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Graduation Policy

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Section 1 - Purpose and Context

(1) This policy covers matters relating to student graduation.

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Section 2 - Definitions

(2) Nil.

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Section 3 - Policy Statement

Part A - Graduation

Conceded Pass Grade

(3) Only two Conceded Passes are permitted in any undergraduate award. Conceded Passes are not permitted in any postgraduate coursework award. (Note: the use of the conceded pass grade was discontinued from 1 January 2006, but units completed in 2005 or earlier may have conceded passes).

Applying to Graduate

(4) All undergraduate and postgraduate students must apply to graduate during the last session of their course of study as defined by the relevant rules of the course in which they are enrolled. The deadlines for submission of applications to graduate will be published on the Web for each session. Students must complete the appropriate form available from a Student Centre.

(5) This form must be lodged by the published date at the Student Centre. A receipt will be issued via the Student email account on a weekly basis for the month before the closing date.

(6) Students are reminded that graduation is not an automatic process. Failure to lodge a form or failure to pay any fees or charges owing may result in the graduand not graduating at the next available round of graduation ceremonies.

Deferring Graduation

(7) Students eligible to graduate may defer their graduation ceremony for up to one year.

In Absentia Graduation

(8) Students eligible to graduate may choose to graduate 'in absentia'. Students who elect to graduate 'in absentia' are not permitted to participate in any future ceremony as a 'presentee' for that award.

Award of Honours

(9) The classes of Honours which may be awarded to a candidate who has completed satisfactorily the requirements of a bachelor honours degree shall be:

  1. Honours Class I
  2. Honours Class II Division I
  3. Honours Class II Division II
  4. Honours Class III

(10) The requirements will be specified by the College offering the degree.

Appeal Against Level of Honours

(11) Appeals against a decision of the College Education, Assessment and Progression Committee, on the awarding of the level of bachelor honours degrees, are to be considered under the procedures set out in this policy. Appeals against individual unit results undertaken as a requirement for the Bachelor Honours degree will follow the procedures set out for a Review of Grade. See Review of Grade Policy.

(12) Bachelor Honours students may appeal against the level of honours awarded.

(13) Appeals may only be made on the grounds of procedural irregularity. Appeals may not be made against an examiner's assessment of the work submitted for assessment.

(14) A student must lodge an appeal in writing to the Dean of Research Studies within two weeks of being notified of the level of award. An appellant may provide any material relevant to the appeal.

(15) The relevant College Associate Dean (Research) will in the first instance investigate if all required administrative procedures have been followed, and attempt to mediate the matter. Within two weeks of receipt of the appeal the Associate Dean (Research) will report the outcome to the Dean of Research Studies.

(16) Where mediation has been unsuccessful, the Dean of Research Studies will, within two weeks of receipt of the report from the Associate Dean (Research) convene an ad hoc Appeals Committee (a Bachelors Honours Level of Award Appeals Committee) to consider the appeal.

(17) The Committee will comprise of:

  1. the Dean of Research Studies or nominee as chair;
  2. Chair, or Deputy Chair, of a College Research and Higher Degrees Committee other than the College from which the appeal originated;
  3. a postgraduate student member not from the College from which the appeal originated.

(18) Members of the College Education, Assessment and Progression Committee which made the original determination will not be members of the Appeals Committee.

(19) The Appeals Committee shall determine the appeal within two weeks of the referral by the Dean of Research Studies.

(20) The Bachelor Honours Level of Award Appeals Committee will consider documents relevant to the appeal, including all material submitted by the appellant and the report of the relevant Associate Dean (Research). The Committee may consult any person deemed relevant. The appellant may attend and may be accompanied by an adviser, who may counsel but not actively participate except with the permission of the Chair as a spokesperson or vocal advocate on their behalf.

(21) A report of the decision of the Bachelor Honours Level of Award Appeals Committee, including a detailed response to the issues raised in the appeal, will be provided to the Chair of the relevant College Research and Higher Degrees Committee and the Academic Registrar. The Academic Registrar will inform the appellant of the decisions of the Committee in writing including the detailed response of the Appeals Committee to the issues raised in the appeal. An Appeal file will be established in the Office of Research Services. A confidential report will be provided to the next meeting of the UWS Research Studies Committee.

(22) The decision of the Appeals Committee is final.

Part B - Academic Excellence

Graduation with Distinction

(23) The University of Western Sydney chooses to acknowledge academic excellence in coursework awards.

(24) Graduands may graduate with distinction from undergraduate pass degrees and postgraduate coursework masters degrees (or graduate diploma where no extension to a masters coursework award is available).

(25) Excellence will be measured by Grade Point Average (GPA) calculated from a graduand's performance in the units undertaken while enrolled in the award. See Part C Cumulative Grade Point Average for further information about how the GPA is calculated.

(26) College Education, Assessment and Progression Committees will recommend to Academic Senate that those students who have achieved a GPA of 6.000 or above should be awarded their degree "With Distinction".

(27) The Academic Registrar has the authority to determine the eligibility of students to graduate under former UWS Member Rules, subject to this constraint, and the approved policy on graduation. Nothing in this policy statement should act to undermine the discretion of the Academic Registrar to deal with individual matters that present as extraordinary cases of hardship or special circumstances outside the terms of this statement and according to law.

Dean's Medal

(28) The Dean's medal will be awarded yearly to students eligible for awards of ordinary bachelors degrees of three years or four years full-time (or part-time equivalent) duration, or course work masters degrees of one or more years fulltime (or part-time equivalent) duration.

(29) Dean's Medals are not awarded to students taking Bachelors (Honours) degrees. Students who qualify for an honours degree through taking an embedded honours program are not eligible for the Deans Medal.

(30) Students enrolled for double degrees and eligible for awards of the two degrees can be awarded the Dean's Medal for both degrees.

Criteria for Award of Dean's Medal

(31) The following criteria will be applied once per calendar year for the total number of eligible graduating students, in each of the undergraduate and postgraduate cohorts, and who have a cumulative GPA.

(32) To be eligible, as an undergraduate, the student must be a graduand:

  1. of a three or four year undergraduate course offered by the College; and
  2. have studied for at least one year at UWS; and
  3. be in the top 2% of the completing College students in the relevant undergraduate cohort.

(33) To be eligible, as a postgraduate, the student must be a graduand:

  1. of a one to two year postgraduate course work degree offered by the College; and
  2. have studied at least half of the credit points required for their course at UWS; and
  3. be in the top 2% of the completing College students in the relevant postgraduate cohort.

Method of Selection

(34) At the end of each calendar year, the relevant yearly undergraduate and postgraduate graduation cohorts will be finalised by OAR Graduation and Awards Unit, and two lists will be generated by OAR for each College, showing the top 2% of the relevant undergraduate graduands and the top 2% of the relevant postgraduate graduands based on their GPA.

The Medal

(35) Each medal will be engraved "for Academic Excellence" with the student's name and year of award.

(36) The award of the Dean's Medal will be recorded on the student's academic transcript.

Method of Award

(37) The Executive Dean will write to each student advising they have been awarded the Dean's Medal and that it will be presented at a yearly awards ceremony organised by the College.

University Medal

(38) All candidates who are deemed eligible for the award of Bachelor Honours Class 1, and have a GPA of 6.000 over all years of study at undergraduate course and at honours level, are to be considered by the relevant College Education, Assessment and Progression Committee for the award of a University medal. Recommendations that a candidate be awarded a medal must be based not only on the attainment of Honours Class 1 but also on a record of exceptional academic merit.

(39) Recommendations, endorsed by the Executive Dean, and by the College Education, Assessment and Progression Committee are received in the Graduation Office and are referred to the Academic Senate for approval.

(40) All documentation relating to recommendations, including College Education, Assessment and Progression Committee minutes, must be accompanied by an endorsement from the Executive Dean. The Graduation Office must receive documentation no later than 6 weeks prior to a graduation round for approval by Academic Senate.

Dean's Merit List

(41) The Dean's Merit list will be compiled at the end of each academic year once final grades have been processed. The merit list will contain students who satisfy the following criteria.

Criteria for Recognition on the Dean's Merit List

(42) To be eligible, the student must be enrolled in a course offered by the College.

(43) To be eligible, the student must have completed at least four units or 40 credit points in the current academic year.

(44) Students must be within the top 10% of their overall College cohort but have a GPA of not less than 6.000.

Method of Selection

(45) Once final grades are entered, students' grade point average for the current academic year will be calculated.

(46) The Executive Dean's Unit will generate a list of all students who fall within the top 10% of their course cohort.

Method of Recognition

(47) Students identified as per the above criteria will be sent a letter from the Executive Dean recognising their outstanding achievement.

(48) Letters will be sent within 3 weeks of grades being finalised.

Part C - Cumulative Grade Point Average

(49) The University of Western Sydney uses a Cumulative Grade Point average (GPA) to measure the academic performance of individual students, in order to acknowledge excellence.

(50) The cumulative GPA will be calculated over the duration of a student's enrolment in a course.

(51) The cumulative GPA is reported on a student's Results Notice at the end of each teaching session and recorded on the Student Record System.

Calculation

(52) Each final Grade is awarded a numerical value as shown in Table 1 below:

Table 1

Grade Numerical Value
High Distinction 7
Distinction 6
Credit 5
Pass 4
Conceded Pass (the use of the conceded pass grade ceased from 1 January 2006) 3
Fail (F), Fail-discontinued (E), Unsatisfactory (U), and Absent Fail (AF) 0

(53) The following will not be counted in the calculation of GPA:

  1. A grade of Satisfactory (S)
  2. Withdrawn Without Academic Penalty (W)
  3. Advanced Standing - Unspecified (L)
  4. Aegrotat Pass (Z)
  5. Advanced Standing - Specified (K) and Unspecified (L)

(54) Where a student has repeated a unit, both grades will be counted towards the grade point average, and both results will remain on the official academic transcript.

(55) The formula for calculating the GPA is:

GPA = The sum of (Credit points for the same specific unit x Grade points for specific unit) / Total number of credit points attempted

(56) The elements of the above GPA formula are:

  1. Grade points for specific unit refers to the numerical value allocated to particular grades (e.g. H = 7 see table above);
  2. Credit points for same specific unit refers to the credit points allocated to the unit studied (e.g. 10 cp);
  3. Total number of credit points attempted refers to the credit points for all units attempted including credit points for units where the grade achieved was F, AF, E and U and excluding the credit points for S grades.

(57) For example, a student takes four units. Three were 10 credit point units and the student achieved grades worth 7, 6 and 5. One was a 40 credit point unit and the student achieved a grade worth 7. The GPA was worked out as follows:

[(10x7) + (10x6) + (10x5) + (40x7)] / (10 + 10 + 10 + 40) = 6.571

Part D - Replacement Testamur

(58) Replacement testamurs may be issued subject to the following conditions:

  1. Applications for the issue of a replacement must be made in writing using the Student Request for a Replacement Testamur form to the Academic Registrar and include a Statutory Declaration setting out the circumstances of the loss, mutilation or destruction.
  2. Where it is not possible to state with certainty that the original no longer exists, the following clause must be included in the Statutory Declaration:

    "Should the original testamur issued to me by the University of Western Sydney be returned to my possession, I undertake to return to the University any replacement testamur that may be issued."
  3. Damaged testamurs must be returned with the application and Statutory Declaration.
  4. The testamur will indicate it is a replacement by inclusion of the following:

    "Replacement testamur issued ... (dated)" and signed by the Academic Registrar.
  5. A fee will be charged for administration and certified postage.
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Section 4 - Procedures

(59) Nil.

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Section 5 - Guidelines

(60) Nil.