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Head of School hold the authority to approve ISCs.
Criteria for approval of ISCs
When examining applications for contracts, the Divisional Executive Officer / Student Administrative
Officer and Head of School consider the following criteria:
- the student's capacity for independent study (this could include the successful completion
of a previous ISC or evidence of having completed a substantial independent study project as
part of a formal unit);
- the student's past Murdoch academic record;
- the status of the student (must be enrolled for a Murdoch course);
- the number of ISCs a student is taking at any one time;
- the points value of other units being studied concurrently with an ISC (ISCs should not be
taken in addition to a normal unit load);
- the expertise of the supervisor(s);
- the time the supervisor(s) intends spending with the student;
- the points value of the contract relative to the stated workload (for example, the amount
of time a student plans to spend on the study and/or the amount of reading or written work
should be appropriate to the points value);
- whether contracts duplicate formal units;
- the clarity of the intellectual or academic component of the contract;
- the degree of independence and creativity allowed by the contract;
- the extent to which previous studies undertaken by the student are duplicated in the ISC;
- the availability of resources; and
- the presentation of the details on the application form, e.g. clarity of objectives, detail
on assessment methods, carefully compiled reading list.
Rewriting an ISC application
Occasionally an ISC form is returned to the student for rewriting. Some of the reasons for asking
students to rewrite a contract include: unclear specification of objectives, insufficient information
about the assessment procedures, excessive or too little work for the number of credit points,
failure to state the type of written work and the approximate number of words, no clear idea
of the type and extent of support from the supervisor.
If the Divisional Executive Officer / Student Administrative Officer and Head of School feel
that an ISC application should be rewritten, it is returned to the supervisor and the student
is consulted. The revised form must be resubmitted within a week (two weeks for external students).
When rewriting, you should consult the section Completing the ISC application form.
Notification of approval or non-approval of an ISC
If the contract is approved by the Head of School, both the student and the supervisor are informed
in writing accordingly. Student Administration will add the contract to your enrolment record
- it is not necessary for you to complete a 'Change of Enrolment' form. If the ISC is not approved,
the student is sent a letter giving the reasons for non-approval. If your ISC is not approved
and if you consider you have grounds for doing so, you (and/or your supervisor) may appeal to
the Head of School for reconsideration of the ISC application.
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