The ACU Glossary of Terms, available on the ACU website, provides guidance on the meaning of terms used in the University. In these Regulations, the following terms will have the meanings set out below.
Assistant Supervisor is an academic staff member who, on the advice of the Associate Dean Research, is on track to being research active, and who provides advice to a research candidate under the close supervision of the Principal Supervisor.
Associate Dean Research is a person responsible to the Executive Dean of the Faculty to assist the Executive Dean in his/her role of providing academic and research leadership in the Faculty, in particular, research, research training and research partnerships.
Associate Supervisor is a person external to this University who has been invited by the Associate Dean Research of a Faculty to contribute particular expertise in a specialised area of research supervision or who has been asked to assist and advise, as appropriate, a candidate in the undertaking of the degree requirements.
Code of Conduct of Research means that Code as promulgated by the Australian Research Council and the National Health and Medical Research Institute and as adopted and amended from time-to-time by the Academic Board and Senate of the University.
Co-Supervisor is normally an academic staff member of the University who has been appointed on the advice of the Faculty to work with the Principal Supervisor in the provision of guidance and assistance to named candidates as they undertake the relevant degree requirements.
Dean of Research means the person who supports the work of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research to ensure commitment to the highest standards of research and research training and who chairs the Research Training Standing Committee and the HDR Examination and Thesis Sub-committee.
Doctorate or Doctoral refers to the Doctor of Philosophy and/or professional doctorate degree/s, according to the context.
Executive Dean means the Executive Dean of the relevant Faculty.
External Examiner means an examiner who during the period of candidature has not been a member of the academic staff of the University, has not taught an examinable unit or course at this University, has not acted as a Supervisor of the candidate, does not have a close personal relationship with the supervisors, and has not published with the supervisors within the last five years.
Faculty Board means the Board of a particular Faculty.
Graduate Research, located within the Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research, is the office responsible for administering the day-to-day requirements of higher degree programs.
HETS means the Higher Degree Research Examination and Thesis Sub-committee. It reports to the University Research Committee and comprises the Dean of Research (Chair), the Manager, Graduate Research, as well as representatives of each Faculty.
Higher degrees means research Masters’ degrees and Doctoral degrees; it excludes coursework Masters’ degrees.
Intellectual Property Policy means that Policy as adopted and amended from time-to-time by the Academic Board and Senate.
Principal Supervisor means an academic staff member from this University who has been appointed by the relevant Faculty:
- To supervise:
- The candidate's research and the writing of the thesis; and/or
- A candidate’s work in the field or on placement;
- To serve as the principal person responsible for leading a team (two or more) of supervisors in the provision of guidance and assistance to named candidates as they undertake the relevant degree requirements.
Professional training sometimes includes observations or practical work external to the University. This may occur across a wide range of disciplines which include (among others) environmental science, nursing, education, counselling, psychology, social work and health sciences, and may include observations made, for example, in the field in industry, educational institutions and public offices, the examination of documents and other materials in libraries, museums and other repositories away from the University, and the use of equipment or facilities which are essential to the research in question and not available in the University.
Research degree is a degree which meets the requirements of the Australian Government department responsible for determining the requirements for university research degrees. The Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) states that, Master’s level research will produce an advanced body of knowledge that includes the understanding of recent developments in one or more disciplines and demonstrates the candidate’s capacity to critically evaluate, synthesise, and integrate information. It will also demonstrate the candidate’s ability to formulate a research question, design an investigation, and draw appropriate conclusions. It will also demonstrate the candidate’s ability to present evidence in a manner consistent with the expectations of the discipline. In addition to all of the above, Doctoral research will produce a substantial body of knowledge at the frontier of a field of work or learning, including knowledge that constitutes an original contribution.
Research Institute is one of ACU’s formally recognised research groupings established after 2013.
RTSC means the Research Training Standing Committee which is a sub-committee of the University Research Committee (URC); it comprises the Chair, the Dean of Research; the Associate Dean of Research of each Faculty; and the Manager of Graduate Research.
School means the relevant School or equivalent academic unit of the University.
Supervisor, used generically, includes the Principal Supervisor, Co-Supervisor and/or Associate Supervisor, as appropriate according to the context.
Thesis means any written dissertation in fulfilment of two thirds or more of the degree requirements, and includes, in the case of music (composition), a composition portfolio consisting of tapes and/or scores together with a written dissertation of no less than fifty pages.
University refers to Australian Catholic University.
URC means the University Research Committee, a standing committee of the Academic Board, which administers the research degree or component of the degree in question via the RTSC.