ACADEMIC BOARD OUTCOMES FOR INFORMATION/ACTION

SUBJECT: PARALLEL TEACHING

At its meeting on 7 September 2004, the Academic Board

RESOLVED AB04/106

That the Academic Board approves:

1. Postgraduate coursework students may enrol in undergraduate courses, under the appropriate undergraduate course code. However, these undergraduate courses may not be counted in the minimum units of credit required to obtain the postgraduate award, except where the postgraduate program definition explicitly allows such inclusion and where this inclusion is specifically approved by the Postgraduate Coursework Committee of Academic Board.

2. The University recognises that there are circumstances in which it is appropriate to deliver introductory course material in postgraduate courses. When the relevant discipline's introductory material is offered as an integral and substantial part of a postgraduate course or program, the postgraduate course and program proposals must indicate:

   1. the extent of this material, its relationship to the remainder of the program, and the reasons for its inclusion; and

   2. the manner in which it will be taught and assessed, and how this will differ, if at all, from the delivery and assessment in any corresponding undergraduate course(s).

3. The University recognises that there are circumstances in which it is appropriate to deliver advanced course material concurrently to undergraduate and postgraduate coursework students. When such concurrent delivery occurs:

   1. the students involved in such an arrangement must be advised as close as practicable to the time of enrolment that parallel teaching of undergraduate and postgraduate students will occur in a specific course, and course materials must explicitly acknowledge this concurrent teaching.

   2. the postgraduate students must be enrolled in the course under a postgraduate course code (unless as allowed under 1. above), and

   3. the postgraduate students must be offered additional or separate content delivery and/or tutorials and discussions, and must undertake additional or separate assessment tasks designed to acknowledge the different expectations, learning styles, prior knowledge and life experiences of postgraduate students, as required to preserve the academic integrity of the respective programs.

4. Faculties are to review all current postgraduate courses and programs to ensure that they comply with the spirit of the above recommendations. Faculty representatives are to report on progress to the Postgraduate Coursework Committee by March 2005, and thence to the Committee on Education.