Guidance notes: Principle 11 Majors and Minors

Principles

11.1   Majors and minors are approved sequences of specified subjects which students choose to complete their undergraduate award qualification. They may include compulsory subjects and restricted electives that students must pass to complete the sequence.
11.2   Stewardship of Majors and Minors resides with the faculty or school most closely related to the field of education of the major or minor.
11.3   A major is a sequence of subjects in a discipline or on an interdisciplinary theme that totals 64 points in volume.
  11.3.1   Majors are accredited by Academic Senate.
  11.3.2  The first major included in a course will be a component of the essential set.
  11.3.3   Majors in the essential set must contribute to the acquisition of the course learning outcomes.
  11.3.4   All majors must have at least 48 points completed above 100 level.
  11.3.5   All majors must have at least 16 points to be completed at 300 level or above.
  11.3.6   A second major may be chosen in the elective set of an undergraduate course.
  11.3.7   Majors will be placed on an exclusion list for the purpose of double majors in a course when it is possible to choose a combination of subjects which share more than 50% of credit points in common above 100 level.
  11.3.8   A major can be available to more than one course, in which case the structure must be identical in each course. If the major is not identical, it will require a different name in subsequent courses.
  11.3.9   Majors are recorded on a student’s testamur.
11.4   A minor is a sequence of subjects in a discipline or on an interdisciplinary theme that totals 32 points in volume.
  11.4.1   Where a minor is a required component of an essential set it must contribute to the acquisition of the course learning outcomes.
  11.4.2   All minors must have at least 16 points to be completed above 100 level.
  11.4.3   A derived minor, drawn from an accredited major, has the same name as the major from which its subjects are drawn.
  11.4.4   A student may not qualify for a major and a minor with the same name.
  11.4.5   Minors are recorded on a student’s academic transcript.

Rationale/Policy link

  • There is no clear definition of the nature or purpose of majors, minors or specialisations across the HE sector in Australia or internationally.
  • The differentiation was also unclear in Charles Sturt policies except in relation to placement on testamur.
  • In the CAPs, majors and minors have been defined at undergraduate level and Specialisations at postgraduate level. This provides clarity to students and to staff and ensures that curriculum language is being used consistently and purposefully.
  • UG & PG courses can share the same nomenclature terms.
  • 11.1 Major and 11.4 Minor are defined in the Course and Subject Design (Coursework) Procedure Components in undergraduate course structures section

Other guiding information

  • A key aspect of this principle is the fact that majors and minors apply to undergraduate courses only. This is a change to previous policy and practice.
  • Course and subject documentation in CDAP will allow the identification of majors to be added to the award title (i.e., item 11.3.9.).
  • This change to the use of majors and minors is reflected in a revised Nomenclature policy.
  • A schedule of majors will be created. Majors can serve multiple courses.
  • Majors are referred to as Areas of Study in the CDAP Curriculum Mapper.
  • Benefits of use of majors and minors in UG and Specialisations in PG courses are:
    • Clear differentiation between UG and PG subject sequences
    • Simplification of Handbook descriptions of UG courses – removal of the bracketed (with specialisations).
    • Opportunity to identify and provide a structured list of Majors from existing courses – aids with clarity in student course choices.
    • Descriptive clarity about which majors are associated with which courses.
      -Allows for minors to be derived from identified majors.

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