Policies & procedures

Exams 
Find out more about examination dates, location and procedures at UNSW.

Graduate capabilities 
Read about the desired learning outcomes for all students on the UNSW learning and teaching website.

Plagiarism and academic integrity 
Commencing undergraduate or postgraduate coursework students must complete the UNSW Library ELISE Tutorial for academic writing, research and the responsible use of information. You should also familiarise yourself with the university's approach to academic integrity and plagiarism. The Working with Academic Integrity lesson is an interactive self-paced Moodle module exploring and explaining academic integrity terms and placing them into your learning context. 

Academic Skills 
This is a service that provides students with resources and support to help develop and refine academic skills such as writing, referencing and exam preparation.

Program leave and discontinuation 
You must formally apply for program leave through your student profile in myUNSW if you want to take a leave of absence from your program of up to 1 year and want to come back to your studies after taking leave. Program leave is for enrolled domestic undergraduate or postgraduate students. It's available to international students with certain conditions. For more information, see program leave. If you want to discontinue your studies completely, and not resume them at a later date, see program discontinuation.

Results 
For more information about how to access your assessment results, why results may be withheld and how to apply for a review of results, go to results.

Special consideration (illness and misadventure) 
Sickness, misadventure or other circumstance beyond your control may prevent you from completing a course requirement or may significantly affect your performance in assessable work. You can apply for special consideration for the affected assessments, with supporting documents, through your student profile in myUNSW. For more information, see special consideration.

Special permission to withdraw from a course without penalty 
To withdraw from a course after both the census date and the withdrawal without academic penalty date have passed, you need special permission. Applications must be made through your student profile in myUNSW. For more information, see fee remission.

Student code of conduct 
The overarching obligation of all students is to act in the best interests of the University community at all times. For more information, see student conduct. Disciplinary action in accordance with the Student Misconduct Procedure may take place if the University believes a student has breached the student code of conduct. 

Student complaints and appeals 
A complaint is any type of problem, concern or grievance about your studies, student life, the University or the University environment. The way the University handles complaints is set out in the Student Complaints Procedure. A complaint must be lodged within 12 months of becoming aware of the issue.

UNSW work health and safety policies 
UNSW’s Health and Safety Policy objective is that no person will come to harm while at UNSW. To achieve this, everyone at the University needs to understand their individual health and safety responsibilities. The policy applies to all staff, students and visitors to the University and UNSW staff and students undertaking University-related activities elsewhere. Access the University’s work health and safety policies for students and staff.

The university offers a range of student support and development services to assist you while you're studying. See Support and Development for the full range of services provided to UNSW students. 

• Equitable Learning Services 
  The Equitable Learning Services (ELS) facilitate inclusive educational policy and practices across UNSW. ELS is a free and confidential service that provides practical support to ensure your health condition does not adversely affect your studies. 

• Student wellbeing and health 
  Find out more about student wellbeing and health including health services, mental health support, campus security and wellbeing news and events. 
  Student Support Advisors provide personal support to students and information about university life, student visas, wellbeing and academic performance.

UNSW has a standard late submission penalty of:

• 5% per day,
• for all assessments where a penalty applies,
• capped at five days (120 hours) from the assessment deadline, after which a student cannot submit an assessment, and
• no permitted variation.

Students are expected to manage their time to meet deadlines and to request extensions as early as possible before the deadline.

It is important to read the information on the UNSW Results page before applying for a review of results.

Note: You must submit your application no later than 5 working days after the return of the piece of work or, in the case of an exam, 5 working days from the date of release of results.

If you wish to request a re-assessment of a piece of work, you should first discuss your performance with the Course Authority. If you still believe, after discussion, that the mark you've received doesn't reflect your performance, you may apply for re-assessment.

If a request is submitted for a review of result for a group assessment, then all group members must agree to the request for a review. In the event that the final mark and grade are adjusted following the review of result request, it will be adjusted for all group members.

The review of result may lead to the mark going up, down or remaining unchanged.

Keep all marked work in case it is needed for re-marking.

The UNSW Policy on Class Attendance and Absence can be viewed here.  

From time to time, the Course Authority may vary the attendance requirements for a course. It is the students’ responsibility to ensure that they are familiar with the specific attendance requirements stipulated in the course outline for each course in which they are enrolled.

Students are expected to be regular and punctual in attendance at all classes in the courses in which they're enrolled. Where courses stipulate mandatory attendance requirements, students who seek to be excused from attendance [or for absence] must apply to the Course Authority in writing.

Explanations of absences from classes or requests for permission to be absent from forthcoming classes should be addressed to the Course Authority in writing and, where applicable, should be accompanied by appropriate documentation, for example, a medical certificate. After submitting appropriate supporting documentation to the Course Authority to explain his/her absence, a student may be required to undertake supplementary class(s) or task(s) as prescribed by the Course Authority. If examinations or other forms of assessment have been missed, then the student should apply for Special Consideration.

School of Education Attendance Requirements

The School of Education requires students to attend a minimum of 80% of scheduled classes (whether on-campus, off-campus, or online), and to demonstrate regularly and timely engagement in online, blended, or self-paced courses. For more information, see the Education Course Information page.

Course Information

Students seeking credit transfer for courses completed elsewhere must submit documentary evidence and specify the courses they wish to complete within the Faculty. The Faculty will then determine the number of units of credit to be granted. See credit transfer for more information.

Information on how to apply for credit transfer is available through The Nucleus Student Hub. 
If you're an international student, credit transfers can affect your visa as they can change the length of your program. Find out how transferring credit as an international student can affect your visa.

• The maximum limit for cross-institutional study/intensive exchange is 12 units of credit throughout your program.

• Cross-institutional study/intensive exchange can only be undertaken after completing at least 72 units of credit if you're an undergraduate student. Postgraduate students must have completed a minimum of 50% of the units of credit necessary to complete the program.

• You should have at least a credit average and no more than one fail (Academic Withdrawal (AW) is considered the same way as a failure) if you're undertaking overseas cross-institutional study/intensive exchange.

• The discipline (specialisation) is appropriate to your program. 

• The course content is not taught at UNSW; or

• You're unable to enrol in a UNSW course for good reason, for example, failed a UNSW prerequisite course which might impact on your progression in your program.

• Core courses must be completed at UNSW and cannot be substituted for a cross-institutional course/intensive exchange.

• Credit for study will not be granted if the cross-institutional study/intensive exchange was not approved prior to your study. 

• See cross institutional study for more information.

• International students are not eligible to take Learning Abroad Short Courses offered in their country of origin. Exceptions may be approved by the Deputy Dean Education (or delegate) upon demonstration of exceptional circumstances.
• See Short Courses and Study Tours for more information.

Maximum exchange period for students in double degrees

• A one-year exchange is the maximum period allowed by the UNSW International Exchange rules, with the exception of the International Studies double degrees (for example, International Studies/Law or International Studies/Media) where students can undertake an additional 18-24 UOC for their degree other than International Studies.

• Students in Arts, Design & Architecture double degrees with an external Faculty (for example, Arts/Law or Science/Arts) are limited to 18-24 UOC.

• Students in Arts, Design & Architecture double degrees within the Faculty can participate in a one-year exchange program (48 UOC) but can't count more than 24 UOC towards each degree. However, in some programs such as Arts/Education (Secondary), the core courses can't be completed on exchange. This may limit the period of exchange in some dual degrees to 18-24 UOC.

• For more information see student exchange.

Exchange Program in the final term of study

Students undertaking an exchange program in their final term of study must bring back credit transfer of at least 18 UOC, that is, the equivalent full-time load per term at UNSW.

Arts, Design & Architecture students must meet the following conditions to overload:

• Undergraduate students must have completed at least 48 units of credit (UOC), achieved a weighted average mark (WAM) of 65+ and be in good academic standing.
  
• Postgraduate students must have completed at least 36 units of credit (UOC), achieved a weighted average mark (WAM) of 65+ and be in good academic standing.

Applications to overload are only considered for the following term. Applications will be assessed after the official result release of the current term. You'll be notified of the outcome of your application through your student email.

The faculty allows permissible timetable clashes only in certain circumstances:

• The timetable clash can only be between lectures or between a lecture and a tutorial or seminar. Only the lecture can be missed.

• Where the clash is between two lectures the course convenor will determine whether full waiver of attendance or partial attendance is permitted.

• Timetable clashes aren't available to students in their first term of study at university.

• You take full responsibility for the timetable clash and ensure that you meet the course learning outcomes.

• All timetable clash requests must be submitted using the Timetable Clash Request Form.

If your permissible timetable clash request is approved, you must fulfil the following requirements: 

• You must attend the clashed lecture on a specific date if that lecture contains an assessment task for the course such as a quiz or test. If you miss the said lecture there is no obligation on the Course Convenor to schedule a make-up quiz or test and you can receive zero for the assessment task. It should be noted that in many courses a failure to complete an assessment task can be grounds for course failure.

UNSW is always looking for ways to improve courses, programs and your overall student experience. Constructive feedback assists your teachers and shapes the future of education at UNSW. Surveys for current students are myExperience, Student Experience Survey and International Student Barometer (for international students). More information on surveys available to UNSW students can be viewed here.

Bachelor of Education, Master of Teaching (Primary), Master of Teaching (Secondary)

For successful completion of the Bachelor of Education program and to be eligible to apply for accreditation as a teacher in NSW, all teacher education students will need to meet the following participation and enrolment requirements.

Assessment of suitability for teaching

It's a NESA requirement that Initial Teacher Education providers include a continuum of non-academic evaluation of students’ suitability for teaching during programs. UNSW meets this requirement as follows.

Undergraduate (BEd) students only: Students must successfully complete a full year (48 UOC) of studies in their specific disciplinary content area, (for example, Maths, Science, Economics or Arts), and 30 UOC of mandatory general education courses before undertaking any discipline-specific curriculum and pedagogic studies (Methods) or professional experience placements in schools.

As a way of ensuring students are progressing through the program effectively, we undertake an extensive evaluation of teacher suitability for their specific teaching areas and continually monitor and evaluate the relationship between these measures, their performance during professional experience and graduate outcomes, including a level of self-efficacy. We do this via a range of strategies, including, where relevant:

• Microteaching assessments,

• Using direct observation of all professional experience placements, including the placement as a teaching assistant,

• Multiple critical assessment tasks,

• A teaching performance assessment (TPA), and

• Observations and activities based on a set of inherent requirements used by a range of NSW teacher education providers.

In addition to this, before their first supervised professional experience placement, all teacher education students must:

• Undertake and pass The Literacy and Numeracy Test for Initial Teacher Education (LANTITE). For further details please visit the NESA website. Tests are available through the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) website.

• Undertake a Working with Children Check. The Commission for Children and Young People Act 1998 introduced mandatory requirements for background checking of people working with children. All Teacher Education Students therefore must complete a Working with Children Check.

• Complete Anaphylaxis Training. The Department of Education (DEC) require that all initial Teacher Education Students have training in managing anaphylaxis. Students must complete the free anaphylaxis e-training module provided by the Australian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA) in conjunction with practice using an adrenaline autoinjector training device.

• Confirm that they're fit for their school placement and meet the inherent requirements of a teacher education student. This self-assessment is completed prior to EVERY placement and submitted through the online placement system (OPS).

English language proficiency

It's a NESA requirement that all teacher education students can effectively communicate with students, colleagues and the broader education community daily. In addition to satisfying UNSW entry requirements, oral and written communication skills are assessed regularly as part of all coursework and professional experience. 

Attendance

The School of Education requires students to attend a minimum of 80% of scheduled classes (whether on-campus, off-campus, or online), and to demonstrate regularly and timely engagement in online, blended, or self-paced courses. For more information, see the Education Course Information page.

Course Information

The Arts, Design & Architecture Dean's List (A0010I) recognises the outstanding achievements of its students.

Eligibility

The Award is available to students enrolled in UNSW Arts, Design & Architecture (ADA) coursework programs who have:

1. Successfully completed a minimum of 36 UOC (Undergraduate) or 24 UOC (Postgraduate) at UNSW within a single academic year (Summer, T1, T2 and T3); and
2. Successfully completed a minimum of 12 UOC of UNSW Arts, Design & Architecture courses; and
3. Achieved an overall minimum Weighted Average Mark (WAM) of 80 for all courses completed and attempted that year.

Selection

Selection is based on a student's overall Weighted Average Mark (WAM) and Units of Credit (UOC) successfully completed at UNSW within a single academic year (Summer, T1, T2 and T3).

Students enrolled in ADA Undergraduate coursework programs need to have successfully completed a minimum of 36 UOC at UNSW within a single academic year to be eligible for the Dean’s List.

Students enrolled in ADA Postgraduate coursework programs need to have successfully completed a minimum of 24 UOC at UNSW within a single academic year to be eligible for the Dean’s List.

Students also need to have successfully completed a minimum of 12 UOC of ADA courses. 

A minimum overall UNSW WAM of 80 is required to be eligible for the Dean's List. The WAM is calculated on all UNSW courses completed and attempted.

Students do not need to apply for the Dean's List. The selection process is administered by ADA and all eligible students are automatically considered. 

Students enrolled in stand alone one-year Honours programs (e.g. 4504, etc.) are not eligible for the Dean’s List.

Students who have transferred out of an ADA coursework program are not eligible for the Dean’s List.

Late grades may affect a student’s eligibility for inclusion on the Dean’s List.

Enrolment Continuing (EC) grades will only be included in the Dean’s List calculations when all muti-term courses are completed.

Exchange courses and transfer credit for courses completed at another institution are not counted as completed units of credit for the Dean's List calculations.

Students can be enrolled in either a single degree owned by ADA or a dual degree owned by ADA or a dual degree where ADA is the split owner.

Acknowledgment of Students on Dean’s List

Students will receive an e-certificate to acknowledge their achievement. All student recipients will be listed on the UNSW Prize Winners website.

The Dean’s List Award will be listed on the student’s official academic transcript and Australian Higher Education Graduation Statement (AHEGS) which students will receive on graduation through My eQuals.