University of Tasmania, Australia

Course
A course is a program of student leading to an award (e.g. Bachelor of Science course).

Degree Coordinator
Each degree has a person appointed to act as the Coordinator for that degree. Degree Coordinators provide course specific advice to students..

Faculty
Faculties are responsible for curriculum, teaching and assessment in a prescribed set of courses. Within the Faculty of Science, Engineering & Technology there are twelve Schools each comprising a number of academic staff with teaching and research activities in related discipline areas. Each School has a head who is responsible for the teaching and assessment in the units of study offered by the School.

Faculty Office
Staff in the Faculty Office can assist students with administrative information from Admission to Graduation. Advice concerning degree requirements can be obtained from the Faculty Office.

Major
Undergraduate courses may be made up of a number of major/minor combinations. A defined concentration in one subject area (e.g. Chemistry) constitutes a major while, more limited studies constitutes a minor. The basic requirement for a major within a Science degree is 50% of units at Level 3. Two single majors or a double major may be achieved in a Science degree.

Most subjects have additional rules concerning which units must be passed in order to obtain a major. Majors are defined in the course schedule – see the Course and Unit Handbook.

Prerequisite
A prior unit which must be passed to ensure a suitable grounding has been obtained in order to proceed. Prerequisites may apply at the degree entry level or at the unit level.

Schedule
Each course will have a schedule which lists the units that may be studied in that particular course. The schedule details the Year (or Level) of the units, the unit code and title, the semester in which it is offered and its weight.

The Schedule for each course can be found in the Course and Unit Handbook.

School
A School is the academic body responsible for the teaching of a discipline or group of related disciplines within a faculty (e.g. School of Mathematics & Physics).

Semester
There are two main semesters each year – Semester 1 (Feb to June) and 2 (July to October). In addition, teaching may occur in Semester 3 (Summer School), Semester 4 (Winter School) and 5 (Spring School) which are all shortened teaching periods.

Specifications
Specifications are the rules by which the Faculty administers a course. The specifications for each course can be found on the on-line Course and Unit Handbook.

Stream/Specialisation
Is a specialised structure of units within a course (e.g. Bachelor of Antarctic Studies has two streams – Life Science and Physical Sciences).

Unit
A unit involves a series of lectures, seminars, tutorials and/or practical sessions on a particular topic. The term ‘unit’ is often used interchangeably with the word “subject”. A unit of study is self-contained and normally lasts one semester and is assessed at the end of that semester.

A unit has a designated weight. A unit-taught over one-semester is normally weighted at 12.5%. A full-time student would normally complete 4 units in Semester 1 (50%) and 4 units in Semester 2 (50%).

Unit Code
Each unit has an identification code. The first three letters indicates the School responsible for teaching the unit (e.g. KRA = Chemistry) and the first digit (e.g. 0, 1, 2, 3 etc) indicates the level of the unit:

• Foundation units are numbered between 001 and 099
• Level 1 units are numbered between 100 and 199 (normally taken in the first-year of a degree)
• Level 2 units are numbered between 200 and 299 (normally taken in the second-year of a degree)
• Level 3 units are numbered between 300 and 399 (normally taken in the third-year of a degree)
• Level 4 units and beyond are for Honours and postgraduate degrees