Different universities use slightly different terminology. Also, there are differences between Australian and New Zealand universities. Nevertheless, in general terms, Australia and New Zealand degrees are quite similar in terms of their structure. Check your university’s website for the exact jargon used at your university. Below we discuss some of the most common terms you will encounter.

Note that the word course is used in an ambiguous way, some universities use it to refer to an entire degree or diploma, whereas others use it to refer to a component that makes up that degree or diploma. Another word used to refer to the components that make up a degree is unit. Some New Zealand universities use the archaic sounding term paper. Hopefully the meaning will be clear from the context.

Class is another term that can occasionally be used ambiguously. Someone might say "I’ve got a physics class at 3pm", but class might also be used to refer to a unit in the sense of "Next semester I’m taking a biology class, two maths classes, and a chemistry class". In some contexts, the terms course, unit, and class can be used interchangeably.

Qualification / Programme: The degree or diploma that you will be awarded from the university.

Handbook: This contains the definitive rules and regulations around degrees.

Corequisite: A course that needs to be taken alongside another course because the content is complementary.

Prerequisite: A course you must complete before you can enrol in the specified course.

Credit points: In order to complete a degree you must pass a certain number of credit points. Each unit that makes up a degree has an associated credit point value.

Recognition of Prior Learning: It is possible to get recognition for previous tertiary studies and reduce the total number of credit points required. Some universities are more generous than others. Students might think they can complete most of their degree at one university and then just finish the final semester at another. This is almost never possible as universities have limits on the amount of prior learning recognised.

Degree: A qualification awarded to a student following the successful completion of a certain number of credit points. Undergraduate degrees are typically three to four years in duration.

Diploma: Similar to a degree but requiring less time. Most students complete a degree as their first university qualification. A diploma is most commonly an additional qualification.

Double Degree: Some universities offer a double degree in which it is possible to complete two degrees in less time than it would take to complete them individually. Not all universities offer them, and for those universities that do, not every combination of degrees is available.

Conjoint Degree: Similar to a double degree, just a different name.

Faculty: A broad grouping of university departments such as business, arts, engineering, etc.

Department: A university academic unit that focuses on a specific subject like accounting, chemistry, electrical engineering etc. Multiple departments make up a faculty.

Elective: All degrees have certain mandatory courses that a person must study to complete a particular major or degree. An elective is a non-core course that counts towards the overall degree, but can be freely chosen from other subjects offered by the faculty or even the entire university. This can be used to study something for personal interest or in an area that is complementary to the main focus of the degree.

Grade: This indicates how well a person performed in a course. A passing grade must be achieved for the course to count towards a degree. Also, a course won’t satisfy a prerequisite if not passed. In New Zealand, a grading system of A+ through to D- is common. With D+, D, and D- being failing grades. In Australia, many universities use the system: High Distinction (HD), Distinction (D), Credit (Cr), Pass(P), and Fail(F). Once a course has been passed it is extremely rare that a university allows a course to be repeated for a higher grade.

GPA: Grade Point Average. This is a value that indicates your overall performance. Each letter grade is converted to a number and then the numbers are averaged. To confuse matters, there are variations on this with universities using nine point, seven point, or four point scales.

WAM: Weighted Average Mark. As an alternative to GPA, some universities use WAM. This is an average of the percentage marks. In addition, depending on the university, the marks may be weighted with first year courses getting half the weighting of later courses.

Lecture: The traditional way universities impart knowledge. An academic stands at the front of a large theatre and reads through PowerPoint slides while students listen passively. Lectures are commonly, but not always, recorded. Certain universities may not even offer live lectures anymore for some courses. Instead, students are referred to lectures recorded several years ago.

Laboratory: These are common in science and technology courses. They involve conducting experiments or performing other hands-on activities using equipment and various materials. Often stressful and can be up to three or four hours in length.

Tutorial: Fewer students than a lecture and more interactive. This gives students an opportunity to ask questions and discuss the course material. Often tutorials are led by a graduate student who has been hired as a teaching assistant.

Workshop: There is no definitive difference between a tutorial and a workshop. Smaller than a lecture and typically involving a series of interactive activities with accompanying discussion. The focus is on the practical application of course material.

Unit: A component of study that makes up your degree. A three-year degree often consists of four units per semester over six semesters. Most universities design units with the expectation that students invest 10 to 12 hours per week on each. Some units can be very challenging and require additional time. A unit consists of certain activities like lectures, laboratories and tutorials. Passing a unit requires successful completion of various assessed tasks like assignments, tests, and a final exam. Units are categorised into levels, with the level commonly indicated by the first digit of the unit code. Higher levels are narrower in focus and often more difficult. In order to enrol in units at the next level a certain minimum number of units at the previous level of the subject must be completed.

Course: Another name for a unit. Degrees are made up of courses which are distinct units of study for which a mark is awarded. A course is similar to a subject you studied at high school, but more indepth. (Course is used by some universities to refer to the whole degree.)

Capstone Course: Some degrees require a capstone course. This typically occurs towards the end of a programme and involves a project that demonstrates mastery of the knowledge acquired over the degree.

Major: The field of study a student chooses to specialise in for their degree. Majoring in a subject requires completing a certain number of courses in that subject at certain levels. For example, a student doing a Bachelor of Commerce may choose to major in Economics. Some degrees may allow or require a double major (dual major).

Minor: This is a secondary area of specialisation that is studied to a lesser depth than the major. Fewer courses are needed than for a major.

Semester: The teaching year is commonly divided into two main semesters. Often an additional shorter summer semester is also offered but with a limited range of courses. Not every student chooses to study during the summer semester. Different ways of organising the year are possible depending on the university and programme. Some use quarters or a trimester system.

There are a lot of complex regulations concerning the structure of a degree. Even university staff can sometimes give students wrong information. For this reason, it is very important that students fully understand how their degree is structured. Otherwise, they can end up taking classes that won’t count towards their degree or miss taking a compulsory class. This could mean extending their time at university.

It’s recommended to review the university webpages for your intended degree and see if you can locate the following points of information.

Name: This is the name of the degree or diploma that you will be awarded on completion

Typical Duration: How long the degree will take under optimal circumstances. It’s common for students to take a bit longer. Most undergraduate degrees take three years, but degrees that lead to professions and have specific accreditation requirements are commonly four years. Some examples include engineering, pharmacy, law, optometry, and physiotherapy.

Campus: The location where the degree is delivered. Many universities have multiple campuses. Students can get confused about where their degree is available or wonder why it isn’t available at their preferred campus. A common misconception is that a given degree is available at every campus of a university when this is almost never the case. Specific campuses usually specialise in certain areas.

Delivery Mode: Degrees are often available in a variety of modes such as on campus, online or some sort of blended or hybrid mode.

Entry Requirements: This is expressed in terms of a score that must be achieved in a high school qualification. For Australian students, this is most commonly the ATAR score (Australian Tertiary Admission Rank). For New Zealand students, it’s the NCEA score (although NCEA may be replaced by the time you are reading this). Keep in mind that there might be additional subject requirements for particular degrees. For instance, engineering degrees often require maths and physics. For international students, there may be extra English language requirements.

Total Credits / Points: Degrees are made up of separate courses, with students typically enrolling in four courses per semester. A three-year undergraduate degree will require students to typically complete 24 courses in total. In Australia, a common system is for a course to be associated with six credits, with a degree requiring 144 credits in total. In New Zealand, each course is commonly worth 15 points with a degree requiring 360 points.

Available Majors: Degrees typically allow the student to study a variety of subjects, but require them to take a certain minimum number of courses in one area known as a major.

Start Dates: When can you start the degree? It’s often possible to start a degree in the first or second semester, but not always. Sometimes more specialised training programmes like physiotherapy have only one start date per year. Some universities operate on a trimester system and potentially have three start dates.

Example Degree : University of New South Wales (UNSW) Bachelor of Science (BSc)

Name: Bachelor of Science

Typical Duration: 3 Years

Campus: Kensington

Delivery Mode: Face-to-face

Entry Requirements: University Entrance (UE) standard. NCEA score 165 [New Zealand]. ATAR 80 [Australia]

Total Units of Credit: 144 (each course is worth 6 points, so students must complete 24 courses)

Available Majors: Anatomy, Bioinformatics, Genetics, Molecular and Cell Biology, and many others

Start Dates: Commencing Terms: Term 1, 2 & 3

The definitive rules and information for a degree are normally found in the university handbook. At some universities this may have a different name. For example, the University of Auckland uses the outdated sounding calendar.

Most students will take four units (courses) per semester. In some cases, students will take five, but it is advisable not to overload in your first semester at university. Also many universities don’t permit new students to overload.

International students will often have extra requirements such as passing a test of English language proficiency. Requirements may also vary for transfer students. Once tertiary studies have been commenced, high school results tend not to count as much or may be completely disregarded. Instead, universities will look primarily at performance in previous tertiary studies. Sometimes a student who did well at high school but poorly in their first attempt at tertiary study is shocked when they apply to another university and get rejected.

Although university websites can be tough to navigate, many questions can be answered with a bit of searching. It’s also a good idea to spend time looking in detail at the parts of the website that are relevant to the degree you are interested in.

There are a few very important dates to be aware of. For example, deadlines for enrolling and those for adding and removing courses. Other important dates involve tests and exams. Check out your university website so that you are aware of them. It’s common for university students to miss an important date and then wonder if the university will make an exception for them. You can ask, but generally universities are extremely inflexible and simply forgetting about an important deadline won’t be accepted as a legitimate excuse.

Grade Point Average (GPA) is a way that universities use to summarise your overall academic performance. Normally, letter grades are converted to a number and then a weighted average calculated. For some students, this will be very important as desirable degrees with graduate entry will specify a certain minimum GPA. This includes graduate entry medicine or law. In addition, companies that hire graduates may only accept those with a GPA above a certain level, automatically rejecting those who don’t meet the threshold regardless of how good they are in other aspects.

A similar measure to GPA is Weighted Average Mark (WAM) which is commonly used in Australian universities. It’s a good idea to investigate how GPA / WAM is calculated and used at your university. It’s common for people to ask questions along the following lines, "My WAM sits at 75, but I want to get over 80, is it possible in my final semester? What marks would I need to get". This can be worked out in a spreadsheet without too much difficulty.

A common misconception is that if a unit is passed but the student is unhappy with the grade, then the unit can be repeated with the new grade replacing the old one in any calculation. Some American universities allow this but it is almost never the case at Australian and New Zealand universities.

Each class has its own unique syllabus which specifies which material will be covered over the semester. Most importantly, pay attention to what is needed to pass. Many students get into difficulty because they didn’t understand the requirements. Specifically, some courses may have attendance requirements. Missing too many workshops results in a fail. Others have components that you must pass in addition to passing overall. This often applies to courses with a laboratory component even though it might only make up 20% of the final grade. Some students think they already have enough marks to pass a course and skip the final exam. This turns out to be a big mistake because despite the exam only contributing 30%, it turns out that there is a rule that a student must sit and pass the final exam.

There are also many rules around what kind of collaboration between students is permitted as well as the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools. Read through the outline carefully because asking the instructor about information that is already clearly stated there is a surefire way to frustrate them.

Universities have a complex set of rules and procedures to ensure students are making good progress through their degree. Students often aren’t aware of these rules until they get an e-mail from the university alerting them to a problem. Be sure to read the rules for your university. Don’t worry though, before you get kicked out of university there are plenty of warnings and chances to improve.

Support for students is sometimes patchy, and there are often complaints about resourcing levels and the quality of delivery. Nevertheless, the university normally has mechanisms setup to provide support to students. The exact names may vary from university to university, but a starting point is:

If you are struggling academically, see what support your university has available. Usually there are a variety of workshops available that provide support either one-on-one or in a group format. These might be delivered in-person or online.

Some universities also organise peer-assisted study support which involves support from other students. Often students independently form their own study groups. While it is fine to ask other students for support, don’t directly copy each others assignments as that is academic misconduct. Instead ask them for hints and explanations of difficult course material.

If you have health issues, look for resources like a university health centre. Mental health problems often occur due to the stress of adapting to university life combined with financial and other personal issues. It’s worth seeing what support the university can provide in this area, but keep in mind that resources are often unable to meet demand. It could be worthwhile looking for private providers outside of university if you are able to afford them.