HDR Course Accreditation Procedures

Parent Policy

HDR Course Accreditation Policy

All changes to higher degree by research (HDR) courses must be noted, endorsed, approved or accredited as appropriate by Faculty Board, Research Graduate School Committee (RGSC) and Academic Board. This includes:

a) the establishment of any units, required training components, programs or courses at HDR level;
b) any major amendments to a course or part thereof;
c) the disestablishment of any course or part thereof.

Changes to HDR courses are approved and implemented with the following key steps:

1. Completion of HDR Course & Program Proposal/Amendment or Disestablishment Form
2. Faculty review and endorsement
3. RGSC Sub-Committee review
4. External assessment where required and any necessary amendments
5. RGSC endorsement/approval
6. Academic Board approval
7. Course implementation and promulgation

Definition of terms

AD (RT): Associate Dean responsible for research degrees
CAPS: RGSC Course and Programs Sub-Committee
HDR Course: A program of research, leading to the submission of a thesis, structured around a set of rules, which leads to the award of an HDR qualification. PhD programs, professional doctorates and some masters by research programs also include coursework and/or training. A course (eg the PhD) can be offered by several faculties but for administrative purposes is offered under different course codes. A faculty can offer several courses (eg PhD and PhD in Translation Studies) that are distinguished by admission and/or examination requirements and which are represented on enrolment systems by different course codes.
MGA: Manager, Governance and Accreditation, Monash Research Graduate School
MRGS: Monash Research Graduate School
Program: A disciplinary specialisation within an HDR course that has distinct coursework and/or training requirements.
Program Manager: Head of a Program, with responsibility for all major academic and administrative matters.
RGSC: Research Graduate School Committee

Stage One - Proposals

1.1.  Establishment of and major amendments to units, training components, programs or courses
Proposers for new units, training components, programs or courses, or for major amendments to any of these, must complete an HDR Course & Program Proposal/Amendment Form available from the Courses area of the MRGS website.

1.2.  Minor amendments to units, training components, programs or courses
Minor amendments to units, training components, programs and courses must be reported to the CAPS annually.

1.3.  Disestablishment of units , training components, programs or courses
Proposers for the disestablishment of units, training components, programs or courses must complete an HDR Course/Unit Disestablishment Form available from the Courses area of the MRGS website.

Responsibility

AD (RT)/Program Manager
Faculty Research Training Managers

Stage Two - Faculty review

All proposals for HDR courses as described in 1.1 to 1.3 above must be reviewed and endorsed by the appropriate faculty committee(s) responsible for higher degrees and ultimately by Faculty Board(s).

Where faculties wish to seek broader feedback before their own Faculty Board endorsement, proposals may come straight to RGSC via the CAPS for preliminary review. In this instance the relevant HDR Course Form must be authorised by the Dean.

Responsibility

Faculty higher degrees committee
AD (RT)
Dean

Stage Three - Review by RGSC Course and Programs Sub-Committee (CAPS)

The authorised HDR Course Form for any new, changed or to be disestablished unit, training component, program or course must be submitted electronically by the AD (RT) to the Manager, Governance and Accreditation (MGA) in the Monash Research Graduate School for preliminary review and subsequent consideration by the CAPS.

Meetings of the CAPS are arranged on an as-needs basis. Faculties proposing new or changed HDR courses, programs, training components or units need to consider the timing of relevant committees such as the RGSC and Academic Board, and deadlines for the University Handbook, in their planning.

Program Managers or the relevant AD (RT) must attend the meeting of the CAPS to speak to any proposals.

3.1.  Establishment of units, training components, programs, courses or major amendments
All proposals for new courses, programs, coursework units or training, or major amendments to any of these, must be reviewed by CAPS before submission to RGSC. 

All new course proposals must be reviewed by two external assessors before submission to RGSC. The CAPS may request external assessment for new programs, training or coursework units where it is deemed necessary.

3.2.  Minor Amendments
Minor amendments to courses, programs, training components and units must be reported to the CAPS annually.

3.3.  Disestablishment
The CAPS must review any proposal for disestablishment of courses, programs, training components or units and its impact and endorse the proposal before submission to RGSC.

Any requests for changes to proposals by the CAPS (prior to external assessment) will be communicated via the AD (RT) back to the faculty. Revised and faculty board-endorsed proposals must be re-submitted to CAPS for endorsement before submission to RGSC.

Responsibility

AD (RT)
MGA, MRGS
CAPS
Program Manager

Stage Four - External assessment

4.1.  Nomination of external assessors for new courses
Where a new course is proposed nominations of external assessors are required on the HDR Course & Program Proposal Form. The faculty/course proposer must nominate one assessor and provide a choice of at least three others from which a second is chosen by the CAPS.

4.2.  External assessment process
4.2.1. The CAPS will determine if external assessment is required for programs, coursework units or training and request nominations from the faculty if necessary.
4.2.2. The CAPS will select a second assessor from the three nominated by the faculty.
4.2.3. The MGA will invite assessors to confidentially assess any course proposals within a specified time frame.
4.2.4. Assessor reports will be submitted to the course proposer for consideration and amendment where appropriate.
4.2.5. Assessor reports and amended proposals are then circulated to members of the CAPS for final endorsement before submission to RGSC.

Responsibility

MGA, MRGS
CAPS
AD (RT) Program Manager

Stage Five - RGSC endorsement

Proposals endorsed by CAPS and the relevant Faculty Board(s) will be submitted to the next available meeting of the RGSC for consideration, endorsement and/or approval as appropriate.

Where deemed necessary, RGSC may request external assessment of programs, training or coursework units.

The MGA will conduct a preliminary assessment of the need for any new or amended regulations and advise the University Solicitor's Office. Where required new or amended regulations will be drafted to accompany course changes to Academic Board or as soon as possible afterwards.

Responsibility

MGA, MRGS
RGSC
University Solicitor’s Office

Stage Six - Submission to Academic Board

6.1.  New courses, major amendments and disestablishment of courses
All new courses, major amendments to courses, and proposals to disestablish courses must be included in the Recommendations Section of the RGSC report to Academic Board with links to full proposal documentation, including new regulations where necessary.

6.2.  New programs, units and/or training requirements
A summary of new programs, units and/or training requirements is included in the Proceedings Section of the RGSC report to Academic Board for noting.

Responsibility

MGA, MRGS

Stage Seven - Implementation

7.1.  New units, training components and programs
Following approval by RGSC the responsible faculty will take any necessary steps to implement the new course components, including the registering of any unit codes, or unit sets on Callista, and the promulgation of new options through normal faculty and university channels.

7.2.  New, amended or disestablished courses
Following receipt of the Academic Board extract indicating accreditation of any new, amended or disestablished courses, the responsible faculty will take any necessary steps to implement/disestablish the course, including application for/cancellation of course and CRICOS codes, and promulgation on faculty and university websites. The Manager, Governance and Accreditation will update the MPhil and PhD Handbook, and other MRGS websites.

Responsibility

FRTMs
MGA, MRGS

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