Academic Program and Academic Plan coding
The following describes the principles used to assign codes to coursework Academic Programs and Academic Plans within the University's student administration system.
For the definitions of 'Academic Program' and 'Academic Plans' as well as other ANU curriculum entities, see the Glossary.
Academic Program codes
Academic Programs are coded with a four-digit number: the first digit represents the qualification level and type; the second digit represents the ANU College or area primarily responsible for the Academic Program and; the third and fourth digits are assigned sequentially. Note that the University maintains a significant number of legacy codes which do not fit within this schema.
Academic Program code first digit | |
Digit | Qualification level and type |
1 | Undergraduate non-award |
2 | AQF Levels 5 and 6: Diploma and Associate Degree |
3 | AQF Level 7: Bachelor Degree |
4 | AQF Level 8: Honours Degree |
5 | Graduate non-award |
6 | AQF Level 8: Graduate Certificate and Graduate Diploma |
7 | AQF Level 9: Masters Degree (Coursework), Masters Degree (Extended) |
8 | AQF Level 9: Masters Degree (Research), MChD |
9 | AQF Level 10: Doctorate |
Academic Program code second digit | |
Digit | ANU College or other area |
1 | ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences |
2 | Reserved for future use |
3 | ANU College of Law |
4 | ANU College of Business and Economics |
5 | ANU College of Asia and the Pacific |
6 | ANU College of Health & MedicineANU College of Science |
7 | ANU College of Engineering, Computing and Cybernetics |
| Reserved for future use |
9 | ANU Medical School, general studies (eg Master of Studies) |
0 | ANU wide |
Academic Plan codes
The majority of coursework Academic Plans are coded with a five-character alpha string: the first character represents the qualification level and type and; the remaining two to four characters resemble the official abbreviation of the Award as closely as possible. There are a few remaining legacy plans that are in the alphanumeric format.
Research plans are in the alphanumeric format consisting of the program code with a suffix of XPHD or XMPHIL.
Exceptions to utilising the official abbreviation of the Award are only available in the following circumstances:
- Where the official abbreviation is greater than 4 characters; or
- Where the first three characters of the Award abbreviation are not unique from other plans.
In these instances the characters must as closely as possible resemble the official abbreviation of the Award and total characters in the plan code must be no more than 5.
Where a student is undertaking an Award after having previously graduated from it, a plan will be created using the appropriate number (e.g. 2 for 2nd time, 3 for third time) to replace the final character. For example, a Bachelor of Arts 2nd undertaking would be BART2.
Note that the University maintains a significant number of legacy codes which do not fit within this schema.
Academic Plan code first character | |
Character | Qualification level and type |
A | AQF level 8: Bachelor Honours - direct-entry four-year degree |
B | AQF level 7: Bachelor Degree |
C | AQF level 8: Graduate Certificate |
D | AQF level 8: Graduate Diploma |
E | AQF level 5: Diploma |
H | AQF level 8: Bachelor Honours - one year following a three-year-long Bachelor Degree |
M | AQF level 9: Masters Degree (Coursework) |
N | AQF level 9: Masters Degree (Coursework) Augmentation |
S | AQF level 6: Associate Degree (not currently in use) |
V | AQF level 9: Masters Degree (Coursework) (Advanced) |