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Selecting units in Sydney Student

When you start your course and during each enrolment, you'll usually need to select your units of study in Sydney Student. 

Selecting units in Sydney Student

Overview

Selecting your units of study is an important part of your online enrolment in most courses at the University.

First, you’ll need to read our information on planning your course and your handbook so you know the requirements of your course and can plan which units of study you're going to choose. If you’re enrolling for Semester 1, you will also select units for Semester 2 so it’s important to plan ahead before enrolment starts.

The unit of study selection screen

During enrolment you’ll be taken to the unit of study selection screen automatically.

Once you’re enrolled, you can access this screen to review or change your units by logging in to Sydney Student and going to ‘ My studies’, ‘Units of study’ then ‘Change your units of study’.

You can download a detailed guide to the unit of study screen (pdf, 643KB) to reference as you complete the task.

Collections, course rules, tracking totals

The unit of study selection screen is structured based on your course rules, so it will look slightly different depending on your course.

At the top, you’ll see your course rules outlining your requirements. See your handbook for more information. It’s important you understand these rules so that you meet your course requirements.

The collections that you select units from are the different groups of units available for your course, divided up according to your course rules. e.g. junior units of study.

This Tracking totals section tracks the credit points or total units that you have selected against what is required for your course. The green tick turns grey if you make selections that do not meet the requirements of your course.

Unit codes used in the screen

When you’re selecting your units and in the ‘Your selected unit(s) of study’ box, you will see a series of different codes next to each unit. It’s important to check these codes before you select a unit, as they tell you important information about how that unit will be delivered.

The codes refer to the session, mode of attendance (MoA), location and credit points (CP) of each unit. Session dates are available on the Study dates page and the codes for mode of attendance and location are listed below.

Code Description
RE Remote - online delivery
ZZ No information on location

On-campus locations

Code Description
BS Burren Street, Sydney
BO Dubbo
CC Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
CD Concord Clinical School
CE Central Clinical School
CF Camden, Sydney
CH Children's Hospital at Westmead Clinical School
CR Castlereagh Street, Sydney
CS Surry Hills, Sydney
LC Cumberland Campus (in Lidcombe), Sydney
MS Mallett Street Campus, Sydney
NE Nepean Clinical School
NO Northern Clinical School
OC Orange
RC Rozelle Campus, Sydney
SA Sydney Adventist Hospital Clinical School
SC Sydney Campus
SJ St James Campus, Sydney CBD
TD Taronga Dubbo
TM Taronga Mosman
WC Westmead Campus
WN Western Clinical School, Westmead

International locations

Code Description
AE United Arab Emirates
AM Amsterdam
CN China
EL England
GE Germany
HK Hong Kong
ID Indonesia
IT Italy
KT Kyoto/Tokyo
ML Malaysia
NP Nepal
NR Norway
SH Shanghai
SP Singapore

Distance education locations

Code Description
DB Distance education (via Burren Street Campus)
DC Distance education (via Camperdown Campus)
DF Distance education (via Camden Campus)
DL Distance education (via Cumberland Campus)
DM Distance education (via Mallett Street Campus)
DO Distance education (via Orange Campus)
DR Distance education (via Rozelle Campus)
DS Distance education (via Surry Hills Campus)
DW Distance education (via Westmead Campus)
DY Distance education (via Sydney Campus)
Code Description
BM Block mode
CE Clinical experience
DE Distance education
DI Distance education / campus intensive
EX External
FE Field experience
ND Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
NE Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) evening
OL Online
PP Professional practice
SU Supervision
Code Description
S1C Semester 1
S1CG Session 1 Early
S1CIAP Intensive April
S1CIFE Intensive February
S1CIJA Intensive January
S1CIJN Intensive June
S1CIMR Intensive March
S1CIMY Intensive May
S1CMBA MBA Session 1
S1CNDP Nutrition and Dietetics Placement Session 1
S1CRA Semester 1A
S1CRB Semester 1B
S1CRR1 Research Period 1
S1CRR2 Research Period 2
S1CVP1 Semester 1 DVM Placement Rotation 1
S1CVP2 Semester 1 DVM Placement Rotation 2
S1CVP3 Semester 1 DVM Placement Rotation 3
S1CVP4 Semester 1 DVM Placement Rotation 4
S1CVP5 Semester 1 DVM Placement Rotation 5
S1CVP6 Semester 1 DVM Placement Rotation 6
S2C Semester 2
S2CE Semester 2 Early
S2CG Session 2 Early
S2CIAU Intensive August
S2CIDE Intensive December
S2CIJL Intensive July
S2CINO Intensive November census
S2CIOC Intensive October
S2CISE Intensive September
S2CMBA MBA session 2
S2CNDP Nutrition and Dietetics Placement Session 2
S2CRA Semester 2A
S2CRB Semester 2B
S2CREA Semester 2 Early A
S2CREB Semester 2 Early B
S2CRR3 Research Period 3
S2CRR4 Research Period 4
S2CVP1 Semester 2 DVM Placement Rotation 1
S2CVP2 Semester 2 DVM Placement Rotation 2
S2CVP3 Semester 2 DVM Placement Rotation 3
S2CVP4 Semester 2 DVM Placement Rotation 4
S2CVP5 Semester 2 DVM Placement Rotation 5
S2CVP6 Semester 2 DVM Placement Rotation 6

How to select units of study

  1. Select ‘View’ in the relevant collection. You can either browse all the units in the collection or search for a specific one using the unit of study code, such as NURS5081.
  2. Select ‘Add’, you will see it added to the unit of study box on the right.
  3. To remove a unit select the rubbish bin symbol next to that unit.

Once you have chosen your units, you need to select 'Continue' and then 'Confirm' your selection on the next screen.

If you are selecting units as part of enrolment, you need to make sure you continue through the task and complete all steps to be properly enrolled in your units.

Deadlines for changing units

After you’ve enrolled, you will be able to change your units as long as you haven’t passed the relevant unit deadlines.

Important dates you need to be aware of for each session are:

  • the last day to add – this date is your deadline for adding new units of study. After this date the system will only allow you to remove units. For Semester 1 and 2 sessions this is usually the end of Week 2.
  • census date – this is the last day that you can remove a unit without incurring financial or academic penalties. You won’t be able to remove a unit through Sydney Student after the census date, and the rubbish bin symbol will not be visible. However, you may be able to apply to discontinue a unit after census.

You can find a full list of dates on our Study dates page.

Re-allocating units of study

All the units of study you select need to be allocated to a specific unit collection within your course, for example ‘Table A junior’. If you have units of study that are unallocated, you will be prompted to allocate these units before you can make selections in the units of study screen.

Find out more about how to reallocate your units.

Changing your major, minor, program or specialisation

If you decide later in your course that you’d like to change your major, minor, program or specialisation, log in to Sydney Student (go to ‘My studies’, ‘Units of study’, then ‘Change your major’). This may also require reallocating units of study.

Make sure you check your course requirements in your handbook, to confirm you are eligible. If you need advice about how the change will affect your degree progress, talk to your academic advisor.

You should only change your majors/minors/programs/specialisations before the start of semester or after the release of results. Making changes during semester can cause system errors.

If you need help with an error in Sydney Student

Contact us online using the course management form. Select 'Change major, minor, program or specialisation' from the drop-down list and include in your request if you:

  • were unable to change your major, minor, program or specialisation in Sydney Student
  • are having problems in Sydney Student (eg. problems choosing units or allocating units to a collection) after you changed your major, minor, program or specialisation.

Unit and course rules

During the unit of study selection task, there are certain conditions based on your course structure, that may prevent you from being able to confirm your unit of study selections.

These rules are in place to ensure that you enrol according to your course requirements and can progress successfully through your course. You can find more information on these rules in your handbook.

If you select a unit that breaks one of these rules, a pop-up message will display with more information about the rule. You’ll have the option to proceed with submitting an enrolment exception request if you believe you are eligible, or cancelling the action so you can choose alternate units of study.

Unit rules

  • if a unit has a prerequisite that you haven’t already completed or received credit for
  • if a unit has a co-requisite that you haven’t also added to your selection
  • if you’ve previously completed or received credit for a unit that is a prohibition for the unit you’re trying to select

Collection rules

  • if you exceed the maximum credit points allowed from a collection or group of collections.

Course rules

  • if you’ve selected more or less than the required units for a course rule (you can see these in your Tracking totals section)

Departmental permission

Some units of study require faculty or school approval for any student wanting to enrol, for example it may be an advanced-level unit, have special registration requirements or limited places. If you need departmental permission to enrol in a unit of study, you will be prompted to make a request after selecting your units of study. If you have also submitted any enrolment exception requests, you won’t be prompted to complete your departmental permission applications until after you’ve received outcomes for your enrolment exception requests.

Find out how to request departmental permission.

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Phone

1800 SYD UNI (1800 793 864)
or +61 2 8627 1444 (outside Australia)

Find out more about how we can help

Last updated: 19 February 2024

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