Procedure: Professional and Short Courses
Purpose
This procedure covers professional and short courses offered by the University.
Procedure
Governance
- Staff discuss the proposed professional or short course with their supervisor and with relevant colleagues, and seek endorsement from:
- the supervisor and the Head of the Academic Organisational Unit (AOU) for College based proposals; or
- the Director of the Centre for Learning and Teaching (CLT) for CLT based proposals.
- Proposals endorsed by the supervisor and the Head of their AOU, or the Director of CLT (as appropriate), are considered for approval by:
- the Associate Dean or delegate of the relevant College for College based proposals; or
- the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Learning and Teaching) for CLT based proposals.
- Once the professional or short course is approved:
- the Associate Dean or delegate informs the relevant College Education Committee; or
- the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Learning and Teaching) informs the CLT Board of Studies.
- For quality assurance and viability purposes, professional and short courses are monitored:
- by College Education Committees for College based courses; or
- by the CLT Board of Studies for CLT based courses.
- A consolidated list indicating the course title and approving College/CLT of all professional and short courses offered each year is included in the agenda papers for noting at meeting 3 of the following year of the Academic Quality Assurance Committee.
Teaching staff
- Professional and short courses are taught by:
- the relevant AOU for College based courses; and
- the Centre for Learning and Teaching (CLT) for CLT based courses.
- Professional and short courses teaching staff;
- are appointed on academic HR contracts, arranged by:
- the relevant AOU for College based courses; and
- the Centre for Learning and Teaching (CLT) for CLT based proposals; or
- have an honorary academic title conferred under the Policy: Academic titles conferral: Honorary (Clinical)* appointee, Visiting Fellow, Visitor and Emeritus Professor and its Procedure
- Professional and short courses teaching staff are qualified by:
- A completed qualification in a relevant discipline at AQF Level 7 or above or equivalent; and
- demonstrated current knowledge and skills in the relevant area.
- The Associate Dean or the Director of CLT (as appropriate) may require professional and short courses teaching staff to undergo ANU learning and teaching professional development (no fee will be charged to the teacher).
Required information for participants
- Prior to the commencement of a course participants are provided with published information on:
- The content of the course, the educational background and expertise of the teaching staff;
- Any assessment tasks;
- The expected outcomes of the course;
- The nature of the certificate to be provided upon successful completion of the course;
- Whether completion of the course may be considered for credit at ANU; and
- Fees, associated costs, cancellation advice and refund policy
- Participants are advised at or prior to the commencement of a course if the Student grievance and complaint resolution policy and procedure are applicable, or alternatively how they are to redress any grievances. If the Student grievance and complaint resolution policy and procedure are applied, participants are informed that although not students, the Student grievance policy and procedure applies as if they are students.
- Where participants are given access to any ANU infrastructure, they agree to the following and their agreement is recorded: “I agree to abide by the Rules, Statutes, Orders, and Policies of the University and to comply with orders and directions made by the constituted authorities of the University”.
- Participants are given the opportunity to provide feedback on the course.
- Feedback is de-identified, consolidated and made available to the approver and managing AOU for the purposes of monitoring the viability of the course and for future improvement to the course.
Certificates
- Where no assessment is undertaken participants may be issued with a Certificate of Participation.
- Where assessment has been completed satisfactorily participants are issued with a Certificate of Completion.
- All certificates issued for short and professional courses contain the text ‘This is not an Australian Qualifications Framework qualification’.
- Appropriate records are kept for any certificates issued to participants, and assessment results, to facilitate verification, reissuance or credit transfer if required.
Credit
- Where participants of a professional or short course apply for credit for that course towards an ANU qualification, the request is benchmarked against a standard total expected workload of 130 hours for a 6 unit course (comprising face-to-face contact and private study time), and assessment requirements and expectations for a comparable course in accordance with the ANU Recognition of prior and external learning policy.
