Step 2 (a) - The Technical information

University Terminology

Not sure what some of the words mean? We have put together a short Terminology and Glossary page to help you.

What is a course structure?

The course structure will outline the requirements for your course or degree. It tells you what units, and how many points, you need to complete in order to graduate in your chosen degree. Therefore course structures for undergraduate and postgraduate degrees differ.

Choose what type of student you are.

[ Undergraduate student ]   [ Postgraduate student ]   [ Honours/Doctoral student ]   [ How to find your course structure ]

I am an Undergraduate Student.

For undergraduate degrees, the course structure is separated (unequally) into two Parts, Part I and Part II. For a 3 year full time degree, you will study a minimum of 72 points, 24 points per year, 12 points per semester. The first 24 points (first year) will be at Part I (unit codes beginning with a '1' i.e. ABC 100) and the next 48 points (second and third year) will be at Part II (200 to 400 level units i.e. ABC 200). In Part I you will be required to complete a Foundation Unit and Core Units, and depending on your course, you may also have Specified Electives and General Electives. At Part II you will have to complete Core Units and, depending on your degree, Specified Electives and/or General Electives.

Murdoch course structures encourage students to take double majors. In the Description of each major as it appears in the Murdoch University Handbook is a list of the recommended second Majors (and/or Minors) that the Program Chair considers to be appropriate to complete as a double major. Therefore you need to decide if you are going to complete a second major and/or a minor. You will need to do this now before you choose your units as units within your second major and/or minor will take the place of some or all of your general electives. Most courses have a list of recommended double majors and recommended minors. You can find these lists in the Description section of your Enrolment Information for New Students booklet or under your course in the Murdoch University Handbook.

Your second major or minor does not have to be from the same School or Faculty as your first major, therefore you have a wide choice. You will have the opportunity to add the title of your second major and/or minor to your record during the enrolment process in MyInfo. However enrolment in some majors is restricted and therefore you may not be guaranteed a place in the major, regardless of whether or not you have studied some or all of the units. The Central Student Administration web site lists those restricted majors.

Important Information!!!!!

You will see the term "Unit Sets" used interchangeably with Majors, Minors or other specialisations. Unit Set is the term used within the MyInfo tab of MyMurdoch (our student portal) so you will see this when you start your enrolment online. All enrolments will require at least one Unit Set to be recorded as your Primary one (this is the check box you will see in the enrolment step a bit later)

You can now proceed to "Your course structure" at the bottom of this page.

I am a Postgraduate Student.

For a postgraduate student a course structure will consist of Core Units and Specified Electives. Depending on your chosen degree your requirements will vary from approximately 12 points to 72 points. Postgraduate courses include, Graduate Certificate, Postgraduate Certificate, Graduate Diploma, Postgraduate Diploma, Masters and Doctorates.

You can now proceed to "How to find your course structure" at the bottom of this page.

I am an Honours, Research Masters or Doctoral Student.

Honours, Research Masters and Doctoral students are not able to complete their enrolment online. You therefore do not need to continue. You will be sent enrolment information from either your Faculty Office or the Graduate Research Office. However, there is a lot of useful information on these pages, so feel free to browse.

Your course structure for your degree and/or second major and/or minor.

You can find your course structure, also referred to as a checklist, in your Enrolment Information for New Students booklet or (Appendix B) or online through the Course Finder.

The Course Structure, details all of the requirements to complete the standard course, broken down into the following;

• Part I — Foundation unit, Core units, General & Specified electives — all worth 3 credit points
• Part II — Core units, General & Specified electives — all worth 4 credit points

The Unit Code, Unit Name, Credit Points value, Location, Teaching Period and Mode are listed for each Core Unit and Specified Elective. More specifically;

• The Location represents the campus where the unit will be taught — either Murdoch, Rockingham or Peel.
• The Teaching Period represents the time period in which the unit will be taught. S1 means Semester 1 and S2 is Semester 2. S1 & S2 are the most common for an undergraduate degree however there are many variations of teaching periods and the index of these can be found at: http://handbook.murdoch.edu.au/units/periods.lasso?year=2009
• The Mode lists if the unit is available either Internally (Int) or Externally (Ext)

The course structure will also list any pre-requisites. A pre-requisite is a requirement that a particular unit has been completed before you commence a subsequent unit. This is important as the second unit will assume a certain level of understanding about a topic that was covered in the first unit.

Once you have this basic information you can start to choose your units and construct your Study Plan.

[ Back to Step 2 - Research and Plan ]  [ Forward to Step 2 (b) - Choosing your Units ]