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