Glossary of commonly used terms

This glossary describes terminology in use at the University of Sydney.

Select a letter to display all entries that begin with that letter.

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | M | O | P | R | S | T | U | V

Academic year or academic cycle
The time during the year when we teach. In Australian universities, this is generally from February to November. The academic year is broken into two semesters.

Admission
Undergraduate admission to most of our courses is based on your secondary education performance, with applicants ranked on the basis of their ATAR. Other criteria such as a portfolio, interview, audition, or results in standard tests may also be required for certain courses.

Advanced standing
See 'Credit'

Assumed knowledge
For some units of study, you will be assumed to have passed a relevant subject at HSC level. This is called assumed knowledge.

ATAR
The Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) is the benchmark we use to assess applicants. It is a number between 0 and 99.95 with increments of 0.05 that provides a measure of your overall academic achievement at high school. It is calculated by the Universities Admissions Centre.

Attendance mode
Refers to whether a unit of study is taken by the student internally (i.e. by attending classes at a campus of the University) or externally (i.e. remotely by correspondence or other distance education means).

Bachelor's Degree
The highest undergraduate award we offer. A bachelor’s degree course normally requires three or four years of full-time study (or the part-time equivalent).

Cadigal Program
A University-wide access and support scheme for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

Campus
The grounds on which the University is situated. We have several campuses but our main one is called Camperdown/Darlington.

Census date
The census date is the date by which all your enrolment requirements must be finalised.

The dates for each semester
31 March – units of study offered for the full duration of the February semester.
31 August – units of study offered for the full duration of the July semester

Units of study offered in non-standard semesters (such as Summer or Winter School) employ census dates which may vary significantly from those mentioned above. If you are enrolling in any units offered in non-standard semesters ensure you are aware of the census dates relevant to those units.

Census dates may vary. It is your responsibility to identify the census date for your unit of study.

Chancellor
The non-executive head of the University. An honorary position, the Chancellor chairs meetings of the University’s governing body, the Senate, and presides over graduation ceremonies amongst other duties.

Combined degree
A combined degree program (also called a double degree) allows you to earn degrees from two faculties. Combined Science/Arts, for instance, means that at the end of your course, you will be awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Bachelor of Science degree.

Commonwealth supported student
If you are a Commonwealth-supported student, the federal government will pay most of the cost of your education, although you must also contribute. The portion that you pay is called your student contribution.

Corequisite
A unit of study which must be taken in the same semester or year as a given unit of study (unless it has already been completed). These are determined by the faculty or board of studies concerned and published in the faculty handbook.

Course
Course is a confusing term. Strictly speaking, your course is the degree program in which you are enrolled. A degree is the qualification you will receive when you graduate.

Combined course
A course which leads to two awards. For example the Arts/Law course leads to the separate awards of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws.

Course alias
A unique five character alpha-numeric code which identifies a university course.

Credit
If you have already studied another course at the University, or at another institution, you may be able to ‘credit’ those studies towards your new course.

Specified credit
The recognition of previously completed studies as directly equivalent to units of study.

Non-specified credit
A 'block credit' for a specified number of credit points at a particular level. These credit points may be in a particular subject area but are not linked to a specific unit of study.

Credit Points
Credit points are a measure of value which indicate the contribution each unit of study provides towards meeting course completion requirements stated as a total credit point value. Each unit of study will have a credit point value assigned to it, which will usually be 6, or within the range 3 to 24.

Dean
The head of a faculty or the principal or director of a college (such as the Conservatorium of Music or the Sydney College of Arts).

Deferment
If you receive an offer of admission to a course you may apply to defer enrolment in that course for one semester or one academic cycle.

Degree
A university qualification, such as a bachelor’s degree.

Department
A department is the academic unit which is responsible for teaching and examining a unit of study. It may be called a school, a department, a centre or a unit within the University.

Diploma
A two-year undergraduate qualification (Bachelor's degrees take three years of study), sometimes available as an Associate Diploma or Advanced Diploma. Not all faculties offer diplomas.

Domestic student
You are a domestic student if you are an Australian or New Zealand citizen, or an Australian permanent resident.

Elective
A unit which you can do within a degree, usually an option within a course. Electives allow more detailed study of a particular subject.

Faculty
A faculty, consisting mainly of academic staff and headed by a dean, is a large department that is responsible for all matters relating to the courses that
it supervises.

Fee-HELP Loan
Postgraduate students who are Australian citizens or holders of a Permanent Humanitarian Visa can gain assistance in paying their fees through the Commonwealth Government’s Fee-HELP program. There is a $81,600 limit ($102,00 for students studying dentistry, medicine or veterinary science) to the amount students can borrow through Fee-HELP.

Graduate entry degree
A bachelor’s (undergraduate) degree that requires another undergraduate degree as a prerequisite of entry. Graduate-entry degrees at the University of Sydney include the Sydney Medical Program.

HECS-HELP loan
This is a scheme that helps Commonwealth-supported students to pay their fees through up-front payments and loans. Students who are Australian citizens or holders of a permanent humanitarian visa can choose to pay their contributions upfront or obtain a HECS-HELP loan from the government. You repay a HECS-HELP loan through the tax system once you are working and your income reaches a defined threshold. If you pay your contribution up front you will receive a 20 percent discount.

Honours
Some degrees may be completed with honours. Honours works differently depending on the faculty, and usually involves either:
–– the completion of a separate
honours year
–– additional work in the later years
of the course, or
–– high-level achievement over all
years of the course.

International student
An international student is required to hold a student visa to study in Australia and may be liable for international tuition fees. Any student who is not an Australian or New Zealand citizen or a permanent resident of Australia is an international student. New Zealand citizens are not classified as international students, but have a special category under HECS that does not permit them to defer their HECS liability.

Major
A major can be described as a specialisation (or defined program of study) within your course. You can select and transfer between majors according to the units of study you select. You may be required to complete one or more majors in order to satisfy the course requirements.

Mature-age
At the University of Sydney, this means that you will be 21 years or older on
1 March of the year in which you want to study, and have not completed the high school qualifications you would normally need to gain entry.

Minor
A minor is a defined program of study, generally comprising units of study from later stages of the award course and requiring a smaller number of credit points than a major.

MyUni
MyUni is a personalised space for students on the University’s website. MyUni delivers information and services directly through a central location, while also allowing users to customise certain information. Students are able to access services such as exam seat numbers, results, timetables and enrolment variations, and e-learning software such as Blackboard and WebCT.

On-time applications are the first round of UAC applications. You can apply after the closing date for on-time applications, but extra application
fees apply.

Orientation
The University of Sydney Welcome Orientation and Transition (SWOT) Program, at the Camperdown and Darlington campuses, provides a free, integrated program of lectures and activities to assist students with the transition to university. SWOT helps students develop the academic skills required at university and introduces them to the University Library, Computer Access Centres and student support services. Faculty and departmental ‘welcomes’ and first-year support activities are an important part of the support provided for new students. SWOT is held in parallel with the University of Sydney Union O-Week, which provides tours, games and entertainment and the opportunity to join student clubs and societies. For more information visit www.swot.usyd.edu.au. Ongoing first-year support is provided within faculties and central student support services. Orientation and first-year support programs also take place on other campuses.

Postgraduate
A term used to describe a course leading to an award such as a graduate diploma, a master’s degree or a PhD, which usually requires prior completion of a relevant undergraduate degree (or diploma) course. A postgraduate is a student enrolled in such a course.

Prerequisite
A prerequisite is a unit of study that is required to be successfully completed before another unit can be attempted.

Program
Your units of study are the building blocks in your program. To earn your degree, you need to have completed certain units of study. The way these are put together for your degree is called your 'program'.

Recommended subject
A recommended subject is not a prerequisite or assumed knowledge. You will not be disadvantaged if you have not completed it.

School
At the University of Sydney, this can mean the same thing as a department, or a few departments grouped together.

Scholarships
Scholarships are financial or other forms of support made available to assist Australian and international students to pursue their studies at the University. When a student’s means are a criterion, scholarships are sometimes called bursaries.

Semester
A semester is the academic teaching period of about 14 weeks in duration. There are two semesters each year.

Senate
The Senate is the governing body of the University.

Session
A session is a defined teaching period of the University. The two major sessions are called semesters.

Stream
A defined award course, which requires the completion of set units of study as specified by the course rules for the particular stream, in addition to the core program specified by the course rules. A stream will appear with the award course name on testamurs, e.g. Bachelor of Engineering in Civil Engineering (Construction Management).

Student ID card
All students who enrol are issued with an identification card. The card includes the student’s name, their ID number, photograph, the course code, and a barcode for borrowing from the library.

Student Learning Entitlement (SLE)
All Australian citizens, New Zealand citizens and holders of a permanent visa are allocated a Student Learning Entitlement (SLE). This is measured in equivalent full time student load (EFTSL), which is the proportion of a full time load that a unit of study represents. Your higher education provider sets an EFTSL value for each unit of study it offers. To be Commonwealth supported for a unit, you must have enough SLE to cover the EFTSL value of that unit.

Tertiary Study
Tertiary studies includes associate diploma, diploma, advanced diploma or degree-level studies undertaken in Australian or equivalent study overseas

UAC
The Universities Admissions Centre (UAC) receives and processes applications for admission to undergraduate courses at recognised universities in NSW and the ACT. Interstate equivalents to UAC include QTAC (Queensland), VTAC (Victoria), SATAC (South Australia) and TISC (Tasmania).

Undergraduate
A term used to describe a course leading to a diploma or a bachelor’s degree. An undergraduate is a student enrolled in such a course.

Unit of study (UoS)
Essentially this is a subject. It is also the smallest stand-alone component of a student’s course that can be recorded on the student’s transcript.

Unit of study level
Units of study are divided into Junior, Intermediate, Senior, Honours, Year 5 and Year 6. Junior units of study usually act as prerequisites for intermediate and senior units of study. Most majors consist of 32 Senior credit points in a subject area.

University medal
A faculty may recommend the award of a University medal to students qualified for the award of an undergraduate Honours degree, whose academic performance is judged to be outstanding.

Vice-Chancellor
The chief executive officer of the whole University, responsible for its leadership and management. He is head of the academic and administrative divisions, and is also known as the Principal of the University.