Level 1, Campus Centre
Monash University 3800
T: (03) 9905 3138
F: (03) 9905 4185
msa@adm.monash.edu.au

Education - Academic Affairs

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Presenting your concerns about the education you receive.

The Education Academic Affairs Officer represents all students inside Monash to the University administration so you can focus on studying. If you have concerns with university policy that is unfair or disadvantages you this is where to go to be heard.

Got a beef with the university?

The Education department represents students and their concerns across a large number of committees, working groups and other decision making bodies inside the university. If you have a problem with a university policy, parking on campus, the library services or anything to do with your academic career at Monash, contact Lauren O'Dwyer. Likely as not, you won't be alone and we will bring your concerns to the university where they will make a difference.

It's important that the Academic Affairs Officer brings student feedback to the University committees, so to find out more information or to tell us your experiences, just click on the following links.

SWOTVAC

The Monash University SWOT-Vac (Study WithOut Teachers Vacation) is a 3 day study vacation before the end of the standard University Semesters. Probability plays its part, with most students receiving a full week of study vacation before the start of the first full examination week.

SWOT-Vac

The examination schedule will be restructured to accommodate a three day SWOT-Vac period in week 14 of semesters one and two. Examinations will commence on the Thursday of week fourteen and will extend three days into week four of the examination period.

The SWOT-Vac policy is available here
The dates for SWOT-Vac are available here

The MSA wants to make sure that SWOT-Vac becomes a permanent part of the Monash University calendar by making sure that the University knows how important and helpful SWOT-Vac was to Monash Students.

Please let us know how you found SWOT-Vac so we can make sure the University continues to take positive steps in helping students.

SWOT-Vac Feedback

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The MSA is committed to your privacy, and we will not be submitting your name and contact details to the university. We only ask for your contact details to keep you informed of developments, and to verify that you are a Monash student.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions please email your Education Officer at lauren.odwyer@adm.monash.edu.au

Week 13 is a buffer zone!

University policy states that week 13 should be devoted to "consolidation and review".

Week Thirteen of Semester - PolicyIn relation to coursework units with examinations, week thirteen (or the last week of semester) will be devoted to consolidation and review. There will be no class tests in Week Thirteen and assignment deadlines will be no later than the end of Week Twelve. The only exception to this policy are units that do not have an end of year exam.

The week 13 policy is available here.

This means that no student with an exam for a specific unit should have new material, class tests or assignment deadlines after week 12.

There's still a bit of debate over Language classes and Oral Examinations, but we'll keep you posted!

Unfortunately, many faculties ignore this policy, disadvantaging students and making it impossible to revise before exams. If your unit did not comply with the Week 13 policy this semester, let us know below whether you have no time to make up classes as a result of the power failure or no revision time.

The Monash Student Association will be submitting a list of subjects that fail to comply to the University Education Committee, to ensure that the week 13 policy is abided by.

If your subject has after week 12...

  • any classes that introduce new material
  • assignment due
  • any class tests
...then please enter the details of them below.

Week 13 Feedback

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Last

The MSA is committed to your privacy, and we will not be submitting your name and contact details to the university. We only ask for your contact details to keep you informed of developments, and to verify that you are a Monash student.

Introduction of a Plagiarism Register

From 2008, the following will appear in your unit guides:

Register of counselling about plagiarism

The university requires faculties to keep a simple and confidential register to record counselling to students about plagiarism (e.g. warnings). The register is accessible to Associate Deans Teaching (or nominees) in the Law faculty and any other faculty in which the student is studying a combined degree course.

Where requested, students concerned have access to their own details in the register. The register is to serve as a record of counselling about the nature of plagiarism, not as a record of allegations; and no provision of appeals in relation to the register is necessary or applicable.

This means that if you are ever spoken to about plagiarism, your name will go onto a register, regardless of whether you are proven to have committed it or not. This completely removes the burden of proof from the University, effectively blacklisting a student who may be entirely innocent. And as the student won't have been through a Disciplinary Committee, they have no right to appeal this action.

There has also been talk of introducing Plagiarism Detection Software, we'll keep you posted on any new developments in that area.

The Plagiarism policy is available here