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General Rules and Requirements

General Education Requirements

Science faculty
The University requires all students to complete a selection of General Education courses. The General Education Program is an integral part of all UNSW undergraduate programs and gives students the opportunity to address some of the key questions they will face as individuals, citizens and professionals.

Students in the Science programs must complete General Education courses totalling 12 units of credit plus an additional 56 hours of study which fosters acceptance of professional and ethical action and social responsibility. See the General Education section within this Handbook for a description of General Education course categories.
  1. Mainstream courses may be substituted for General Education, but only with the approval of the Associate Dean (Student Affairs). Only 6 units of credit from mainstream courses may be substituted for General Education. Students may also only count a maximum of 6 units of credit of General Education courses from a single faculty.*
  2. Students have the freedom to choose their General Education courses, according to the General Education requirements and restrictions detailed in the General Education section at the beginning of this Handbook.
  3. Students enrolled in combined degrees are normally exempt from the General Education requirement.
* Please refer to the General Education section of this Handbook for further information on substitution.

Prerequisites, Corequisites and Excluded Courses

All programs are governed by basic conditions or rules that specify what a student needs to complete in order to qualify for a degree. Normally a student will study a mixture of compulsory and elective courses.

Compulsory or core courses are ones that must be studied, usually at the stage specified in the program. Often one compulsory course is a prerequisite for another that comes later.

Elective courses are ones that a student chooses in accordance with his or her own interests, subject to meeting prerequisites and corequisites, and capacity in the course. Some electives may have to be taken from a specified list.

Where a choice of courses is available in a program, students must take care to satisfy prerequisites and corequisites and not complete excluded courses.

Prerequisites are courses that must be satisfactorily completed before a student can progress to a later course. Prerequisites are specifi ed in the course descriptions later in this Handbook and students without a necessary prerequisite for a course will be blocked from enrolment in that course.

Corequisites are courses that must either be completed successfully before, or studied concurrently with, the course for which it is prescribed.

Excluded courses are ones that cannot be counted towards the degree qualification.

Credit Transfer

Students admitted to programs administered by the Faculty of Science (including the Science component of combined degrees) may be granted credit for previous studies. All applications for credit transfer are subject to the following conditions:
  1. Where students transfer from another tertiary institution, they shall not in general be granted standing in the course that is superior to that which they attained at the institution from which they transferred.
  2. Only courses completed within ten years from the commencement of the UNSW degree will be eligible for transfer credit.
  3. The credit granted to students admitted to a program administered by the Faculty of Science based upon any completed degrees or awards held by the applicant may not exceed the amount that will permit the applicant to qualify for the degree by completing the requirements for the latter half of the degree.
  4. The credit granted to students admitted to a program administered by the Faculty of Science based upon a partially completed degree or award held by the applicant may not exceed the amount that will permit the applicant to qualify for the degree by completing the requirements for the final year of the degree (excluding Honours).
  5. The credit granted to students admitted to a combined degree with the Faculty of Science may not exceed the amount that will permit the applicant to qualify for the science component of the combined degree by completing the requirements for the latter half of the Science component of the degree.
  6. Students who have been awarded the degree of Bachelor at Pass level may be permitted to enroll for the award of the degree at Honours level with credit for all courses completed if, during the studies for the Pass degree, they have satisfied the prerequisites for entry to the Honours program determined by the school concerned.
Applicants should note that eligibility for transfer credit in a Science program does not guarantee admission to that program.

Study Load

Students may not undertake a study load of more than 24 units of credit in any session (including General Education). This can be exceeded only in exceptional circumstances by students with an excellent academic record and requires the permission of the Associate Dean (Student Affairs). Students with external commitments, such as part-time employment in excess of ten hours per week, should take fewer courses each session. External commitments will not to be taken into consideration in relation to such matters as extensions of time for submission of written work or failure to attend examinations (which may, for some courses, be scheduled on Saturday mornings). Students not on good academic standing will be notified in writing and may be required to show why they should be allowed to continue in the program or may be given a restricted program.

Students wishing to take courses additional to those required for the award should be aware that the relevant courses may attract an additional fee, payable up-front, as non award courses.

Academic Standing

A level of academic standing will be assigned to students at the end of each main session. These levels are defined as: Good Standing (the student's current progress is deemed satisfactory), Referral, Probation 1, Probation 2, Suspension, Probation 3 and Exclusion. Movement between levels is based on progress, measured by proportion of load passed. The Program Authority assigns an advisor to each student not in good standing. Continued poor progress can lead to suspension (one year with automatic readmission) or exclusion (two years without automatic readmission). For further information please see General University Rules & Student Information in this Handbook.

Progression through Advanced Science, Environmental Science and Medical Science programs is subject to academic performance. Students enrolled in these programs are required to attain an average of 65 or higher each session of their program.

Program and Course Quotas

Quotas are imposed on some programs and courses (usually because of class size constraints related to space). Where quotas are imposed, students' eligibility to enrol will be assessed on academic merit or on the basis of the requirements of the program of study in which the student is enrolled.

Undergraduate Information

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© The University of New South Wales (CRICOS Provider No.: 00098G), 2004-2011. The information contained in this Handbook is indicative only. While every effort is made to keep this information up-to-date, the University reserves the right to discontinue or vary arrangements, programs and courses at any time without notice and at its discretion. While the University will try to avoid or minimise any inconvenience, changes may also be made to programs, courses and staff after enrolment. The University may also set limits on the number of students in a course.