Brief Introduction to Student Management System (SMS)

SMS is a proprietary system managed by the Academic Management Office, which is part of the College’s Central Administration. Only authorised administrative staff from Schools can enter the respective data into the system.

 

Asia Pacific International College
The College consists of a number of Schools and Centres.

 

School/Centre
Each School or Centre offers a number of programs.

 

Program
Each program offers a number of units of study (not all of the units in a program are on offer in a given semester. Academic Management Office determines the units a program offers in a given semester). SMS includes all programs of the College.

 

Unit of study
A unit of study carries a fixed number of credit points. It may or may not consist of a number of components or parts. SMS records all the units of studies within all programs.

 

Component
The smallest part of a unit of study is a component. A unit normally consists of 3 components: an intensive knowledge workshop, a project phase and a competency assessment phase.

 

Course
A course is made up of a package of core and elective units of study, as well as other activities (such as work experience or PDP Workshop or the Master seminar or MBA seminar) that a student must complete in order to qualify for an academic degree or other types of qualification. Note that units of a course may come from a number of programs. A course is usually completed over a number of semesters. It will be necessary to complete each course within the prescribed minimum and maximum duration. Courses are offered by Schools and Centres but are centrally recorded by the Academic Management Office (Administration). SMS contains all approved/accredited courses offered by Schools/Centres including details of the requirements of each course. SMS also shows all students that are currently enrolled in a given course and their progression (dates and units or activities completed, grades, time remaining etc.)

 

Scholarship
A scholarship is normally awarded to a student by a School or a Centre to complete a prescribed course leading to an academic award. A scholarship contains a number of performance and other conditions. For example, the holder must perform a minimum Distinction (75 out 100) average with no mark being less than Credit (65 out of 100) for each unit of study as well as the holder taking no less than 3 units in each semester etc. The performance of the holder of a scholarship is monitored via SMS to ensure conditions of the scholarship are being met. Currently only 2 scholarships are awarded in each academic year.

 

Intern
An intern is a student who both studies a given course (flexibly) and works in industry. From the academic view point an intern is managed as a student by SMS. In addition, SMS allows for additional information such as the sponsor organisation, the length of internship, and so on.

 

Activities
Some courses involve completing activities outside the formal program structures. An example of an activity is work experience, or Master seminar or MBA seminar at the end of the respective courses, etc. All activities are normally specified as part of the respective courses. So SMS has the list of the required activities in the Courses Database.

 Workshops


Some workshops are offered outside the formal course and unit structures. For example, a one-day workshop on leadership and socio-cultural competencies is a stand alone workshop or the PDP Workshop and other similar ones on offer. All current workshops are included in SMS.

 

Semester
APIC will offer 3 Semesters. These are: January, April and September. In a given Semester the Academic Management Office (Administration) will determine the units of studies, activities and workshops that will be on offer in that Semester. SMS operates on the basis of the aforementioned semesters.

 

Student
There are 2 types: formal students and professional students. Formal students are those who apply for admission as a formal graduate student of the College and a candidate for a given academic award. Professional students may enrol in a single or a number of selected units of study. A professional student may choose to study a given unit, undergo assessment and receive credit for the units studied. A Certificate of Attainment (containing the respective grade) is issued for each unit of study completed by a professional student on this basis. Professional students may enrol in an industry type course (e.g. Executive Diploma in Project Management). Professional students may enrol in a unit or component of a unit or workshops/activities without any form of assessment (but are liable for the full fees).

Note that a professional student may transfer his/her enrolment to that of a formal student. In such a case the person has to apply for and be formally admitted and enrolled as a formal student. All students after enrolment as a formal student can obtain credit for the work they have done as unit enrolment or industry-qualification courses. No more than 50% of the total course load in an award course can be satisfied via credit for prior work.

 

Finance
A student enrolling in any course must pay the due fees and charges (normally for those units or components or activities undertaken in a given semester). Fees are payable in advance in each semester. No student shall graduate until they pay their outstanding fees in full. SMS maintains a record of both paid and outstanding fees.

 

Enrolment
Each student/intern will have to complete two types of enrolments: Enrolment as a formal student (candidature for a given academic award); unit/component/activity selection and enrolment for the forthcoming semester. All formal students need to re-enrol in each year. They also need to enrol in the units and activities that they wish to complete in a given semester. SMS should include all these information.

 

Agent
An agent is a representative of APIC (normally outside Australia) who recruits students and assists them with admission and other administrative services. (Agents have no role in teaching and academic management.) SMS tracks students introduced via an Agent.

 

Course Convenor
A course convenor is the educator (professor or lecturer) appointed to teach a given unit of study or component in a given semester. There are two types of course convenors: internal and external. Internal ones are academic staff members of the College. External ones are appointed on a unit by unit and semester by semester basis. However there is no distinction in the SMS. It records all convenors appointed to teach in a given semester (entered by Academic Management Office).

 

Tutor
A tutor is an educator who is appointed to assist a Course Convenor in a given unit of study when the student number exceeds a certain limit. Typically for units of study with less than 25 enrolments the Course Convenor acts as both the convenor and the tutor too. As with course convenors, the Administration enters tutors for each semester into SMS.  

 

Program Director
A program director is an appointed academic who usually manages a given Program within a given School. Program Directors report to the respective Deans of Schools. A Program Director is normally a course convenor for one or more units of study. The dual roles are separately recorded in SMS as if these are separate roles.

 

Deans
Deans are senior academics with total responsibility for all the programs and activities that are housed within their respective Schools. Note that Schools are responsible for academic management of all programs and respective courses/degrees that they offer. Deans report to the Vice President for Academic Affairs. A Dean of School may also be a Program Director and or a Course Convenor for one or a number of units of study or activities. These roles are separately recorded in SMS as if these are separate individuals.