Monash University

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Undergraduate Handbook 2014 - Faculty of Engineering

Engineering - Undergraduate studies

Faculty information

Course information

Course-related policies and rules

 

Structure and organisation of the faculty - Faculty of Engineering

Faculty structure

The Faculty of Engineering operates on the Clayton campus in Australia and on the Sunway campus in Malaysia. It also offers an undergraduate degree in civil and environmental engineering and graduate coursework programs in maintenance and reliability engineering through the School of Applied Sciences and Engineering at the Gippsland campus. The faculty comprises the following departments and schools:

Teaching and research strengths

In addition to undergraduate (honours) degrees in five major branches, the faculty offers:

  • four year undergraduate (honours) programs in aerospace engineering, computer systems engineering, environmental engineering, mechatronics engineering and mining engineering
  • a range of double-degree (honours) programs with the faculties of Art and Design, Arts, Business and Economics, Law, Medicine Nursing and Health Sciences, Science and the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
  • a Bachelor of Civil and Environmental Engineering via the School of Applied Sciences and Engineering at the Gippsland campus.

The Faculty of Engineering is committed to providing an environment in which the brightest students and scholars can together pursue their educational and research goals at the highest international standard in the major branches of engineering and consequently contribute to the prosperity of Australia and its region of the world.

Engineering is a research-intensive faculty. The faculty's ongoing success in raising competitive research funds translates into extensive support for researchers and state-of-the-art laboratories and research infrastructure. With a large network of research centres, institutes and participation in cooperative research centres, the faculty also collaborates with research organisations, including Australia's Synchrotron, the National Stem Cell Centre, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO).

Major areas of teaching and research activity include:

  • aerodynamics
  • asset performance improvement and maintenance
  • bio-fluid mechanics
  • biomaterials engineering
  • bioprocess engineering
  • bio-process and bio-materials engineering
  • ceramic engineering
  • chemical engineering science and design
  • civil structural engineering
  • clean energy technologies
  • composite materials for aerospace applications
  • electronic, magnetic and ionic materials and properties
  • electronics and communications
  • engineering alloys
  • fluid dynamics research
  • geotechnical engineering
  • intelligent robotics
  • light metals
  • materials and process modelling and simulation
  • materials characterisation
  • micro-nano mechanical and optical engineering
  • mining engineering
  • nanomaterials
  • polymer engineering
  • power electronics
  • railway engineering
  • structural integrity and safety
  • sustainable transport
  • sustainable water engineering
  • unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Faculty organisation

The faculty is a statutory body comprising all full-time members of the teaching staff. The responsibility for making decisions in the faculty lies with the faculty board, which comprises senior members of the academic staff, representatives of the full-time teaching staff, four student members (two graduate and two undergraduate), representatives of other faculties and the library, the chair of the faculty's Industry Advisory Committee and other members from outside the university representing industry and the engineering profession.

The student members are elected during April each year by students enrolled for the degrees taught by the faculty. Except in certain matters on which it has power to act, the faculty board makes recommendations to the Academic Board and its Education Committee or, through the board, to the Council.

The chief officers of the faculty are the dean, the faculty academic manager and the faculty business manager. As the chief executive of the faculty, the dean provides academic leadership to the faculty, presides over meetings of the faculty board, and is part of the senior management group of the university. The academic manager is responsible for administrative matters such as implementation of university statutes, regulations and academic policy, development and management of the faculty's courses and units and all issues connected with undergraduate and postgraduate student candidatures and academic progression. The business manager is responsible for financial and physical resources planning and the marketing of the faculty's teaching, research and consultancy activities.

 

Professional recognition of courses - Faculty of Engineering

Australian accreditation

The following courses are accredited for the purpose of admission to membership of Engineers Australia at the level of Professional Engineer:

  • Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering (Honours) and associated double degrees.
  • Bachelor of Civil and Environmental Engineering (Honours) and associated double degrees
  • Bachelor of Computer Systems Engineering (Honours)
  • Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) and associated double degree courses at all campuses
  • Bachelor of Environmental Engineering (Honours) and associated double degrees
  • Bachelor of Mechatronics Engineering (Honours) and associated double degrees
  • Bachelor of Mining Engineering (Honours)

International accreditation

The Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) courses offered at Sunway are also accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Council of Malaysia (EAC), to comply with Malaysian expectations. The EAC consists of the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM), the Institution of Engineers Malaysia, Lembaga Akreditasi Negara (LAN) and Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam Malaysia (JPA). Graduates of a Malaysian-accredited, or BEM internationally recognised engineering program, satisfy the minimum academic requirements for registration as a graduate engineer with the Board of Engineers, Malaysia.

The Institution of Chemical Engineers (UK) has accredited the following as equivalent to the MEng degree from a recognised UK university:

  • Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) in the field of chemical engineering
  • Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) in the field of chemical engineering
  • Bachelor of Biomedical Sciences and Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) in the field of chemical engineering
  • Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) in the field of chemical engineering and Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Science.

 

Credit for prior studies - Faculty of Engineering

The Faculty of Engineering awards credit towards its degree programs for completed or incomplete tertiary studies provided that it is satisfied that the units for which credit is sought were substantially the same in content, contact hours and standard of assessment as those units from which exemption is sought.

The onus is upon the student to provide full documentation of previous studies for which credit is sought together with an academic transcript of results. This should be in the form of handbook unit entries and those sections of the handbook setting out course structure; in some cases course outlines handed out in lectures may provide the same information. This should preferably be done with the initial application for admission or, at the latest, at the time of enrolment. The minimum information required is number of years in course, level of unit in course, unit content and textbooks, number of contact hours and laboratory sessions etc per week, credit weighting of unit (percentage of year represented by unit), and method of assessment (number and length of assignments, length of examinations etc).

Maximum credit allowed

Irrespective of what study applicants may have undertaken prior to admission, or may be permitted to take during their course under cross-institutional arrangements or under the 'permission to take work elsewhere' regulation, it is the policy of the faculty that a certain amount of work must be completed at Monash University. Students in an undergraduate engineering (honours) degree program must complete at least 96 points at Monash. The only exception is that students transferring between degree programs offered within a single department of the faculty shall be eligible for such credit as the department may recommend.

 

Study modes - Faculty of Engineering

Full-time and part-time enrolment

The faculty permits both full-time and part-time enrolment. Units to the value of 24 points constitute a normal full-time enrolment in any semester. There are therefore 48 points in a normal full-time year. An over enrolment of up to a total of 30 points in a semester is permitted. Part-time enrolment is allowed, provided the student is aware of the maximum time limit for degree completion stated in the regulations for the relevant course.

International students on student visas should note that they are required by Commonwealth Government legislation to be enrolled on a full-time basis in any semester.

Time limit and intermission

For most engineering single-degree programs, the time limit is eight years from initial enrolment. All engineering double-degree programs have a time limit of 10 years, except for the double-degree programs with the Faculty of Law, where the time limit is 12 years.

Where circumstances arise which oblige students to suspend their studies for a time, intermission may be sought from the faculty for one semester or one year at a time (but not more). Information about the appropriate steps to be taken is available from the faculty's administration offices on each campus. Students should remember that periods granted as intermission are counted as part of their total time limit.

Duration of degrees

Pass

All the single undergraduate (honours) degree programs are of four years duration if taken full-time or up to eight years duration if taken part-time. The double-degrees are of either five or six years duration if taken full-time, with some overloading.

Honours

A candidate is awarded a degree with an honours grade for meritorious performance throughout the course in engineering programs offered by the faculty. No additional time is required. All units which have a numerical mark are considered in the determination of the honours grade for single degrees, but greater weight is given to the units in the later years of the course than to those in the earlier years. The honours grade for the engineering component of a double-degree is calculated on the engineering units only.

 

Timetables - Faculty of Engineering

All engineering students must use Allocate+ to allocate themselves into classes for each semester. Allocate+ collects information from all students on their timetable preferences and then carries out a sorting procedure which attempts to evenly allocate students to their preferences. It does not allocate student preferences on a first-come-first-served basis.

Students undertaking double-degree programs should be aware that in some circumstances due to unit selection, clashes may occur in their timetables which may prohibit the completion of their degree in the minimum time. It is the student's responsibility to ensure that their choice of units does not result in a timetable clash. Timetable clashes may also occur in instances where a student is studying units across multiple year levels and/or is studying elective units. Students affected by timetable clashes should consult their departmental course advisers.

 

Courses offered in 2014 - Faculty of Engineering

NOTE: The course details provided in in the entries below are for those students who began their studies in 2014 - students who commenced their studies prior to this date should consult the archived Handbook edition for the year in which they started their course.

Clayton

Single degrees

  • 3275 Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering (Honours)
  • 2350 Bachelor of Computer Systems Engineering (Honours)
  • 0032 Bachelor of Engineering (Honours)
  • 1253 Bachelor of Environmental Engineering (Honours)
  • 3280 Bachelor of Mechatronics Engineering (Honours)

Double Degrees

  • 3277 Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering (Honours) and Bachelor of Arts
  • 3355 Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering (Honours) and Bachelor of Law
  • 3278 Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering (Honours) and Bachelor of Science
  • 3879 Bachelor of Biomedical Science and Bachelor of Engineering (Honours)
  • 3823 Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering (Honours)
  • 0548 Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Engineering (Honours)
  • 3834 Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Mechatronics Engineering (Honours)
  • 4617 Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) and Bachelor of Architectural Design
  • 0116 Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) and Bachelor of Arts
  • 2965 Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) and Bachelor of Design (Industrial Design)
  • 0094 Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) and Bachelor of Laws
  • 3288 Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) and Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Science
  • 4616 Bachelor of Environmental Engineering (Honours) and Bachelor of Arts
  • 4615 Bachelor of Environmental Engineering (Honours) and Bachelor of Commerce
  • 4609 Bachelor of Environmental Engineering (Honours) and Bachelor of Science
  • 3281 Bachelor of Mechatronics Engineering (Honours) and Bachelor of Arts
  • 3282 Bachelor of Mechatronics Engineering (Honours) and Bachelor of Science
  • 0085 Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) and Bachelor of Science

Gippsland

  • 3820 Bachelor of Civil and Environmental Engineering (Honours) and Bachelor of Business and Commerce
  • 3274 Bachelor of Civil and Environmental Engineering (Honours)

Sunway

  • 0032 Bachelor of Engineering (Honours)

 

18 September 2017 25 April 2024