Monash University: University Handbooks: Postgraduate Handbook 2003: Units indexed by faculty
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Master of Digital Communications


Course code: 2406 + Clayton campus + Course leader: Dr Bin Qiu

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 aims of the digital communications program are to provide:

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 units introduce underlying principles and technologies, and the later units 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 course is available either part-time for a minimum of three years or full-time for a minimum of 18 months (three semesters).

Entry requirements

The normal entry requirement is a degree that is equivalent to an Australian bachelors degree 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 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 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.
Advanced standing in the program is available to applicants who hold a suitable postgraduate qualification, or who have a four-year or honours degree with significant emphasis on data communications or telecommunications.

Course structure

The course consists of coursework units, and either a major project or a minor thesis, structured as follows.
Structure A: (a) At least eight units from the list of approved digital communications graduate units listed below. No more than four of these units may be from group one on the list. (b) Up to two units which may be drawn from any postgraduate program of the university with the approval of the school or nominee. (c) A communications project (12 points), in which the student undertakes an investigation of some aspect of digital communications, leading to a project report, or in some circumstances the development of communications-oriented hardware or software.
Structure B: (a) At least six units from the list of approved digital communications graduate units listed below. No more that four of these units may be from group one on the list. (b) Up to two units which may be drawn from any postgraduate program of the university with the approval of the school or nominee. (c) A communications minor thesis (24 points), in which the student undertakes a significant investigation of some aspect of digital communications, leading to a thesis which will be assessed by two examiners. (The minor thesis is expected to be at a significantly higher standard than the project in structure A. Students proceeding to a later PhD program would normally undertake the minor thesis as a demonstration of readiness for a research degree.)

Group 1
Group 2

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

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