Glossary of Terms

-- A --

Academic Year: An academic year, in Australia, normally begins in late February / early March and is a maximum of twelve months and may incorporate one, or more semesters or other approved teaching periods, depending on the course.

Activate: The Activate button, when selected, adds the Credit Transfer Arrangement to the web.; See also -- Deactivate

Address: This field is used to record the address of the contact for the particular organisation.

Advanced Standing: Where a student is able to gain credit for subjects in a course through recognition of completed prior studies.

Agreement: See Credit Transfer Arrangement.

Alias: A short organisation title.

Arrangement: See Credit Transfer Arrangement.

Articulation: In general Articulation is defined as the development of closely integrated curriculum which allows for movement between courses.
Within Swinburne University Intersectoral Articulation is defined as the movement or progression of students from one award course to another and from one education and training sector to another, with some credit. This definition includes concurrent courses, such as dual awards, which enable students to enrol simultaneously in both sectors as well as nested courses/qualifications which have exit points built in with a subsidiary qualification.

Award: A recognised certification of achievement or competence which may be granted to a student after completion of all the requirements of a higher education course or TAFE course.

Award Course: A program of study formally approved/accredited by the organisation or any other relevant accreditation authority and which leads to an academic award granted by the institution or other authorised provider and may include courses at postgraduate level. It includes courses of an equivalent nature undertaken overseas.

-- B --

Block Credit: Where a student is exempted from a significant period of a course, such as a semester or a year, rather than from specified subjects.

Bridging Program: A program of study which is conducted prior to the commencement of a formal award course, and which is provided for particular types of disadvantaged students who need additional preparation prior to commencing the award course. Programs which form part of a formal award course or for which credit will or may be given towards an award course are not considered to be bridging programs.
(For higher education institution guidelines on fee-help and fees, see the website GOING TO UNI.)

-- C --

Census Date

The Census dates for the standard two semester structure are 31 March for semester 1 and 31 August for semester 2. The census dates for summer school and teaching periods differ from the standard two semester structure.

The Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) also decrees that Census dates are set no earlier than 20% of the way through the period of time in which the unit is undertaken, including study breaks, assessment or exam periods.

Country: This field is used to identify the Country of origin of the Course.

Course: Course is used as a section of the database that contains all courses (or 'programs') for which information is held within the database.

Course Code: The code is a unique identifier for a particular course.; The course code must be unique, and can be up to 10 characters.

Course Length: The standard full-time duration of a particular course.; Full time equivalent.

Course Name: The name of a course or the title of the qualification.

Course Notes: This field is to be used for any other relevant information about the course that will be published on the web.; Entry conditions are not to be included here.

Credit Points (cps): A measure of study requirements for the award of a course.

Credit Transfer: Where a student is granted exemption from particular course requirements in recognition of previous studies.

Credit Transfer Arrangement: The Credit Transfer Arrangement defines the approved recognition of the match between two courses.

-- D --

Deactivate: The Deactivate button, when selected, withdraws the Credit Transfer Arrangement from the web.; See also -- Activate

DEST: The Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training.

-- E --

Email: This field is used to record the email address of the contact for the particular organisation.

Enrolment

For the purpose of this database, an enrolment exists:

when a person has been admitted to an award course at the relevant organisation at the census date; and
the person is still entitled to continue with their studies and has not formally indicated before the census date that he/she has withdrawn from or deferred their studies.

Entry Conditions: This field is used where the entry conditions are prescribed as part of a specific credit transfer agreement / arrangement.

Exemption: Where a student is not required to complete a certain subject(s) / modules(s) within a course due to the formal recognition of prior study already completed.

-- F --

FAX Number: This field is used to record the FAX Number of the contact for the particular organisation.

First name: This field is used to record the first name of the contact person for the particular organisation.

-- G --

GPA: See Grade Point Average.

Grade Point Average (GPA): A measure of all grades achieved in a course, whether complete or incomplete.

-- L --

Last Updated: This field is automatically entered by the system.; It records the date the last editor updated the details.; See -- Updated By.

-- M --

Maximum Credit Allowed (credit points): The maximum credit granted towards a particular course expressed in credit points.

Maximum Credit Allowed (subjects) / module(s): The maximum number of subjects / modules / units granted towards the particular course.

Minimum Course Completion Time Remaining: Minimum full-time duration to complete the course if maximum credit is allowed.

Mobile Phone: This field is used to record the mobile phone number of the contact person for the particular organisation.

-- N --

Name: This field is used to record the name of the contact person for the organisation.

Normal Course Completion Time Remaining: The mandatory time, expressed in years, to complete the course remaining after allowing for the agreed credit transfer.; For example,

No. of credit points required to complete the course: The maximum number of credit points for the award of a particular course if the maximum credit is allowed.

No. of subjects / modules required to complete the course: The maximum number of subjects / modules / units for the award of a particular course if the maximum credit is allowed.

-- O --

Organisation: Organisation is an encompassing word to classify the learning organisation.

Organisation Notes: The organistion notes field is used to record notes about the organisation.; These notes will not appear on the web.

Organisation Title: The title of an organisation.

Organisation Type

Organisation Type may include the following:

College
Institute
Polytechnic
Private Provider
Secondary College
Secondary School
TAFE
Training Provider
University

Organisation Unit

An Organisation Unit has a defined business, administrative or academic function.
For the purpose of student administration and human resources, organisation units group people, resources, courses, etc.
The organisation units used at Swinburne University are Faculties, Schools and Divisions.

Organisation Type may include the following:

Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship
Brain Sciences Institute
Graduate School of Integrative Medicine (GSIM)
Industrial Research Institute Swinburne (IRIS )
Institute for Social Research
National Institute of Circus Arts (NICA)
Faculty of Business and Enterprise
Faculty of Design
Faculty of Engineering and Industrial Sciences
Faculty of Information and Communication Technologies
Faculty of Life and Social Sciences
Swinburne Sarawak Institute of Technology
TAFE School of Arts Hospitality and Sciences
TAFE School of Business and eCommerce
TAFE School of Engineering
TAFE School of Social Sciences

Organisation Type may also include the following:

Higher Education Division
Swinburne Lilydale
TAFE Division

Overseas Student

A student who is not one of the following:

an Australian citizen; or
a New Zealand citizen, or a diplomatic or consular representative of New Zealand, a member of the staff of such a representative or the spouse or dependent relative of such a representative; or
a person entitled to stay in Australia, or to enter and stay in Australia, without any limitation as to time and resides in Australia during the semester; or
a member of the armed forces of the Crown who has entered Australia in the course of his or her duties.

-- P --

Phone: This field is used to record the telephone number of the contact for the particular organisation.

Position

This field is used to record the position of the contact person for the particular organisation.

For example:

Head of School
Dean
Vice-Chancellor

Postcode: This field is used to record the postcode of the contact person for the particular organisation.

Publish Date: The date the arrangement will be shown on the web.

-- Q --

Qualification: An award or other form of certification of attainment or competence.

-- R --

RCC (Recognition of Current Competencies): See -- Recognition of Current Competencies

Recognition of Current Competencies (RCC): Where a student is granted credit or partial credit towards a qualification in recognition of competencies currently held, regardless of how, when or where the learning occurred. Under the Australian Quality Training Framework, competencies may be attained in a number of ways. This includes through any combination of formal or informal training and education, work experience or general life experience.
RPL for students considering TAFE courses is available from http://www.tafe.swin.edu.au/admin/docs/RPL.htm

RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning): See -- Recognition of Prior Learning

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL): Where a student is granted credit or partial credit towards a qualification in recognition of competencies currently held, regardless of how, when or where the learning occurred. Under the Australian Quality Training Framework, competencies may be attained in a number of ways. This includes through any combination of formal or informal training and education, work experience or general life experience.
RPL for students considering TAFE courses is available from http://www.tafe.swin.edu.au/admin/docs/RPL.htm

-- S --

Semester: A defined study period within an academic year which commences with the teaching period and concludes at the end of the assessment period.; Normally there would be two semesters in a year.

Specialisation: The field or fields of study in which a student, who has completed the academic requirements of a course, has specialised. Specialisation is determined by the organisation and should take into account major strands undertaken by the student.

Specified Credit: Where a student is exempted from particular units or subjects within a course.

State: This field is used to record the state / province of the contact person for the particular organisation.

Student: A student is a person who is enrolled in any subject or subjects offered by Swinburne University of Technology whether formally enrolled for an award qualification or not.

Subject / Module: The subject / Module (or 'unit') as specified.

Suburb: This field is used to record the suburb address of the contact person for the particular organisation.

Summer School: A period during which students undertake study components of an award course. The summer school period extends from the end of the last term or semester in the year, normally semester 2,prior to the reference year up until the start of the first term or semester of the following year.

Surname: This field is used to record the surname of the contact person for the particular organisation.

Swinburne Course: The heading Swinburne Course is the Course that the student would like to do at Swinburne University of Technology for which a credit is being sought.

Swinburne Entity / Campus: This is the field used to show whether the Organisation is part of Swinburne University.; This field also indicates the campus location.

-- T --

TAFE Award Course

A TAFE course which leads to some formal award, but excluding:

secondary education courses; and
hobby/recreational/leisure/personal enrichment courses.

The TAFE course name would need to be consistent with ASCOL.

TAFE Course: A program of study which the responsible authority for a State or Territory deems to be a technical and further education course.; The TAFE course name would need to be consistent with ASCOL.

Telephone Number: This field is used to record the telephone number of the contact person for the particular organisation.

Terminate Date: The date the credit transfer arrangement will be removed from the web.; The credit transfer arrangement is still recorded in the database.

Title

This field is used to record the title of the contact for the particular organisation.

For example:

Professor
Dr
Mr

Total Credit Points: The total credit points required to completed the course award.

Total Subjects / Modules: The total number of subjects / modules to complete the course award.

-- U --

Unmatched Credit/Unspecified Credit: Credit granted which is not matched to a particular subject in the student's new course.
Often used towards meeting a course's elective requirements.
Not to be used as a Stage Three subject.

Unspecified Credit: see -- Unmatched Credit/Unspecified Credit

Updated By: This field is automatically entered by the system.; It records the name of the last editor to updated the details.

-- V --

Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC): State Government coordinating body for admissions to tertiary institutions.; see -- VTAC

-- W --

Web Address: The web address of the Organisation.; The full format of the web address should be included.