Student Information

Elective and multi-term course

VIP is a elective multi-term course (ENGG2600, ENGG3600, ENGG4600) available to students from their second year onwards, which runs from Term 1 to Term 3 in a single year. Students must complete all three terms to receive course credit (Total of 6UoC). There are three course codes for different degree stages i.e. ENGG2600 is for second year students.

Project-based assessments

Generally, in each team the VIP academic lead sets mile-stones and project goals, which students contribute towards and are also assessed on. These goals are project specific, view each VIP team's page to get an idea.

There is a general term-by-term assessment structure available in the course outlines. See the Course Outline: ENGG2600, ENGG3600, ENGG4600 (subject to change).

Multi-disciplinary

VIP projects are multi-disciplinary and teams are made up of both academics and students from different streams of engineering but also can be from other faculties. Students are able to rejoin a VIP team by enroling in a second year.

All students must make an application to join a VIP team.

Note: Applications close for individual VIP teams as they fill their positions. The average team has 5 - 10 members and most team will fill by end of each year.

For more information on eligibility and where VIP fits within your degree, please visit the following links if you are:

• Engineering Student
• Medicine Student
• Other Faculties
• International Student

UNSW expects students to spend a minimum of 150 hours to complete a 6 UOC course like VIP. You will have at least 1 contact hour per week of team meetings with your lead academic/s. It is suggested to use at least 4 hours per week devoted to collaborative working time, assessments, and working on your assigned deliverables.

VIP students in general will work in teams on cutting-edge research projects or competitions that drive innovation. Under supervision VIP students will learn knowledge in specific field of research and work independently to research, design, prototype and perform experiments.

Remember the courses are assessment based ... NO EXAMS! 

Please visit the UNSW handbook for more course details:

• ENGG2600
• ENGG3600
• ENGG4600

VIP is available to all UNSW undergraduate students from the beginning of their second year, who have completed a minimum of the following Units of Credit (UoC) by T1 each year:

• ENGG2600 | Second-year - Completed 42 UoC
• ENGG3600 | Third-year - Completed 72 UoC
• ENGG4600 | Fourth-year - Completed 114 UoC

Engineering students must have completed ENGG1000/DESN1000 to apply. This does NOT apply for Comp/Sci, Food/Sci or any student outside the Engineering Faculty.

VIP courses are weighted the same as other Engineering courses for Honours calculations (2x for Level 2, 3x for Level 3, and 4x for Level 4).

VIP is 2 UoC per term.

• Engineering Students

  Other Faculties

  Engineering students can enrol for up to 20 UoC per term if they wish without having to apply for overload approval. 

  Students from other faculties who wish to overload may need to seek approval from their Faculty. Students may need to apply for an Overload Request here of 20UoC per term, to enrol in a VIP Project as their General Education elective.

The VIP Program is an assessment-based elective course. You MUST complete assessment tasks set by your VIP academics each term to maintain your position on the team and for successful completion of the course. You will receive a numerical mark and grade on your transcript upon successful completion of the course.

At the end of T1 and T2, the grade for VIP in those terms will be listed as EC, which stands for Enrolment Continuing. This does not have a mark but counts as a pass in terms of academic standing.

At the end of term 3 after all assessments are completed, a final mark is calculated and added to the VIP course in Term 3. The enrolments in Term 1 and 2 are also updated with the final mark as well (the EC grade will remain). 

Overall, the assessments are equal to a standard 6 UoC course which has a mark and counts towards your WAM.

Partial credits will not be given.

As a year-long course, working out the relevant census date can be tricky. VIP has three parts to enrol in, one for each term that the project runs across. Your progression through the course, and the census dates for the course, are determined separately for each of those terms. This means that if e.g. you decide to withdraw from VIP in T2, you will not be able to drop your T1 enrolment.

Please contact us for further advice on census dates if required.

E: challeng@unsw.edu.au

UNSW charges tuition fees on a unit of credit (UOC) basis by individual units of study in a course. You will be charged 2 UOC in each term for each of the VIP courses.

Subject to approval from the VIP academic, you may be able to utilise a VIP Project as your undergraduate thesis project.

To do your Thesis with a VIP Project, you MUST have completed 120 UoC by the end of the academic year, before starting your thesis the following year. Plus, standard school and faculty thesis course codes, prerequisites and rules apply.

The thesis project would be structured according to the UNSW Engineering undergraduate thesis structure NOT the ChallENG VIP course codes. For more information, please visit the links below:

• Undergraduate Thesis Information – School specific information about enrolment processes and requirements
• Contact your Undergraduate Thesis coordinator – Contact details for thesis co-ordinators

If you need to apply for special consideration you should do the same as you would for any other UNSW course. If your application for special consideration is approved, the nature of the substitute assessment or extension will depend upon the project you are enrolled in.

The VIP Program is an assessment-based elective course. You MUST complete assessment tasks set by your VIP academics each term to maintain your position on the team and for successful completion of the course. You will receive a numerical mark and grade on your transcript upon successful completion of the course.

At the end of T1 and T2, the grade for VIP in those terms will be listed as EC, which stands for Enrolment Continuing. This does not have a mark but counts as a pass in terms of academic standing.

At the end of term 3 after all assessments are completed, a final mark is calculated and added to the VIP course in Term 3. The enrolments in Term 1 and 2 are also updated with the final mark as well (the EC grade will remain). 

Overall, the assessments are equal to a standard 6 UoC course which has a mark and counts towards your WAM.

Partial credits will not be given.

As a year-long course, working out the relevant census date can be tricky. VIP has three parts to enrol in, one for each term that the project runs across. Your progression through the course, and the census dates for the course, are determined separately for each of those terms. This means that if e.g. you decide to withdraw from VIP in T2, you will not be able to drop your T1 enrolment.

Please contact us for further advice on census dates if required.

E: challeng@unsw.edu.au

UNSW charges tuition fees on a unit of credit (UOC) basis by individual units of study in a course. You will be charged 2 UOC in each term for each of the VIP courses.

If you need to apply for special consideration you should do the same as you would for any other UNSW course. If your application for special consideration is approved, the nature of the substitute assessment or extension will depend upon the project you are enrolled in.