Teaching and assessment

Diploma Students

INSEARCH diploma programs are carefully structured to provide students with tuition that is of university-level quality, and which also provides additional support to develop and improve your study skills so that you can perform strongly when you go on to study at UTS. Courses are challenging, and students must be prepared to work hard to achieve good results. However, support is always available. 

Full-time diploma students should plan to spend about 35-40 hours a week on their studies. Students take, on average, four subjects per semester over the duration of a program, although the number of subjects can vary from semester to semester, and from program to program. The average number of face-to-face contact teaching hours is 16 per week, with a maximum load of 24 hours per week. You must spend the same amount of time or more studying outside formal class times. You should attend all classes. This is not only a requirement of INSEARCH, but for international students it is also a regulation of the Australian government.

Below is a sample timetable. Your timetable will be given to you during the first week of each semester. Lectures start in week one and tutorials in week two.

Monday	09.00 - 11.00  11.00 - 13.00 13.30 - 15.30	STAT202 ACCG104 STAT202	L1 T1 Lab3
Tuesday	09.00 - 11.00  11.00 - 13.00 13.30 - 15.30	INFO105 INFO105 UNI101	T2 L2 T4
Thursday	13.30 - 17.30	ACAD103	LTU8
Friday	09.00 - 11.00  11.00 - 13.00	ACCG104 STAT202	L1 T2

You should do all of the assignments, group projects, class-work preparation, exams and other learning tasks set by your tutor. It is only by practising the skills you have learned, and writing and speaking about the ideas and information, that you develop your own understanding. Your average mark (WAM), which is a measure of your overall academic progress, is calculated on the basis of the results in all of the subjects you study.

You must do your own work. In written assignments, this usually involves explaining your understanding of what you have read without copying from what you have read. Your tutors and lecturers expect you to read your textbooks and also to do research in the library. If you want to use ideas or quotations from your reading or from your searches on the Internet, you must acknowledge them through appropriate referencing. You will learn the skills to do this in the academic literacy subjects. 

All courses are overseen by an Academic Board and a Quality and Curriculum Committee.

The Academic Board contains representatives from industry, UTS and INSEARCH . It ensures the standard and delivery of courses, including syllabus content, delivery methods and assessments. It supervises liaison with UTS and other universities to enable student articulation. 

The Quality and Curriculum Committee makes day-to-day decisions and advises the Academic Board and executives on matters relevant to academic operations. It maintains and improves teaching and learning resources, and monitors the quality assurance of programs through formal student feedback mechanisms. The committee reviews student results and determines academic policies.

English Students

Through a range of teaching methods, we emphasise the academic skills to make sure you are well prepared for university.

Each English level runs for one five-week term with 100 hours of face-to-face tuition (20 hours per week). You are expected to spend an additional five hours per week in self-access learning in the INSEARCH Learning Centre, where English language teachers are on hand to help you.

All levels have extensive online support that you can access at INSEARCH or from home. 

Information about specific assessment tasks is given in the first class. Students are assessed in each of the following areas: writing, reading, speaking and listening. Overall assessment includes most or all of the following elements: written assignments including essays, reports and case study analyses, oral and written presentations of project work, tutorial and homework exercises, class participation and final examination. All English writing exams are double marked.

Terms last for five weeks. There are ten terms in the year. The first day of each term is an orientation day for new students. For more information on term dates click here. 

Classes are held in either the morning or the afternoon, depending on your level. Classes are kept to an average of 15 students. Maximum class size is 18. 

Below is a sample timetable.

Morning Classes		Afternoon Classes
08.30 - 10.30	English	08.30 - 13.30	Self-access
10.30 - 11.00	Break	13.30 - 15.30	English
11.00 - 13.00	English	15.30 - 16.00	Break
13.00 - 18.00	Self-access	16.00 - 18.00	English