.

6. The course numbering system will be alpha-numeric, with a three letter alpha code representing subject area and a four digit numeric code with the first digit of that code allocated in accordance with the following to generally indicate the level of difficulty of the course.

   1. Courses designed for use in non-award or enabling programs (i.e. DETYA course type 30, 41, 42, 50 or 60) will have a first digit of 7.

   2. Courses designed for use in undergraduate programs including associate diplomas, diplomas, advanced diplomas, associate degrees, bachelor’s pass degrees, bachelor’s graduate entry and bachelor’s honours programs will have a first digit of 1, 2, 3 or 4 as follows:

      • Courses that require no prerequisite study at university-level will have a first digit of 1. Typically, these courses will be in the first or second semester of an undergraduate program.

      • Courses that require prerequisite study at university-level and are typically found in the second, third or fourth semester of an undergraduate program will have a first digit of 2. These courses would also typically have one or more level 1 or level 2 courses as pre-requisites but may also have no formal prerequisites.

      • Courses that require pre-requisite study at university-level and are typically found in the fourth, fifth or sixth semester of an undergraduate program will have a first digit of 3. These courses would also typically have one or more level 2 or level 3 courses as prerequisites

      • Courses that are typically found in the seventh or eighth semester of an undergraduate program will have a first digit of 4. These courses would also typically have one or more level 3 or level 4 courses as prerequisites.

   3. Level 5 and Level 8 courses are postgraduate coursework courses. Level 8 courses are generally considered as having a higher level of difficulty and/ requiring more prerequisite knowledge and/or skills than Level 5 courses.

   4. Level 9 courses are postgraduate research dissertation courses.

3 Other Policy Information