The following is very basic information about how a university works since some students assume that the way a university works is similar to school. It is not.

At school each student who completes will receive the same award - the Higher School Certificate. The HSC can be composed of a huge number of different subjects with few restrictions.

At University each student who completes will receive a degree. There are a huge number of different degrees. Degrees are awarded by Faculties - e.g.

To obtain a degree you have to achieve a given performance in a series of subjects which are acceptable to that Faculty.

Each Faculty has its own Regulations about what subjects are and are not acceptable and those Regulations are found in the particular Handbook for each Faculty. The Regulations are very detailed and you are strongly urged to read the Handbook or consult the web page for the Faculty you are considering. (If you have questions do not hesitate to contact the advisers for the Faculty in which you wish to study.)

Subjects are taught by Schools (or Departments) comprising academics who specialize in that subject.

Some subjects (e.g. Psychology) are acceptable to many different Faculties - e.g Psychology is acceptable for degrees in Science, Arts, Economics etc.

Subjects are further divided into Units of Study. Each Unit of Study has a value associated with it. The value is called the credit point (CP) value and the number of credit points for a Unit depends on how many face-to-face teaching hours are given in that Unit.

So in first year Psychology you have to complete the Unit of Study PSYC 1001 which has 6 credit points in semester 1. The "follow-on" subject in second semester is PSYC 1002 which also has 6 credit points associated with it.

In Psychology, more advanced Units of Study are offered in second and third year. For example in Psychology 3 there are usually 10 to 12 separate Units of Study and each is worth 6 credit points. While you complete some of these you will also be studying other Units in other subjects and so building up the total number of credit points.

To graduate with a Bachelor of Science you have to have a total of 144 credit points with certain restrictions. See Faculty of Science Handbook.

Summary