wwwdev@monash.edu.au
Tue Oct 6 02:34:14 EST 1998
Auth: S Steele, University Webmaster
Copyright © Monash University 1998 - All Rights Reserved - Caution
The Bachelor of Biomedical Science degree offered by the Faculty of Medicine
has major contributions from many of the departments of the Faculty of Medicine
and the Faculty of Science. A major purpose of the degree is to produce
well-trained and proficient graduates in the biomedical sciences, who are
optimally prepared for productive careers arising from emerging employment
opportunities.
The degree program incorporates a flexible choice of modern subject offerings
that encompass a wide diversity of biomedical science disciplines, thus better
enabling graduates to undertake a broad range of vocational and academic
challenges in the twenty-first century. The degree is structured to permit
articulation into at least one of many specific career opportunities or
appropriate higher level studies in the biomedical area.
The Bachelor of Biomedical Science has the following attributes:
The degree is structured to permit articulation into at least one of many specific health and biomedical career opportunities and appropriate higher level studies in the biomedical sciences area.
The degree is broadly based; students have the opportunity to study subjects from a wide range of faculties as part of the degree structure. Several faculties (Arts, Business, Computing, Law, Science) are offering elective subjects for Bachelor of Biomedical Science students. The overall structure of the course permits students to choose up to eight subjects from outside the Faculty of Medicine.
The degree encompasses a range of new, interdisciplinary, core subjects to cover all areas of the modern biomedical sciences, human biology and public health. These include aspects of anatomy, biochemistry, clinical medicine, epidemiology and preventive medicine, genetics, immunology, microbiology, molecular biology, pharmacology, physiology and psychology. The core subjects have been designed to provide the student with the skills necessary to understand and investigate the functions of humans and other mammals and include aspects of the traditional biomedical sciences.
There are a range of multidisciplinary electives, as well as discipline-specific electives in the degree. A major aim of the course is that the innovative, interdisciplinary subject offerings will enable graduates to have advanced proficiency in one or more curriculum streams, which they will be able to develop by the third year of the degree.
The course is student-oriented and takes all opportunities to offer subjects with as much flexibility as possible, encompassing a wide range of teaching and learning approaches, and involves both traditional methods of delivery, information technology and take-home learning packages.
The Bachelor of Biomedical Science degree will be characterised by providing for its graduates three possible outcomes. These are:
Students will, by the selection of elective subjects in first and second year, and by the pattern of subjects chosen for the third year of the degree, decide which of these outcomes is to be achieved.
In 1999, it is expected that the first year intake into the course will be one hundred students. In addition to these places, the faculty may offer a limited number of first year places to suitably qualified local and international students on a full-fee paying basis. The maximum number that any of the core subjects can accommodate is 150 students.
To be eligible for selection to the course, an applicant must apply through the VTAC system. Internal applicants, who are currently enrolled in a Monash course, must complete a Monash Biomedical Science application form.
The prerequisites for entry into the Bachelor of Biomedical Science are at least:
Selection will be made on the basis of the ENTER and will involve a two-stage process, with a middle band of approximately 20 per cent. Applicants should consult the latest VTAC Guide for further details. Current Monash University students must complete a Monash Biomedical Science Application Form, which is to be returned to the Faculty of Medicine by 28 November.
Students who have not achieved their entrance qualifications in Victoria must hold qualifications which in the faculty's opinion are equivalent to those held by local candidates. The qualifications must include the same prerequisite subjects as those for local candidates outlined above. Such applicants must demonstrate at least the same level of academic merit as that which is required for local applicants.
Applicants
presenting with either partially complete or completed tertiary qualifications
will be considered for entry to the Bachelor of Biomedical Science course. In
considering such applications, the selection committee will take account of an
applicant's entire academic record. Applications for later-year entry from 2000
may be considered. Applicants for later-year entry must clearly demonstrate to
the selection committee that the content of their previous studies is at least
equivalent to the Monash Bachelor of Biomedical Science course components for
which they are seeking exemption.
If you wish to apply for the Monash Bachelor of Biomedical Science course,
please note that the Guide for prospective students which
contains the appropriate application form is published by the Victorian
Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC), 40 Park Street, South Melbourne, Vic. 3205.
This guide is available from VTAC in July or August and applications for
courses close during September.
Monash University students applying solely for a transfer to the Monash
Bachelor of Biomedical Science course must complete the Monash Bachelor of
Biomedical Science Application Form. A VTAC application is not necessary.
A
limited number of places are available in the first year of the Bachelor of
Biomedical Science course for international students. These students come from
overseas to study in Australia under student visas and return overseas upon
completion of their degree.
Selection of international students is determined on the basis of the
equivalency of each applicant's academic qualifications to those admitted in
the quota for Australian citizens. In particular, the selection committee will
give full regard to internationally recognised secondary qualifications such as
the General Certificate of Education (A levels) in the United Kingdom and its
equivalents.
Prospective applicants should be aware that the fee charged for the course will
be set annually, taking into account inflation and other factors.
All of the core subjects within the Bachelor of Biomedical Science are multidisciplinary in that they have input from several departments. It may be difficult therefore to equate a subject in the Bachelor of Biomedical Science course to any equivalent subject elsewhere. Those students who have studied some aspect of biomedical science elsewhere at the tertiary level are invited to seek recognition of prior learning. Each application will be judged upon its individual merits.
Students are advised that, while the faculty will endeavour to give every possible assistance and advice concerning subject choice, the onus is on the student to ensure that the subjects selected meet the course regulations and requirements. This is not the faculty's responsibility and the faculty does not take any responsibility for error in subject selection.
Students
who require academic advice or guidance concerning the subjects studied should
initially contact the relevant teaching staff or the subject coordinator. In
addition, students may consult with the course director of the degree.
Students experiencing general problems which are affecting their academic
performance may seek advice from the faculty office. The assistant dean and the
administrative officers are available to provide assistance. The University
Counselling Service should be consulted for problems of a general nature. In
special circumstances, a student may wish to make an appointment to see the dean.
Students enrol in person at the faculty office prior to the commencement of the first year of the course.
Under
special circumstances students may seek leave of absence or deferment once and
for up to one year during the Bachelor of Biomedical Science course.
All applications for deferment must be made in writing to the dean or the
assistant dean who are the only people who may grant a deferment, and decisions
will normally be made following an interview.
In considering applications, account will be taken of any medical, financial,
social, emotional or psychological problems that could potentially be remedied
by deferment. The deferment must therefore be used to assist the student to
satisfactorily progress through the course. A student returning from a leave of
absence is required to return to the appropriate year level and semester of the
course which will allow them to progress within the course structure as
outlined.
Deferments are not granted automatically. However, requests from students
seeking deferral for one calendar year between school and the commencement of
first year will be treated sympathetically. Application for the deferment of
first year must be made in writing following receipt of an offer of a place in
the course and must be lodged by the date of enrolment specified at the time of
offer.
Students
are referred to the Student resource guide for information on the
university's codes of practice for teaching and learning as set out in its
education policy. It also contains other essential information on university
policies and procedures.
All Monash University students have a responsibility to make every effort to
maintain satisfactory progress in their courses.
Academic staff have the responsibilities of preparing and presenting material
at an appropriate standard with the resources available; assessing students'
work fairly, objectively and consistently across the candidature for the subject.
The
assessment procedures for each subject in all years of the course are described
more fully in the appropriate subject manuals made available to students prior
to the commencement of studies each year.
The board of examiners for each year level considers all results from
examinations and other assessment procedures at the end of each semester and/or
year.
The board of examiners may, at its discretion, grant repeat or supplementary
examinations to students who have not satisfactorily completed all required
assessment procedures.
At the end of first semester in all years of the course, the board of examiners
may grant a repeat examination in any subject where a student has an
unsatisfactory performance. The results of the repeat examination are
considered at the second semester board of examiners when supplementary
examinations may be granted.
Repeat examinations are generally held during the second semester and
supplementary examinations are generally held in December or January.
The faculty informs students of the assessment procedures at the commencement
of each semester/year. Students who are required to complete repeat or
supplementary examinations are notified by the university's publication of
results or individually by letter from the faculty office.
The Faculty of Medicine uses the grades fail, pass, credit, distinction and
high distinction and reports marks for all components of the course.
A
student whose work during the academic year or whose performance in an
examination or other assessment has been affected by illness or other serious
cause may apply in writing on a 'special consideration form' to the faculty
office for special consideration by the examiners or board of examiners
concerned.
The application must be accompanied by appropriate, documented evidence and
must be received by the faculty office not later than forty-eight hours after
the last examination scheduled for the candidate. The faculty, where satisfied
that the student was unable to make application by the required date, may
accept a late application.
The board of examiners may allow a student to sit for a special examination or
deferred examination where:
Further details are available from the faculty office.
In the case of a student's unsatisfactory progress, the board of examiners may recommend:
Where a student has been recommended for exclusion, a faculty exclusions committee will review the case and determine whether the student should be excluded or be allowed to repeat the year. The faculty office will inform the student in writing of the procedures to be followed including documentation required and the student's opportunity to present their case before the committee. An excluded student may respond within fourteen days to a request to appear before the university's Appeals Committee.
wwwdev@monash.edu.au
Tue Oct 6 02:34:14 EST 1998