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Policy: Nomenclature and post-nominal

Purpose

To define the standards used for the naming and post-nominals of awards.

Overview

This policy provides standards across the nomenclature and official post-nominals of the University’s awards

Scope

This policy applies across all awards.

Policy statement

  1. The University complies with the nomenclature standards in the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) Qualifications Issuance Policy.
  2. All award titles must indicate the qualification category and accurately represent the field of study or discipline.
  3. The qualification category must be capitalised.
  4. The field of study must be capitalised.
  5. The title must:
  1. readily and unambiguously identify the level, broad disciplinary content, and (where applicable) professional orientation of the program;
  2. be readily recognisable by prospective students, employers, professional bodies and other stakeholders;
  3. be consistent with nomenclature that has national and international acceptance, if it exists;
  4. be sustainable in the long term; and
  5. be consistent across a suite of related awards.
  1. For all awards, the separator 'of' should be used between the qualification category and the discipline area, eg. Bachelor of Chemistry, Graduate Certificate of Chemistry, Master of Chemistry.
  2. If an award is a double degree the two degrees must be separated by a ‘/’ (forward slash) in both the full name and the abbreviation.
  3. Information in parentheses may be used in the following cases only:
  1. For four-year AQF Level 8 Bachelor Honours Degrees, “(Honours)” is to be used to qualify the level of the award;
  2. For one-year AQF Level 8 Bachelor Honours Degrees, “(Honours)” is to be used to qualify the level of the award;
  3. For AQF Level 9 Master Degrees (Coursework), “(Advanced)” is to be used to qualify the level of the award;
  4. For fully online programs where the mode is to be indicated in the program name, “(Online)” is to be used to qualify the mode of the award.
  1. To avoid doubt, information in parentheses is not used to describe the field(s) of study.
  2. Titles for awards that articulate into each other must be consistent.
  3. In full award titles, ‘and’ is represented by the text ‘and’, not by an ampersand (‘&’).
  4. All doctorate research programs are classified ‘Doctor of Philosophy’ unless alternative forms are approved by Academic Board on the basis of professional accreditation requirements.
  5. Including any augmentations or information in parentheses, award nomenclature is to be no greater than 79 characters in total length, including spaces, to allow appropriate display on a graduand’s testamur across no more than three lines.
  6. All Graduate coursework programs comply with the nomenclature detailed in Table 1: Graduate Coursework Nomenclature. Compliance is considered at the time of proposal, amendment, or review.
  7. The names of awards, majors, minors, specialisations, and augmentations, are not revised after introduction except in cases of administrative error such as a misspelling of a term. All other changes to names are to be effected by disestablishment of the former offering and introduction of a new award, major, minor, specialisation, or augmentation with the new name.

Graduate Coursework Nomenclature is shown in the table below

Type

Example Award

Requirement

Appears

Comments

HRSA

Orders

CRICOS

Broad Field Named Award

Master of Arts

Testamur

Transcript

AHEGS

Unique program code

One entry

One

Narrow Field Named Award

Master of International Relations

48 units or greater in the narrow field

Testamur

Transcript

AHEGS

For Awards of less than 48 units, 100% of the Award must be in the narrow field

Unique program code

One entry

One

Broad Field Named Award with Augmentation

Master of Arts in International Relations

At least 36 units in the field contained in the augmentation

Testamur

Transcript

AHEGS

For Awards of less than 48 units, at least 75% of the Award must be in the augmentation

Each augmentation is a separate plan in the same program

The default plan does not have an augmentation

Each augmentation has its own entry on Programs and Courses

The default plan may have an entry in Programs and Courses if it is available to be taken without an augmentation

One for the broad field named Award, shared between Augmentations

Specialisation

Master of Arts

24 units in the field

Transcript

AHEGS

Should not be used in an Award with augmentation. Some consistency must exist across students exiting an Award with various specialisations otherwise it should be a Narrow Field Named Award.

Sub-plan

Each specialisation is a unique page in StudyAT, replicating undergraduate majors, minors, and specialisations

N/A

Bracketed Award

Master of Arts (Advanced)

Only to be used where the information in brackets qualifies the level or mode of the Award but does not describe the field/s of study.

Testamur

Transcript

AHEGS

The current utilisation of Master of Arts (Field of Study) to denote an Advanced Award needs to be revised to be either Master of Arts (Advanced), Master of [Field of Study] (Advanced), or Master of Arts in [Field of Study] (Advanced)

Not available for Graduate Certificate and Graduate Diplomas.

Unique plan code that sits within the standard, non ‘advanced’ program

Unique StudyAT entry for the ‘Advanced’ plan

Unique CRICOS

  1. When an award contains a qualified field of study, this augmentation must relay significant specific disciplinary content. Master of Arts in International Relations would be an example of an appropriate augmentation, while Master of Arts in Humanities and Social Sciences would not.
  2. When an award is an augmented version of another program with the same basic form of title, there should be similarities in program structure or learning outcomes between the two. For example, a Master of Science, a Master of Science in Environment, and a Master of Science in Chemistry should have a basic structural relationship; if this is not the case, then a specific title is more appropriate and the degree should satisfy the requirements for a Narrow Field Named Award.
  3. In an augmented degree, there should be a mechanism for students to move between augmentations or to the non-augmented version. For example, a student who has enrolled in Master of Science in Psychology should be able, if their interests or abilities have changed, to transfer to a Master of Science without significant loss of credit.
  4. A Narrow Field Named Award should not have further detail be listed in the Award title through an augmentation. For example, a Master of Marketing should not be further detailed as a Master of Marketing in Advertising, but a Master of Commerce may be augmented with ‘Marketing’ or ‘Advertising’ as the Master of Commerce is a Broad Field Named Award.

Award Post-Nominals

  1. A post-nominal is the shortened way for graduands to refer to attainment of an award. Graduands may reference a post-nominal in letterhead, business cards, and other official communications. When used in practice, ‘ANU´ may be placed after the post-nominal in italics.
  2. A post-nominal is created by compiling a number of abbreviations, referencing both the type of award and the discipline in which it has been studied.
  3. Post-nominals are meaningful, easily recognisable, free from possible negative connotations and comply with the list of approved abbreviations detailed under Table 2: Award Abbreviations and Table 3: Discipline Abbreviations.
  4. New post-nominals not detailed under Table 2: Award Abbreviations and Table 3: Discipline Abbreviations are approved by Academic Board following endorsement from the Registrar, Student Administration, and comply with the following principles:
  1. An abbreviation for a single discipline/field of study does not normally exceed six characters.
  2. The same abbreviation is not used for unrelated disciplines.
  3. If an accepted international form has been established, this is used.
  4. Multiple abbreviations for the one discipline/field of study are not used.
  5. Post-nominals do not include spaces or punctuations between any letters.
  6. The first letter of each abbreviated word is capitalised.
  7. Post-nominals use no more than 20 characters in total.
  8. ‘And’ should be represented by an ampersand (‘&’) not by the text ‘and’.
  9. Post-nominals do not include parentheses, brackets or other delimiting characters such as dashes.
  1. Post-nominals for an award are not greater than 20 characters in total. Where compliance with the abbreviations in Table 3 would result in a post-nominal of greater than 20 characters, an alternate abbreviation is submitted for endorsement by the Registrar and approval by Academic Board.
  2. Table 4 details exceptions to standard approved post-nominals as compiled from tables 2 and 3, on the basis of international standards.

Table 2: Award Abbreviations

Award

Abbreviation

Associate Degree

AssocDeg

Associate Diploma

AssocDip

Bachelors

B

Bachelor of Philosophy

PhB

Diploma

Dip

Doctorate

D

Graduate Certificate

GCert

Graduate Diploma

GDip

Honours

Hons or H

Masters

M

Table 3: Discipline Abbreviations

Discipline

Abbreviation

Accounting

Acc

Actuarial

Act

Administration

Admin

‘A’ where an international convention exists

Adult

Ad

Advanced

Adv

Agriculture

Agr

Affairs

Aff

American

Am

Analysis/Analytics

An

Animal

Anim

Anthropology

Anth

Applied

App

Archeology/Archaeological

Arch

Architecture/Architectural

Archt

Art

Art

Arts

A

Asia/Asian

As

Astronomy

Astrn

Astrophysics

Astrphys

Australian

Aust

Aviation

Avn

Biographical

Biog

Bioinformatics

Bioinf

Biological/Biology

Biol

Biomedical

Biomed

Biotechnology

Biotech

Building

Bldg

Business

Bus

‘B’ where an international convention exists

Central

C

Change

Change

Chemical/Chemistry

Chem

Classical

Class

Climate

Clim

Clinical

Clin

Collections

Coll

Commerce/Commercial

Comm

Communication/Communications

Commun

Computational

Comptl

Computer/Computing

Comp

Contemporary

Contp

Counselling

Coun

Creative

Crtv

Criminology

Crim

Cultural/Culture

C

Curatorship/Curatorial

Cur

Cyber

Cy

Data

Dat

Defence

Def

Demography

Demog

Dental

Den

Design

Des

Development

Dev

Digital

Dig

Diplomacy/Diplomatic

Dipl

Disasters

D

Dispute

Dis

Earth

Earth

eCommerce

eComm

Econometrics

Emet

Economic/Economics

Ec

Education

Ed

Effects

Fx

Electrical

El

Electronic/Electronics

Elnc

Energy

Energy

Engineering

Eng

Entrepreneurship

Entr

Environment/Environmental

Env

Epidemiology

Epi

eScience

eSci

European

Euro

Evolutionary

Evo

Executive

Exec

Exercise

Ex

Financial/Finance

Fin

Foreign Affairs

ForAff

Forest/Forestry

For

General

Genr

Genetics

Gen

Geography/Geographical

Geog

Global/Globalisation

Glob

Governance

Govn

Government

Gov

Hazards

Haz

Health

Health

Heritage

Hte

Higher Education

HEd

History

Hist

Horticulture

Hort

Human

Hum

Humanities

Humt

Indigenous

Indig

Industry Based Learning

IBL

Information

Inf

Infrastructure

Infr

Innovation

Innov

Instrumentation

Inst

Intellectual Property

IP

Interdisciplinary

Interdis

International

Int

Interpretation

Intp

Islam in the Modern World

IMW

Japanese

Jap

Journalism

J

Justice

Jstc

Laboratory

Lab

Language/Languages

Lang

Latin

L

Law

Law

L where an international convention exists

Leadership

Ld

Legal

Leg

Letters

Litt

Liberal

Lib

Liberal Arts

LA

Library

Library

Linguistics

Ling

Literature

Lit

Machine Learning

MaLe

Management

Mgt

Manufacturing

Manuf

Marketing

Mktg

Materials

Mat

Mathematical/Mathematics

Math

Measurement

Meas

Mechanical

Mech

Mechatronic/Mechatronics

Mect

Media

Media

Medical/Medicine

M

Metallurgical/Metallurgy

Met

Methods

Mth

Middle Eastern

ME

Military

Mil

Migration

Mig

Museum/Museums

Musm

Music

Mus

National

Nat

Natural

Natur

Neuroscience

Neurosci

New Media Arts

NMA

Nuclear

Nuc

Nursing

Nsg

Obstetrics

Ob

Ocean

O

Outreach

Outreach

Pacific

Pac

Participatory

Par

Performance

Perf

Pharmacy

Pharma

Philosophy

Phil or Ph

Photonic/Photonics

Photonics

Physiotherapy

Physio

Policing

Policing

Policy

Pol

Political/Politics

P

Population

Popln

Practice

Prac

Precision

Pre

Professional

Prof

Project

Proj

Psychology/Psychological

Psych

Public

Pub

‘P’ where an international convention exists

Quantitative

Qnv

Quantum

Qua

Radiology

Rad

Regulation/Regulatory

Reg

Relations

R

Renewable

Ren

Research

Res

Resource

Rsc

Risk

Rsk

Science/Sciences

Sc

Security

Sec

Security analysis

SecAnalysis

Semiconductor

Semicond

Social

Soc

Society

Socy

Software

Soft

Solar

Solar

South East Asian

SEA

Special

Spec

Sport

Sport

Statistics

Stats

Strategic/Strategy

Strat

Studies

St

Surgery

S

Sustainable/Sustainability

Sust

Systems

Sys

Teaching

Teach

Teaching English as a Second Language

TESOL

Techniques

Ts

Technologies/Technology

Tech

Telecommunication/Telecommunications

Tel

Theology

Th

Theory

T

Tourism

Tour

Trade

Tde

Translation

Trans

Veterinary

Vet

Vision

Vis

Visual

V

Web

Web

Writing

W

Work

Wrk

Year in Asia

YIA

Table 4: Approved Exceptions to Tables 2 and 3 on the basis of international standards

    Degree

Approved Exception

Bachelor of Laws

LLB

Master of Laws

LLM

Juris Doctor

JD

Doctor of Juridical Science

SJD

Medicinae ac Chirurgiae Doctoranda

MChD

Information

Printable version (PDF)
Title Nomenclature and post-nominal
Document Type Policy
Document Number ANUP_006804
Version 13
Purpose To define the standards used for the naming and post-nominals of Awards.
Audience Students, Staff-Academic, Staff-Academic-Research, Staff-Professional, Students-Graduate, Students-Undergraduate, Students, Students-Graduate-Coursework, Students-Graduate-Research, Students-NonAward
Category Academic
Topic/ SubTopic Teaching & Learning
 
Effective Date 1 Nov 2019
Next Review Date 1 Nov 2024
 
Responsible Officer: Registrar, Student Administration
Approved By: Vice-Chancellor
Contact Area Division of Student Administration and Academic Services
Authority: Australian Qualifications Framework
Coursework Awards Rule 2020
Research Awards Rule 2021
Delegations 30, 31

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