Most Subjects Completed for Advanced Diploma but Institution Refuses to Give Credit

[Deactivated] on 15/02/2016 - 14:34
Last edited 15/02/2016 - 14:34

A bit of background - I completed a bunch of subjects from my university degree but did not complete the whole degree.

I basically got to the final year of study and realised that the industry I work in won't require Bachelor Degree completion and I was already earning a decent salary to the point that leaving work to complete the degree would have been poor value.

The university I went to has an Institute of Business attached to it. There they offer exactly the same subjects (literally the same with the same curriculum / syllabus even the assignments and exams are identical) but the idea behind this institute is to complete 2 years worth of courses (Advanced Diploma) as a precursor to entering a 3rd year at the university to complete a Bachelor Degree.

After checking one of their IT courses I realised I had already completed almost every subject in that course which would normally give me an Advanced Diploma and a pathway to 3rd year for a Bachelor Degree.

I then enquired about getting credit for the subjects I had done - however I was told that I could only claim 50% worth of course subjects as credit. They explained that the course credit is designed for people coming from other universities / institutions and that's why you can only claim 50%.

Even after showing them that I had completed ~90% of the subjects that are exactly the same (same name / same course outline) they still refused to credit me based on that rule.

I wrote in to the head of the department and got the same answer - that if I wanted to obtain an Advanced Diploma that I would have to redo 40% of my subjects again.

It seems quite silly because I could theoretically choose to claim all the hard subjects and re-do the easy ones but then I may as well attempt to finish the whole degree.

I explained to them that I had no interest in completing my Bachelor Degree and that since I already have the subjects completed at Uni that they should give me credit for all the subjects.

They simply say that the Business Institute, even though it has the same subjects is a different entity and that was the final word from them.

Is there anything I can do here?

Seems like a bit of a waste of subjects if I can at least get the Advanced Diploma.

Education & Work

Comments

  • [Deactivated] on 15/02/2016 - 14:55
    +3

    Why not just finish the degree.

    The truth about tertiary education / degrees is that its often as much about showing you can finishing something as about what you learnt.

  • lupiter on 15/02/2016 - 15:48

    If they consider it to be a transfer between institutions, rather than between degrees, I'm not surprised. Is the Advanced Diploma a HECS degree? Probably some finance reason like that why they don't want people transferring credits.

    It sounds like either way you'd have to do a full year of study to get the degree? So just pick one and do it part time. Plenty of people finish of their degrees at one subject a semester while doing full-time work.

    Or if you really don't want the degree, just stop.

    • [Deactivated] on 15/02/2016 - 22:51

      Actually I would just have to do 1 subject and get the Advanced Diploma… Better than doing a whole year of full time subjects. I would be prepared to pay for the half of the subjects that I can't claim.

  • Lysander on 15/02/2016 - 17:24

    You can normally get 2/3 advanced standing for undergraduate degrees (which includes your advanced diploma). That being said, since it is a separate Institute they can make their own rules.
    Finish the last year of uni - much better investment than redoing things you have already done.

  • chickentaste on 15/02/2016 - 22:27

    "I basically got to the final year of study and realised that the industry I work in won't require Bachelor Degree completion"

    For now. How about in 10 years?

    "and I was already earning a decent salary to the point that leaving work to complete the degree would have been poor value"

    So do it part time or distance. Or can you transfer your credit to another institutions so that you can do this?

    Just finish. You never know what's going to happen or where you'll be in the future. Bachelor's degrees are becoming the new school leaving certificate. As someone said above, it's proof that you can be arsed to stick at something.

  • blitz on 16/02/2016 - 09:38

    I'll be blunt: dropping out is a really dumb idea. As @emmett1 says, just finish the degree. @lupiter's advice of doing just one course is also great (though there might be a requirement for a minimum number of courses to constitute a part time load).

  • decadent1 on 21/02/2016 - 20:04

    Is the Advanced Diploma using national units of competencies?
    If it is, you can do a straight credit transfer to any Registered Training Organisation that's offering the same qualification.

    If you could list a couple of the units, that would give me an idea.

    • [Deactivated] on 21/02/2016 - 20:18
      -1

      COMP115, COMP125, ISYS114, COMP247, MATH130, MATH135, SLP148, COMP225, COMP224

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