1. Browse the university
2. Research
3. Community
4. Contact & Maps

• Glossary
• DEF

Glossary

• ABC
• DEF
• GHI
• JKL
• MNO
• PQR
• STU
• VWXYZ

D

• Defence Reserves
  Students who are members of the Australian Defence Reserve Service, or Reservists or Defence Reservists. Such students may be required to attend one or more compulsory camps of continuous training in a year and occasionally a service role, a non-compulsory camp or course.
• Degree
  Unless a different definition is specified in the policy, a tertiary Award Course (including Bachelor, Honours or Master degrees, or any diploma or certificate, whether offered to undergraduate or postgraduate students).
• Delegated Authority (Minor Change)
  Certain changes which the Academic Board has delegated to faculties and graduate schools authority to make within specified timeframes. These include: • All changes to elective subjects; • All changes to compulsory subjects that do not affect the points requirements or level of subjects to complete the program; • Change of up to 25% of the subjects in any year of any program (stream/major/specialisation), provided that the configuration of compulsory and elective points remains the same; • All changes to mode of delivery of subjects, except when it is proposed to change the mode of delivery of the whole course; • All changes to non-core breadth subjects and changes to University breadth subjects that do not affect the contributions from different disciplines. • Changes in delivery from normal semesters to intensive or summer semester; • Changes in semester dates.
• Department
  The department, school or other organisational academic unit that is responsible for (teaching and assessing/examining) the subject in which a student is enrolled.
• Departmental Assessment Coordinator
  The Head of Department or their nominee with responsibility for coordinating assessment within a teaching department.
• Dictionary
  Specifically designates hardcopy books,
• Disability
  Within the University environment, a disability exists when a person experiences difficulties undertaking academic tasks as a result of their health, body structures and functions, personal or environmental factors.
• Disability Liaison Officer (DLO)
  A professional staff member based in the Disability Liaison Unit with primary responsibility for facilitating reasonable adjustments for students experiencing disability-related Academic Disadvantage.
• Disability Liaison Unit (DLU)
  The DLU provides services to staff and students. Details of those services are available on the DLU website (http://cms.unimelb.edu.au/studentservices/disability/).
• Disadvantage
  Defined, ongoing, unpreventable circumstances that hamper a student's ability to participate and to demonstrate their academic merit.
• Disallowed Subject Combination
  A combination of subjects that students are not permitted to enrol in and receive credit for, normally because the content of the subjects overlaps significantly.
• Distance Delivery
  The offering of courses, programs or subjects in which there is no requirement that students will attend on campus. This can include packages of materials posted out to students or online delivery where students access the teaching materials interact with teaching staff via the web. In off-campus (including off-shore) delivery, the subject is taught face-to-face at a site away from one of the University’s campuses.
• Dual Orograms
  Where two qualifications of the same type (e.g. Bachelor/Bachelor) are completed at the University and another higher education provider (most commonly an overseas provider as a form of Transnational Education) with formal pre-approved cross-credit arrangements, enabling completion of both qualifications in less than the minimum time required to complete each qualification separately.
• Due Date
  The date by which an assessment task must be submitted to avoid incurring a penalty for late submission.

E

• EFT
  Equivalent full-time study.
• Elective
  Subjects within the broad discipline central to either the course of study or Major, from which students may choose a specified number.
• Elite
  Representing the state or country.
• Elite Athlete
  Sportsperson representing the state or country.
• Elite Performer
  Performer who is operating at the highest level in their field of activity as a contracted artist.
• Emergency Service Volunteers
  Volunteer members of VIC SES (State Emergency Service) or CFA (Country Fire Authority) and similar volunteer-based emergency services.
• Enabling Course
  A course of instruction provided to a person for the purpose of enabling the person to undertake a course leading to a higher education award, but is not a course leading to a higher education award.
• Enrolling Student
  A student who has been offered or accepted a place in a degree at the University of Melbourne.
• Episodic
  A disability or disadvantage that is not constant, that occurs either periodically or without warning, which nevertheless can be predicted as potentially occurring and its impact anticipated.
• Equivalency Test
  A test to measure the extent to which a person's existing knowledge or skills satisfy the requirements of an education or training program or a job.
• Examination
  Assessment held during the examination period and formally conducted under examination conditions, e.g. formally supervised written examinations; written or online tests; oral tests; performances; aural tests.
• Examination Board
  Name given to the group of examiners responsible for assessment in each subject.
• Examination Commencement Time
  The time at which students may begin writing and at which examination has officially commenced.
• Examiners
  Persons designated by the chairperson of the Examination Board from those teaching the subject as the examiners (under statute 12.1).
• Exemption
  A waiver of a particular requisite with or without Credit.
• Exemption Examination
  An examination of the material covered in a subject that is offered in association with an accelerated entry pathway to students who have completed additional work judged to be at a tertiary level as part of a secondary education program. Satisfactory completion of the Exemption Examination(s) is an aggregate result of at least 70%.
• Exit Award
  An award that may be offered to students unable to fulfil the requirements of the program for which they are enrolled.
• Expected Return Date
  The date that completed assignments, together with provisional results and feedback from examiners, are expected to be available for collection by students.
• Extended Degree
  A degree program designed to provide a path for identified groups of students who do not meet the usual entry requirements for a Bachelor degree course. Extended Degrees provide foundation and/or bridging studies for particular courses of between 50 to 100 additional credit points. After successful completion of the extended modified first part of the course, students move into the standard program, usually at the beginning of the second year, to complete the degree.
• Extension
  A variation to the due date that provides a student with extra time to complete an assignment.

F

• Faculties
  Academic units established under Statute 5.1 – Academic Structures and related regulations.
• Field of Study
  A hierarchical classification which describes the major subject matter of a course.
• Final Result
  The mark and grade determined by the Board of Examiners as a student's result for the subject as a whole.
• First Year Student
  A student entering the first year of their degree study.
• Fixed, Full-Time Course
  A course of study where a student must successfully complete all subjects of the course during a particular academic year and maintain a full-time enrolment. A student who fails a subject is not permitted to progress to the next year of the course without repeating the failed subject.
• Foreign-Language Dictionary
  A Dictionary that translates between one language and another.
• Foundation Studies
  Pre-university Enabling Courses/programs designed to meet the entry requirements for entry to courses on successful completion at the required standard.
• Full Study Load
  Normally completion of 100 points within a calendar year but may be broken down by teaching periods (e.g. 50 points in semester 2).
• Full-/Part-Time Course
  A course of study in which students are normally permitted to enrol part-time if they choose to do so.
• Full-Time Course
  A course of study in which students are not normally permitted to enrol part-time.
• Full-Time Equivalent (FTE)
  A teaching or study load expressed as a proportion of the normal full-time teaching or study load.
• Full-Time Student
  A student who has a full-time study load. For AUSTUDY entitlement, the Department of Education, Employement and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) regards a normal full-time study load as 720 student contact hours in a year, and any student undertaking 540 hours or more is regarded as a Full-Time Student.