UOW Handbook

In this video I am going to take you through how to use the UOW Handbook to identify which subjects you will need to complete in order to meet the requirements of your course.

Navigating to the Handbook

Firstly, you will need to access the Handbook. You can do this through the UOW website.

To access the Handbook, go to the Current Students Webpage, from here scroll down and select ‘Handbook’ from the ‘Managing my course’ menu, under ‘My Course’.

When searching for individual subject information, please ensure that you are viewing the current year’s Handbook. When searching for information regarding your enrolled course, you will need to use the Handbook corresponding to the year you commenced studying your course.

For example, if you started studying your course in 2024, you will use the 2024 handbook for the entirety of your studies. If you are currently in your first year of study, you will need to use the Current Year Handbook, which can be found selecting the ‘Access Current Year Handbook’ link, under the ‘Current year handbook’ tab.

To access a past year’s handbook, click the “Access Past Years Handbook” link. From here, you will need to navigate to the year you commenced your study and follow the links under this tab to find the handbook for your course.

Finding the Course Structure and Subjects

Once you are at the correct year's handbook, you will find all the information relating to your course structure and requirements. This includes if you will need to complete any majors and/or minors, and the subjects you will need to do to complete your course. It’s important to make a note of all the subjects you will need to do in advance as this will allow you to plan out your course and meet all requirements set out by your ‘Course Structure’.

First Year Information

Let me run through how you will choose your subjects for your first year. Your handbook may have a year-by-year structure, that will list the subjects you will need to complete in each year. Or your handbook may be set out with a list of majors, minors, and electives on offer for your course. You must read the ’Course Structure’ section of your handbook closely. It is important to follow the structures set out in your handbook as some subjects need to be completed in a specific order.

Understanding Subjects and Subject Levels

To see what subjects you need to complete each session, it is a good idea to start with your core subjects. Once you have made note of these subjects, if this applies to your course, you can then move to selecting subjects under your major, then your minor and, finally, electives. A general guide for determining when you should undertake a subject is by distinguishing subject levels using the numbers from the subject code. A 100-level subject is generally completed in your first year as it is a low-level class. 200 level subjects are generally completed in your second year and so forth. The higher the number in the subject code, the more advanced and difficult the subject is.

For your first year it is a good idea to do 100 level classes as this will make the transition into university easier. There can also be prerequisites for higher level classes that need to be completed first, which is why it is important to follow your ‘Course Structure’.

Understanding Study Loads

For semester-based students, the recommended full-time study load, to complete your degree in the minimum amount of time, is 24 credits per session. This usually equates to 4 subjects. For Trimester based students, the full-time study load is 18 credit points per trimester, which usually equates to 3 subjects. This study load allows you to complete your degree in the full-time duration outlined in your Handbook. For international students on a student visa, it is important to enrol in full time study to meet the conditions of your visa.

Planning your Degree

Once you understand these requirements, you can go ahead and plan out which subjects you need to take. After you have confirmed the subjects you need to enrol in, you will need to check their availability. This is important as not every subject is offered in every session. For information on how to check subject availability you can check out the ‘How do I confirm when a subject is on offer?’ video.

Enrolling with Credit for Prior Learning

If you are in enrolling with credit from previous study and are curious about how this may affect the structure of your course, get in touch with the AskUOW team who will direct you to the best source of academic advice.

Next Steps and Further Questions

If you have any further questions, you can contact our friendly AskUOW Student Service team, and once you have enrolled you can check out the AskUOW knowledge base at any time, through the link in the description. You can access the AskUOW knowledge base by logging in with your UOW username and password. Good luck with your studies!

In this video, I’m going to show you how to navigate the UOW Handbook so you can easily confirm when a subject is on offer.

Navigating to the Handbook

First, you will need to access the Handbook. You can find this through the UOW website.

To access the Handbook, go to the Current Students Webpage, from here, scroll and select ‘Handbook’ from the ‘Managing my course’ menu, under ‘My Course’.

When searching for current subject availability and information, please ensure you are viewing the current year’s Handbook. If you are searching for information regarding your enrolled course, you will need to use the Handbook corresponding to the year you commenced studying your course.

For steps on how to find out more about your course, you can check out the ‘How do I know what subjects to enrol in?’ video.

Finding if a Subject is on Offer

To select the current handbook, you will click ‘Current Year Handbook’ and then the 'Access Current Year Handbook’ button.

From here, you can type the subject code for your subject into the search bar. When searching, remember that subject codes with only three letters and three numbers will need a space between the letters and numbers, for example, ‘BCM’ space ‘110’.

After you have selected your subject from the results list, you will be taken to the ‘Subject Description’ page. You will want to double check that you are viewing the ‘Subject Description’ page for the current year. You can check this under the Subject Title.

Next you will need to check what sessions the subject is available for via the ‘Select campus, delivery mode, and session (for subjects)’ drop down. This will be to the right of the ‘Year’ drop down menu. You can check to see if the subject is on offer by picking the campus, session and delivery mode applicable to your study. For example, if you can see the subject is being listed for Autumn session on campus at Wollongong, the subject may be on offer. If the session and campus are not in the list than the subject is not on offer.

Once you have selected an option from the list, to confirm the availability of the subject you will scroll down to the ‘delivery’ section. If a subject states that it is ‘On Offer: Yes’, the subject is available to enrol in for that session. If it states, ‘On Offer: No’, unfortunately the subject is not available.

Need further help?

If you have any further questions, you can contact our friendly AskUOW Student Service team, and once you have enrolled you can check out the AskUOW knowledge base at any time, through the link in the description. You can access the AskUOW knowledge base by logging in with your UOW username and password.