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Policy on permission to over-enrol

Students are reminded that they require the permission of the Undergraduate Law Course Coordinator if they wish to over-enrol. For full time students this means enrol in more than 4 units in any one semester; for part time students that means enrol in more than 2 units in any one semester (see rules 14.3.1 and 14.3.2 at p 310 of the UNE Handbook, 2006, respectively).

Students in combined law courses, eg the BA/LLB, BBus/LLB, BSci/LLB etc need the approval of the co-ordinator of both the Bachelor of Laws and their other degree. This is particularly true if they are seeking to add non-law units to their enrolment. They do not need the other coordinator’s permission if they have completed all the requirements for that degree and are only enrolled in law units.

Students are encouraged to think very hard about whether enrolling in more than 4 units (or 2 units if they are studying part time) is manageable or in your best interests. It is expected that any one unit of study will take 150 hours per semester (which includes exam time). That means, on average, you should aim to spend not less than 10 hours per week on any unit, with some extra time for preparation for final examinations. If you are doing 4 units we expect that you are spending 40 hours per week on study, plus whatever time you have to commit to work and family life. We recognise that it is possible to pass units and not devote that sort of time to them but are you doing the unit, or yourself justice?

We have an obligation to try and ensure that students are well served by their education. Focussing on passing in the shortest possible time encourages only surface learning rather than a deep engagement with the subject matter. It is also important that students new to the study of law take time to ensure that they understand basic principles.

I will apply the following criteria when assessing an application to enrol in more than 4 units per semester:

  1. Over-enrolment must be considered an unusual event. It may be allowed where, for some reason, a student has fallen behind the normal enrolment plan as set out in the School of Law Handbook and needs to make up one or two units in order to meet normal enrolment patterns. Permission will not be given to over-enrol where a student simply wishes to speed up their progress nor where it is intended that a student must over-enrol in more than 4 units in order to meet some personal objective. In that case the student should simply accept that they will have to enrol for an extra semester.
  2. Permission must be sought on an annual basis.
  3. Before adding extra law units, students must have already completed not less than 48 credit points in law.
  4. A student must be able to show evidence that they will be able to succeed with the extra workload. A full-time student who is applying to do more than 4 units in a semester must have done 4 units in the previous semester and obtained at least 2 credits, and no fail results. A part-time student who is applying to do more than 2 units in a semester must have done 2 units in the previous semester and obtained at least 1 credit, and no fail results. This means that a student who needs to do an extra unit to make up for a unit that they have failed should not try to do the extra unit in the immediately succeeding semester. If you fail a unit in one semester, you should take on a normal load in the next semester in order to show that you can pass a normal load. Try to make up the lost unit later in the degree.
  5. Applications may be granted where criteria (1) to (4) are not met if students:
    1. Need to make up an extra unit in order in a given semester to meet pre-requisite requirements to allow them to continue with a normal load in the next semester; or
    2. Are in their final semester of their final year and so need to make up the unit in order to complete their degree; or
    3. Can point to a significant change in circumstances to suggest that the result in the proceeding semester is not likely to be repeated.
    In any event the overriding concern must be the students capacity to successfully complete their studies. I must still be satisfied that there is some evidence to show that the student is likely to succeed in more than 4 units.
  6. Students must be aware that commitments due to work or being overenrolled are not grounds for an extension for an assignment, special consideration or special examinations.
  7. In no circumstances will students be given permission to over enrol by more than one unit a semester. This means that full-time students will not be given permission to enrol in more than 5 units in a semester and part-time students will not be given permission to enrol in more than 3 units in a semester.

Michael Eburn
Undergraduate Law Course Coordinator
22 February 2006.