Terminology, Glossary and "University Speak"
To help you to understand some of the more common Murdoch enrolment terms that
you will come across as you plan your studies a very general summary is outlined below. The full list of Murdoch terminology
and relevant regulation requirements can be found under the Murdoch Glossary and on the Getting Started CD sent you with your letter.
Please be aware that some terms relate specifically to either undergraduate or postgraduate students or courses, so that not all terms may relate to you.
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
Advanced Standing – Credit – Accreditation
If you have studied at a University or TAFE before coming to Murdoch University
you may be eligible for credit or Advanced Standing. Credit may reduce the amount
of time and units that you need to study at Murdoch. The University has two Accreditation
Officers, one for domestic students and one for International students. The Accreditation
Officers will need to see your results to assess how much credit you can have.
Accreditation – Advanced Standing – Credit
If you have studied at a University or TAFE before coming to Murdoch University
you may be eligible for credit or Advanced Standing. Credit may reduce the amount
of time and units that you need to study at Murdoch. The University has two Accreditation
Officers, one for domestic students and one for International students. The Accreditation
Officers will need to see your results to assess how much credit you can have.
Checklist - Course Description – Sample Enrolment
There are prepared extracts from the
Murdoch Handbook to assist you with finding out which double majors and minors
are recommended (in the Course description), checking which units, and what
their prerequisites are, if any (on the Checklist) and helping plan your enrolment
(by referring to the Sample Enrolment for your chosen major).
Credit – Advanced Standing – Accreditation
If you have studied at a University or TAFE before coming to Murdoch University
you may be eligible for credit or Advanced Standing. Credit may reduce the amount
of time and units that you need to study at Murdoch. The University has two Accreditation
Officers, one for domestic students and one for International students. The Accreditation
Officers will need to see your results to assess how much credit you can have.
Core Units, Specified Electives and General Electives
You will need to ensure that you take the Core units at Part I and Part II for
the major(s) that you have decided to complete. Core units are essential units
in your major. Some majors may give you a choice of units, and these are called
Specified Electives. Please note that you do not need to take all of the Specified
Electives, only sufficient to meet the requirements of the major. Most undergraduate
degree structures leave room for students to take other units outside of their
first major. These are your General Elective units, or free choice units, however
most students plan to take these units as the requirements of their second major
or towards a minor within the minimum total points required for the degree.
Course or Degree
Murdoch uses course and degree to identify the qualification that you will be
studying towards, for example the Bachelor of Arts degree is your course of
study.
Course Description - Checklist – Sample Enrolment
There are prepared extracts from the
Murdoch Handbook to assist you with finding out which double majors and minors
are recommended (in the Course description), checking which units, and what
their prerequisites are, if any (on the Checklist) and helping plan your enrolment
(by referring to the Sample Enrolment for your chosen major).
Degree or Course
Murdoch uses course and degree to identify the qualification that you will be
studying towards, for example the Bachelor of Arts degree is your course of
study.
Exemptions
If the study that you completed before coming to Murdoch University was the
same or similar to Murdoch’s requirements for your degree, you may be
granted exemption for some units. This will mean that you do not have to take
those units again. The Accreditation Officer will assess your previous study
record for Exemptions.
External and Internal Units
Murdoch offers most units as Internal (D) where students are expected to attend
lectures and tutorials on campus. Some units are offered as External (X), where
students would be mailed out the unit materials and expected to study at home,
and submit all assignments through email or mail. The closing date for enrolment
in external units is earlier than the deadline for enrolment in internal units,
to allow time for the materials to reach you before the end of Week 1 of Semester.
Full time study/Part time study
Full time study at Murdoch is normally considered to be 12 points per semester. And the
minimum study that you may take, and still retain your place at Murdoch University,
is a single unit in the academic year. The minimum time to complete a 72 point
degree is therefore 3 years (12 points per semester for 6 semesters). The maximum
time to complete a 72 point degree is 10 years.
International students are required to be enrolled in a full time load every
semester as per visa requirements.
Foundation Unit
All Murdoch undergraduate students are required to complete one Foundation Unit unless they
have studied at another university or tertiary institution before coming to
Murdoch. For 2008 the Foundation units are:-
FDN105 Structure, Thought and Reality (Murdoch)
FDN106 World Indigenous Knowledges (Murdoch)
FDN108 Life and the Universe (Murdoch)
FDN115 Interactions of Society and Technology (Murdoch & Rockingham & Peel)
FDN130 Age of Information (Murdoch)
FDN140 Evolution and Revolution (Murdoch)
FDN150 Reinventing Australia (Murdoch & Rockingham)
General Electives, Core Units and Specified Electives
You will need to ensure that you take the Core units at Part I and Part II for
the major(s) that you have decided to complete. Core units are essential units
in your major. Some majors may give you a choice of units, and these are called
Specified Electives. Please note that you do not need to take all of the Specified
Electives, only sufficient to meet the requirements of the major. Most undergraduate
degree structures leave room for students to take other units outside of their
first major. These are your General Elective units, or free choice units, however
most students plan to take these units as the requirements of their second major
or towards a minor within the minimum total points required for the degree.
Internal and External Units
Murdoch offers most units as Internal (D) where students are expected to attend
lectures and tutorials on campus. Some units are offered as External (X), where
students would be mailed out the unit materials and expected to study at home,
and submit all assignments through email or mail. The closing date for enrolment
in external units is earlier than the deadline for enrolment in internal units,
to allow time for the materials to reach you before the end of Week 1 of Semester.
Lectures, Workshops and Tutorials
The teaching method for most internal units is by Lecture where all students
attend, and smaller tutorial groups or workshop groups. Tutorials are usually
groups of 15 students or less and Workshops groups of 30 students or less. Some units
may have a single Lecture per week however many units have 2 or 3 lectures per
week. A guide as to how many hours you will be required to attend on campus
can be found in the Handbook entry for each unit. The online Teaching Timetable
shows the Lecture and Workshop times. The tutorials for all units commence in
Week 1.
Major
A group of units that identifies a specialization in an area of study. Students
taking the Bachelor of Arts in History, for example, will be expected to complete
the single major in History, or a double major of History plus one other major.
Minor
A package of units similar to a major, however there are less required units
in a Minor. Students may choose to complete one or two minors instead of a second
major. The full list of Minors can be found in the Handbook.
Overload
In certain circumstances a student may wish to exceed the normal full time load.
Enrolment in more than 14 points per semester requires permission of the program
Chair. Application forms are available through Student Forms.
Enrolment in external units is limited to a total of 12.
Part I units
Part I is the name that Murdoch gives to the units that students generally take
in their first year of undergraduate study. The Bachelor of Arts in History and most of Murdoch’s
undergraduate degrees require students to normally complete 24 points of Part
I units. As all of the Part I units are worth 3 points of credit each this will
mean that you will be taking 8 units in your first year, being 4 units each
semester.
Part II units
Part II is the name that Murdoch gives to the units that students generally
take when they have completed their Part I units ie. their first year of study.
Students would normally complete 6 Part II units in each of the 2nd and 3rd
years, being 3 units each semester. These units have 200 or 300 unit codes (eg.
HIS284).
Part time study/Full time study
Full time study at Murdoch is considered to be 12 points per semester. And the
minimum study that you may take, and still retain your place at Murdoch University,
is a single unit in the academic year. The minimum time to complete a 72 point
degree is therefore 3 years (12 points per semester for 6 semesters) The maximum
time to complete a 72 point degree is 10 years.
International students are required to be enrolled in a full time load every
semester as per visa requirements.
Points
There are 72 points required as the minimum to complete the Bachelor of Arts
in History, with at least one major. Depending on the choice of majors students
can also complete a double major within 72 points. This would normally take
3 years to complete if you studied full time and successfully passed all units
(12 points) each semester.
Prerequisite Unit(s)
Is a requirement which a student must have met in order to be allowed to enrol
in a unit. Some units assume a level of understanding before you start the unit.
For example, in the Banking major it is expected that you will have an understanding
of BUS140 Principles of Finance and Banking before taking the higher level unit
BUS224 Corporate Finance in Part II (2nd year). In this case BUS140 is the PREREQUITE
unit to BUS224.
Program Chair
The Program Chair is the academic staff member who is responsible for decisions on approval
of enrolment in the Major.
Sample Enrolment - Course Description – Checklist
There are prepared extracts from the
Murdoch Handbook to assist you with finding out which double majors and minors
are recommended (in the Course description), checking which units, and what
their prerequisites are, if any (on the Checklist) and helping plan your enrolment
(by referring to the Sample Enrolment for your chosen major).
Specified Electives, Core Units and General Electives
You will need to ensure that you take the Core units at Part I and Part II for
the major(s) that you have decided to complete. Core units are essential units
in your major. Some majors may give you a choice of units, and these are called
Specified Electives. Please note that you do not need to take all of the Specified
Electives, only sufficient to meet the requirements of the major. Most undergraduate
degree structures leave room for students to take other units outside of their
first major. These are your General Elective units, or free choice units, however
most students plan to take these units as the requirements of their second major
or towards a minor within the 72 points required for the degree.
Tutor and Unit Co-ordinator
An academic staff member is usually the main lecturer of each unit, and is called
the Unit Co-ordinator. When you attend the smaller tutorial group you may also
be assigned a Tutor. The tutor or the Unit Co-ordinator are the people you can
go to if you have any queries about the individual unit.
The names of the Unit co-ordinators are available on each Unit Welcome Page
on the Murdoch web site.
Tutorials, Lectures and Workshops
The teaching method for most internal units is by Lecture where all students
attend, and smaller tutorial groups or workshop groups. Tutorials are usually
groups of 15 students or less and Workshops groups of 30 students or less. Some units
may have a single Lecture per week however many units have 2 or 3 lectures per
week. A guide as to how many hours you will be required to attend on campus
can be found in the Handbook entry for each unit. The tutorials for all units commence in
Week 1.
Unit Co-ordinator and Tutor
An academic staff member is usually the main lecturer of each unit, and is called
the Unit Co-ordinator. When you attend the smaller tutorial group you may also
be assigned a Tutor. The tutor or the Unit Co-ordinator are the people you can
go to if you have any queries about the individual unit.
The names of the Unit co-ordinators are available on each Unit Welcome Page
on the Murdoch web site
Units
This is the name given to each individual package of study, for example HIS181
Introduction to History is a unit. Each unit has a Welcome Page on the web,
where all information about the unit can be found (http://www.murdoch.edu.au/index/units)
Workshops, Lectures and Tutorials
The teaching method for most internal units is by Lecture where all students
attend, and smaller tutorial groups or workshop groups. Tutorials are usually
groups of 15 students or less and Workshops groups of 30 students or less. Some units
may have a single Lecture per week however many units have 2 or 3 lectures per
week. A guide as to how many hours you will be required to attend on campus
can be found in the Handbook entry for each unit. The workshops for all units commence in
Week 1.
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