1999 Information Technology Handbooks - Postgraduate Diploma in Digital Communications

Postgraduate Diploma in Digital Communications

General
Introduction
Admission requirements
Fees for Australian residents
Course structure
- Group 1
- Group 2

General

Clayton campus
Course code: To be advised
Course leader: Associate Professor Jim Breen

Monash's digital communications program covers a broad range of courses ranging from the short graduate certificate up to the masters degree by coursework in digital communications. The courses have been structured to provide an integrated program of postgraduate education in digital communications.
The original focus of the program was on computer communications. However, in recent years, with the rapid digitisation of the telecommunications network, the field of digital communications has expanded and the fundamental technologies have merged to the point that virtually the whole range of communications technologies, products and services are of vital interest to all specialists.
The aims of Monash's digital communications program are:

1 to provide a thorough understanding of the central communications and networking technologies: transmission systems, local networks, and protocols;
2 to provide practical and theoretical foundations to enable graduates to design, develop, specify, select, install and operate communications facilities in a wide range of applications areas;
3 to provide a foundation of theory from which trends and future technologies can be evaluated.

The course currently draws students from a wide range of employment backgrounds including programming, systems analysis, engineering, management, consultancy, auditing, marketing and teaching. The program is designed to provide graduates in fields such as computing, computer science or electrical engineering with specialist graduate-level education in topics such as digital communications technologies, communications architectures, protocols and communications software.
The initial subjects introduce underlying principles and technologies, and the later subjects go more deeply into the underlying theoretical and technological foundations of digital communications systems, and also examines the social and political aspects of communications networking, and the management structures for communications networks.
The Postgraduate Diploma in Digital Communications course is available either part-time for a minimum of two years or full-time for a minimum of one year (two semesters.)

Admission requirements

The normal entry requirement is a three-year degree or diploma-level qualification in a discipline that provides a suitable basis for the course, eg computer science, data processing or electrical, electronic or communications engineering.
Applicants with a degree or diploma in a discipline not directly related to the course will be considered if they have relevant work experience in computers or communications.
Applicants without degree or diploma qualifications may also be admitted on the basis of work experience, subject to the approval of the faculty's admissions committee. The level of work experience required would be at least five years in a position carrying significant technical responsibility in an area relevant to the course. Applicants should also be able to demonstrate an ability to study at tertiary level. The number of places available to applicants in this category is limited.
Applicants should note that demand for this course usually exceeds the quota of places available and consequently not everyone qualified for entry to the course can be admitted. Applicants are therefore advised to present their cases strongly when applying for the course.

Fees for Australian residents

In 1999 the course fee is $12,000 or $1000 per six-point subject.

Course structure

The course consists of eight six-point subjects, selected as follows:

(a) at least six subjects from the list of approved digital communications graduate subjects listed below.
(b) up to two subjects which may be drawn from any postgraduate program of the university with the approval of the school or nominee.

Students who complete the postgraduate diploma will be granted up to forty-eight points of advanced standing in the Master of Digital Communications program. The number of points required to complete the masters will depend on the subjects taken within the postgraduate diploma.

Group 1

CSE4881 Computer networks
CSE4882 Digital communications technologies
CSE4883 Communications software
CSE4884 Network design and management
CSE4885 Communications practical
CSE4886 Communications project
CSE4890 Proprietary network architecture
CSE4891 Public telecommunication networks
CSE4892 Information security

Group 2

CSE5802 Distributed systems
CSE5803 Advanced communications applications
CSE5804 Protocol engineering
CSE5805 Advanced network design
CSE5806 Telecommunications policy and management
ECS5362 Application of high speed telecommunication networks
ECS5363 Software engineering for telecommunications
ECS5364 Mobile communication networks and systems
ECS5365 ISDN networks and applications
SFT5000 Distributed object technology
SFT5020 Distributed computation and simulation
COT5210 Advances in information security
COT5701 Mobile and distributed computing systems

Note that not all subjects are available in any one year. This list is subject to revision.