Asia Pacific
International College
The College offers a
number of programs for both professional and formal graduate students.
Program
A program offers a number
of units of study (not all of the units in a program are on offer in a given
semester). The College 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 (e.g.
Research Project) 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 durations. SMS contains all approved/accredited courses
offered by College 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 the College to complete a prescribed course leading to
an academic award. A scholarship contains conditions for academic performance
and exemplary professional conduct. 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.
Intern
An intern is a student
who 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 Research Project 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 Project/Program Diagnostics Workshop and other similar ones on offer. All
current workshops are included in SMS.
Semester
AGSBM currently offers 2
Semesters, April and September. However the College plans to offer 3 Semesters.
These will be: January, April and September. In a given Semester the Registrar
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 apply to change his or her status and transfer his/her enrolment to that of a formal student. In such a case the student has to apply for and be formally admitted and enrolled as a formal student and candidate for a specific academic award. All students after enrolment as a formal student can obtain credit for the work they have done as unit enrolment or industry-qualification courses provided they have undertaken and satisfactorily passed all the respective assessment components. 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 unless given leave from their studies. 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 the College (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 all students introduced
by 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 the Registrar).
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 College.
Program Directors report to the Dean of College. 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.
Dean of
College
The Dean is the senior
academic with total responsibility for all the programs and activities that are
offered by the College. Dean 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.