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AWARD
OF UNIVERSITY MEDALS - RULES
1.
Award in recognition of academic excellence
1.1 Each year Academic Board may award University Medals in recognition
of the achievement of outstanding academic merit.
2.
Eligibility
2.1 To be eligible for award of a University Medal a student must have
qualified for a Bachelor’s degree with first class honours and
have shown outstanding academic merit throughout their work for the
degree.
2.2
An award may be made to a candidate on qualifying for a second Bachelor’s
degree, provided that the candidate qualifies for such degree with first
class honours and is otherwise eligible for the award.
2.3
Factors to be taken into account in determining outstanding academic
merit include results achieved throughout the course, standard of the
honours thesis, the length of time taken to complete the course, and
other factors deemed relevant by the Faculty Board.
2.4
A student is rendered ineligible for the award of a University Medal
if the student has been guilty of a breach of the Statute
10 (Student Conduct and Discipline) or the Academic Honesty Policy.
3.
Recommendations by Faculty Board
Recommendations for the award shall be made by the respective Faculty
Boards. At any time a Faculty Board may recommend more than one student
from a School within the Faculty for an award.
4.
Role of Academic Board
The Academic Board shall consider each recommendation made to it by a
Faculty Board and, if approved, shall advise Senate of the names of the
recipients of the award. It shall be the duty of the Academic Board to
maintain, as far as possible, a uniformity of practice in relation to
recommendations.
GUIDELINES
FOR THE AWARD OF UNIVERSITY MEDALS
1.
General
1.1 University Medals may be awarded in recognition of the achievement
of outstanding academic merit by the best performing first class honours
graduates of the relevant year.
1.2
The Academic Board will each year determine a minimum Medals Score and
may limit the number of University Medals awarded in any one year.
2.
Criteria for Determination of Outstanding Academic Merit
Eligibility for the award of a University Medal is based on consideration
of the academic achievement of students throughout their course of study
for the degree. Criteria to be taken into account in the assessment of
outstanding academic merit include:
(a)
achievement of a high quality of performance throughout the course of
study leading to the degree; this includes consideration of the Medals
Score attained across all units comprising the degree, calculated in
accordance with clause 4 below;
(b)
the standard of the honours thesis as reflected not only in the award
of first class honours but also in the comments of examiners;
(c)
the period of time taken to complete the award, calculated in accordance
with clause 5 below.
A
Faculty may put forward other factors which demonstrate outstanding academic
merit, in support of a nomination.
3.
Procedures
3.1 Deans will be advised of the minimum Medals Score determined by
the Academic Board by the commencement of second semester of the relevant
year.
3.2
The Faculty Boards, at the end of January each year, will advise the
University Medals sub-committee of Academic Board of the names of those
students of outstanding academic merit recommended for a University
Medal. This advice will include the details of their academic performance,
including examiners’ reports. The sub-committee shall make recommendations
for the award of University Medals to the February meeting of Academic
Board.
4.
Medals Score
4.1 The Medals Score is the average of grades of result obtained by
the student weighted by the credit point value of each unit, for all
units from each year comprising the honours degree. Numerical equivalents
of grades for this purpose are as listed below:
High Distinction 7
Distinction
6
Credit 5
Pass 4
Pass Conceded 3
Fail 1
Withdrawn Fail 1
4.2
In the case of a course within a dual degree, results in units counted
towards the relevant honours degree only will be taken into consideration,
provided the student has at least passed all units in the second degree
as well.
4.3
Where a student has undertaken extra units beyond the requirements of
the honours degree, results in any units not so required will be excluded
from the calculation of the Medals Score provided that results in any
compulsory units must be included in the calculation.
4.4
Where the student has been granted credit towards the degree for studies
while enrolled in another course at this University or at another institution,
the results of specific units will be included in the calculation of
the Medals Score only if those units were individually credited by the
Faculty under the relevant degree rules.
4.5
Where a student has two results in a unit an average of the two results
will be used in the calculation.
4.6
Results of PS (ungraded pass) will be excluded from the calculation
of the Medals Score.
5.
Period of Enrolment
5.1 Students who effectively enrolled in a course for more than two
full-time semesters (or equivalent) in excess of the standard minimum
period required for the award of the degree with honours will not normally
be recommended for a University Medal.
5.2
Semesters of part-time or external study are converted to equivalent
full-time enrolment, having regard to the number of credit points undertaken
and the standard student workload in that course.
5.3
Students who have been granted credit for studies in another course
or another institution will be regarded as having been enrolled for
the equivalent period necessary to obtain such credit in the course
under consideration.
6.
Presentation of University Medals
University Medals will be presented to students at their respective Graduation
Ceremony each year.
FACULTY
OF ARTS AND SCIENCES MEDALS
The
Faculty of Arts and Sciences may award up to two (2) medals annually,
one at the undergraduate degree level and the second at the Honours degree
level. Both Faculty Medals are awarded in recognition of academic excellence,
according to the following criteria:
Undergraduate
Degree Medal
- Students
who are eligible to graduate from an undergraduate program may be considered
for the award of the Faculty Undergraduate Degree(s) Medal. The undergraduate
program may be of two, three or four years full-time duration and lead
to the award of a single bachelor degree or dual bachelor degrees.
- A
medal score calculation will be used to nominate appropriate students
for the medal by allocating scores to grades as follows:
HIGH
DISTINCTION
HD 7
DISTINCTION DI
6
CREDIT
CR 5
PASS PA 4
PASS CONCEDED
PC 3
FAIL NN 1
WITHDRAWN - FAIL WN 1
A medal score would be calculated by adding up the scores allocated
to all units completed in all years in the program as per the above
weightings, and dividing this total figure by the total number of
units undertaken, excluding those units graded as Pass/Fail Grade
Only (PS).
Units worth more than 10 credit points should have their score multiplied
accordingly (eg. if they are worth 20 credit points their score should
be multiplied by 2; 30 credit points - by 3, etc).
Credit for units studied outside ACU National have a result code of
CG and these are not included in the medal score.
-
Where
a student has undertaken extra units beyond the requirements of the
program, the calculation of the medal score will be based on the best
units that are required to confer eligibility to graduate from the
program, provided that results in any compulsory units completed at
ACU National are included in the medal score calculation.
- Only
applicants with a GPA of 6.00 or greater may be considered for the award
of the Faculty Undergraduate Degree(s) Medal.
- To
be considered for the Faculty Undergraduate Program Medal, a student
must have completed at least two-thirds of the units of the undergraduate
program in which they are enrolled and for which they are being considered
for the Faculty Undergraduate Degree(s) Medal at ACU National.
- A
student is rendered ineligible for the award of the Faculty Undergraduate
Degree(s) Medal if the student has been guilty of a breach of the ACU
National Student Code of Conduct.
- Provided
that the nominee meets the above eligibility requirements, there may
be one nomination per each undergraduate program offered by each School.
- Where
two eligible applicants cannot be separated by the medal score alone,
the grade point average of the units from their major shall be used.
In cases where the course does not include major sequences, or in any
case where candidates still cannot be separated, the grade point average
of the units that constitute the final year of the course shall be used.
- The
Faculty reserves the right not to award the medal in any given year.
Honours
Degree Medal
-
Eligibility for the Faculty Honours Degree Medal is based on the academic
achievement of students in their Honours course
- The
awarding of the overall Honours degree grade is determined by the School
Committee according to Faculty Honours Regulation 22.3:
22.3
The awarding of honours in these grades shall be determined by
the School Committee on the basis of results obtained in units undertaken
in the Honours program at Australian Catholic University, weighted
according to their credit point values. Scores from the two examiners
will be averaged to provide the thesis mark. (Scores from units undertaken
by cross-institutional study will be counted in the calculation.)
- Only
applicants who have received a grade of First Class Honours (H1) for
their Honours degree, including a mark of 85-100 for the Honours thesis,
are eligible for consideration for the award of the Faculty Honours
Degree Medal.
- A
student is rendered ineligible for the award of the Faculty Honours
Degree Medal if the student has been guilty of a breach of the ACU National
Student Code of Conduct.
- For
eligible applicants in all courses except the Bachelor of Social Work
(Honours) program, a medal score will be calculated on the basis of
results obtained in all units undertaken in the Honours course, weighted
according to their credit point values.
The
medal score is calculated by allocating scores to grades as described
above for the Pass Degree Medal, except that grades from units undertaken
by cross-institutional study will be counted in the calculation for
the Honours Degree Medal.
For
the Bachelor of Social Work (Honours) program, the score for eligible
applicants is calculated using all coursework units and specialised
Honours units undertaken during the second year of the Bachelor of
Social Work course, weighted according to their credit point values.
- Provided
that the nominee meets the above eligibility requirements, there may
be one nomination per each honours degree program offered by each School,
- Where
two eligible applicants cannot be separated by the medal score alone,
the Examiners' Reports and a report from the Head of School, prepared
with advice from the principal supervisor, as appropriate, will be used
to determine the recipient.
-
The Faculty reserves the right not to award the medal in any given year.
FACULTY
OF EDUCATION MEDAL
The
Faculty of Education awards a Faculty Medal annually. It is awarded to
acknowledge academic excellence in students enrolled in and completing
a four-year equivalent full-time undergraduate program within the Faculty.
There is a maximum of one nomination from each School of the Faculty in
any one year. Nominations are ranked by the Faculty Medals Committee,
which decides whether the record of the most outstanding candidate of
those nominated is of such a standard that she or he should be awarded
the Faculty Medal. The Faculty reserves the right not to award a Faculty
Medal in any year.
Criteria
for Selection
A student is eligible to be nominated for the Faculty Medal if she or
he is enrolled in any four-year equivalent full-time course offered by
the Faculty. The units, which will be the basis for selection, will be
taken from all years of the course. The Field Experience unit results
are used as the final discriminator between the top candidates intra and
inter each School of the Faculty. To be eligible for the Faculty Medal
a student entering a course with credit or advanced standing must have
completed 75% of her or his coursework at ACU National.
Ineligibility
A
student is rendered ineligible for the award of the Faculty Medal if there
is a record of Failure on her or his academic record and/or the student
has been guilty of misconduct.
Assessment
Procedures
For
the purposes of assessing relative merit the following numerical equivalences
for the conversion of the alpha grading will be adopted
High
Distinction 7
Distinction
6
Credit
5
Pass
4
Pass
Conceded 3
Fail
1
Withdrawn
Fail 1
FACULTY
OF HEALTH SCIENCES MEDALS
Faculty
Medals Criteria
The
Faculty of Health Sciences may award up to two medals, one Pass Degree
Medal and one Honours Degree Medal. Both medals are awarded to students
based on excellence in academic achievement during their studies.
Pass
Degree Medal
A
Faculty Medal will be awarded annually to a student who completes the
requirements for an undergraduate pass degree and who achieves all round
excellence in academic achievement.
- The
nomination(s) from each School is forwarded to the Faculty Medals Committee,
which will recommend a single nominee to Faculty Board.
- The
medal score for each nominee is calculated on the basis of the University’s
weighted credit point system.
- Except
for the clinical practicum in nursing all units essential to the degree,
as indicated on the student’s transcript, contribute to the medal
score.
- The
Faculty reserves the right not to award the medal in any given year.
Honours
Degree Medal
A
Faculty Medal (Honours) will be awarded annually to a student who completes
the requirements for an undergraduate honours degree and who achieves
all round excellence in academic achievement during her/his honours study.
- Selection
is made on completion of the honours program, either one year full-time
or two years part-time.
- All
units essential to the honours degree, as indicated on the student’s
transcript, contribute to the medal score.
- Normally
first class honours students only will be considered.
- The
medal score for each nominee is calculated on the basis of the University’s
weighted credit point system.
- The
Faculty reserves the right not to award the medal in any given year.
ACU
National weighted credit point system (score per 10 credit point unit)
High Distinction 7
Distinction 6
Credit 5
Pass 4
Pass Conceded 3
Fail 1
Withdrawn Fail 1
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