Glossary

This statement supplements the testamur and the record of results when you graduate with a degree. This extra information isn’t just for you, as it will be helpful for potential employers, industry and professional associations.

Your AHEGS doesn’t just include your subject results. There’s a description of the degree you’re graduating with, plus its admission requirements, language of instruction, and credit points and structure. It also goes into any external accreditation you’re eligible for. There will also be information on the Australian higher education sector, and finally, the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) level of the degree.

The AQF is the national policy for regulated education and training qualifications. First introduced in 1995, it brings together qualifications from across the education and training sectors, creating one comprehensive national framework. See Australian Qualifications Framework for more information.

The ATAR is a number that ranks a student from 30 (lowest) to 99.95 (highest). It’s a nationally agreed measure of a student’s academic performance that compares them to the other students from the year they graduated high school.

If you’re thinking about studying a subject area that’s new to you, a bridging course is designed to bring you up to speed. They focus on subject knowledge, so you can develop your understanding of the core aspects of the topic.

If you’re planning to study a degree that includes a prerequisite in an area that you’re unfamiliar with, a bridging course will help you to bridge the gap in your knowledge and gain admission.

Keep this date in your diary! It’s the legal deadline to get your enrolment and fees finalised for the study term.

There are several census dates throughout the year and they're listed under Key dates.

If you withdraw from your subject after census date, we can not refund or re-credit your fees. And if you have a HELP debt, withdrawing after census date means you will still need to repay the debt even though you’re no longer studying (unless you can show you’re eligible for Special Circumstances).

To avoid financial and academic penalties, make sure you withdraw by midnight AEST/AEDT of the relevant census date.

Every student who applies for a Commonwealth supported place gets one of these numbers. The same applies if you access another form of Commonwealth assistance, such as a Commonwealth scholarship or FEE-HELP.

Your CHESSN is a unique ID number that you’ll keep during and after your studies. It makes it easier to manage HELP and Commonwealth scholarships. Australian universities report any Commonwealth assistance you've used to the government using your CHESSN.

You can find your CHESSN on your Commonwealth Assistance Notice (CAN), which is available from a student advisor. If you want more details on CHESSNs, visit Study Assist.

Some degrees need you to build your knowledge in a certain order so you can progress through your studies without running into problems later. If your degree has a conditional prerequisite subject, you'll need to pass that subject before you start studying the subject it’s attached to. This means that when you enrol in a subject with a conditional prerequisite, your enrolment will depend on you getting a successful passing grade in the conditional prerequisite subject. 

What happens if you don’t pass the conditional prerequisite subject? You may be required to re-attempt the subject.

You’re able to apply for a waiver from a conditional prerequisite if you’ve completed equivalent study somewhere else. You should contact a student advisor for help with this.

You’ll need to take a corequisite subject before or during the subject it’s attached to. Corequisites are great at helping you build your knowledge, plus they help you move through your studies at a good pace. Don’t worry, you’re allowed to apply for a waiver from a corequisite if you’ve completed equivalent study elsewhere.

If you’ve already completed some university education or relevant work experience, you may be able to credit it towards your degree. There’ll be less subjects for you to complete, so you’ll be able to get your qualification faster.

See Applying for credit, and look at Credit for previous study or work on degree pages for more information. You can also speak to your uni about credit and prior learning recognition.

Universities have a process that makes sure that your prior study is consistently and fairly recognised by matching content and learning outcomes from your previous course with your new course.

You might’ve done part of a relevant accredited VET course with an Australian university, TAFE or private registered training organisation (RTO). Good news! You might get credit for your online studies from those completed subjects.

This is the Australian Government department that oversees Commonwealth funding of education and training. That includes any student assistance schemes you might rely on, like FEE-HELP or HECS-HELP. See the Department of Education and Training for more information.

eCAN is an online or electronic Commonwealth Assistance Notice. You can access your eCAN notification for FEE-HELP assistance in your Student Hub. If you’re using HECS-HELP you’ll get your eCAN notification direct from your university.

These are university subjects that aren’t compulsory. Even though degrees studied through OUA are all structured differently, they’re usually made up of both elective and core subjects.

Take an enabling course to get the skills you need for success in higher education, for example, learning study techniques or English language skills. When you complete an enabling course, you’ll be better prepared for your degree.

We use Statement of enrolment instead.

This is a scale used to calculate fees for each subject. Fee bands group together selected undergraduate subjects. When you see a higher band number, it means the fees are higher for that subject.

Our study areas fall under three bands. Band 1 covers arts and social sciences. Band 2 is for science, IT and mathematics, while Band 3 is business and law.

Don’t forget, these aren’t always identical to the bands used to regulate Commonwealth-subsidised fees by the government. For more details about fee bands and scheduling, head to Fees.

Most of the time, this graduate qualification is taken after a graduate certificate or a bachelor degree. It’s sometimes called a postgraduate diploma and you’ll need to have successfully completed undergraduate study in the same field.

If you end up completing a graduate diploma you might be able to go onto a masters degree, even if you haven’t received honours with a bachelor degree.

This is an Australian Government loan scheme to help you pay for your studies. If you’re eligible and enrolled in a Commonwealth supported place (CSP), HECS-HELP allows you to defer your degree fees. Then, you only start your repayments through the tax system when your income reaches a minimum threshold.

Take a look at Student loans for more information.

This is an international standardised English language proficiency test. You’ll take this test to prove your language ability if you’re from overseas and you want to study at an Australian university. You can prepare for your IELTS test with Macquarie University's English language test preparation subjects.

Thinking of taking on a minor as part of your degree? If so, it’ll be your subject area of secondary specialisation. Your minor will be made up of fewer subjects than your major, usually between two and four subjects in total. It’s an effective way to add an extra study area to your degree.

These are stand-alone postgraduate subjects that you can study without committing to a degree. If you successfully complete these subjects, you might be able to apply for a credit transfer to a different qualification level sometime down the line.

Postgraduate Single Subjects are available in the arts, business, education, health, IT, law and science disciplines. Plus, you can choose postgraduate single subjects from some of Australia's leading universities, including Curtin, Griffith, Macquarie, RMIT, Swinburne and UniSA

Universities have a process to assess your previous learning—whether it be from formal learning at university or VET level, or through informal scenarios like work or extracurricular activities—to work out if they can give you credit towards your degree.

Special circumstances are described by the Higher Education Support Act (HESA) as circumstances which are beyond your control, didn’t make their full impact known until on or after the census date, and made it impractical for you to meet your degree’s requirements during that period.

Don’t worry, if you can’t complete a subject due to circumstances like these, and you weren’t able to withdraw before census date, you might be eligible to get a refund of your subject fees under our Special Circumstances program. You may also be able to get a FEE-HELP re-credit, or have penalties waived. HESA regulates the terms under which special circumstances may apply.

Your statement of attainment is an official OUA report, certified by the Chief Executive Officer, that lists all the subjects you’ve successfully completed with your final subject results. It doesn’t list any subjects that you didn’t pass, or subjects you've withdrawn from. You can download a copy from your Student Hub.

Keep in mind that a statement of attainment might not be accepted as an official document. You might need to supply an academic transcript, issued by your university, that shows your actual marks out of 100.

Student advisors are our support staff, trained to give you advice about finding and enrolling in degrees and subjects, from planning your online study experience to applying for student loans.

Your university has advisors to help with your academic issues.

If you apply for student loans through the Australian Government’s Higher Education Loan Programme (HELP), there are two loans that might apply to you: FEE-HELP and HECS-HELP.

You can enrol in two study levels through OUA:

Undergraduate study is usually your first university degree. When you successfully complete undergraduate studies, it usually leads to a Bachelor Degree, but might also result in a Diploma or an Associate Degree.

Postgraduate study is the usual option if you’ve already completed undergraduate studies, for example, if you already have a Bachelor Degree. When you finish postgraduate study, you’ll get a postgraduate qualification such as a Masters Degree, Graduate Certificate, or Graduate Diploma.

Subjects are the individual components that make up your degree. With OUA, you’re able to study many of them as stand-alone subjects, including postgraduate single subjects, without having to commit to a degree.

Each of your subjects will be held over the course of a study term, and they’ll usually require 10 to 12 hours of study each week. Subjects are identified by a title and a code, for example, Developmental Psychology, PSY20007.