Users of this policy need to be aware of the Trade Practices Act which can be found at:
http://www.legal.murdoch.edu.au/common/tradepractices.html

Postgraduate coursework courses generally comprise core and specified electives units. It is in the University’s interest to ensure that its coursework postgraduate offerings are both academically coherent and distinct. This can be achieved by providing students with the opportunity to study an area of specialisation within an approved course. Specialisations are determined by Faculties as part of their academic planning and are approved by Academic Council. A specialisation provides students with an area of particular focus within a course.

A specialisation is a set of academically coherent units within a postgraduate level course, where the points value of the core units within that set is greater than 50 per cent of the total points required to complete the course. A specialisation will be recorded on the student’s academic transcript and appear on their testamur.

To provide staff and students with information and guidelines on specialisations in postgraduate courses.

2.

Courses with specialisations are approved by Academic Council as part of the University’s academic planning.

Amendments to the structure of courses with specialisations are to be made through the academic planning process.

Within any one course, a student can only complete and have one specialisation recorded on their academic transcript and testamur.

Where a course offers more than one specialisation, there should be at least 75% difference between the core units points value and at least 50% difference between the specified elective units points value.

A Faculty can put forward a case to Academic Council to argue that two or more of its specialisations meet the principle of academic coherence and distinctiveness while having less than the required difference.