For students who are applying for a credit load of more than 180 credits.In terms of the Credit Accumulation and Transfer, Recognition of Prior Learning and Qualification Completion Policy (IIE010), “A “normal” workload for an academic year is 120 credits or 1200 notional hours of learning at undergraduate level. The credit load for students in any year of study is capped at 180 credits, including repeat subjects.
The following principles apply – applications that fall outside of these principles need to be declined:
- A credit load of up to 180 credits is normally approved if one third of the modules being undertaken are repeat modules – where less than one third of the modules are being repeated care should be taken with approving the load as students will be under significant pressure;
- A credit load of more than 180 credits per year will be approved where the qualification is in phase-out and where the student is repeating at least one third of the modules for which s/he wishes to register in that year; and
- A credit load of more than 180 credits per year will be approved for a student where the credit value of one module is the reason that the total is in excess of 180 credits and where removing the modules of the lowest value would have resulted in a value of 180 credits or less. (Example: Five modules of 25 credits each; four modules of 20 credits each would give you 205 credits – removing one module of 20 credits would give you a total of 185 credits which is still over 180 credits and the student would therefore not be permitted to carry this load. Removing a second 20 credit module would give you a total of 165 credits – that is, the only reason the total is over 180 credits is due to the value of this module and the student would be below 180 credits if this module was removed. In this case the student would be permitted to do the five modules of 25 credits and three modules of 20 credits each but would not be permitted to do the fourth 20 credit module
- Applications need to be processed within two weeks of registration as this would impact on the student’s billing.