Background - Handbook FAQs

What is the Handbook?

The university’s official statement of the requirements and associated information for each course and unit offered in a given academic year.

Why is it produced?

Publication of the Handbook:

allows the university to meet its Commonwealth Government obligations, principally DEEWR publication requirements and relevant sections of the ESOS Act

meets Best Practice aims by providing the university and its students with a single authoritative documented statement of requirements for each course of study and its dependent units.

Who is it intended for?

The audience for the Handbook is primarily students currently enrolled at the university, although it is also available as a source of detailed course and unit information for future students.

In what formats is it published?

The handbook is available online only from the 2009 publication, although an embedded print functionality (Prince XML) allows students, staff and the public to print relevant portions of the Handbook as PDF documents with a more 'print-friendly' format.

When is it produced?

The annual production schedule is determined by the 1 October DEEWR publication deadline (see schedule for timelines relative to the 2010 edition).

What's the difference between the Handbook and the Course Guides?

The Undergraduate Handbook and Postgraduate Handbook - collectively 'the Handbook' - is an online only publication, targeted at current students to assist them to plan each stage of their enrolment in their chosen course, so that they can undertake the required program of study. The Handbook is the authoritative source for this course and unit information in the University.

The Undergraduate Course Guide and Postgraduate Course Guide and their associated International Application Guides are marketing publications targeted at prospective students to assist them to decide on a course of study. The Course Guides are administered by Advancement, and are essentially the hard-copy versions of Course Finder.

Who does what in the handbook production process?

Broad direction on the Handbook is given by the university's Publications Committee.
Handbook production is coordinated by staff in Student Administration and Systems.
Content in the handbooks is provided by faculties.

What are the different parts of the handbook production process?

1. Faculty information section

There is one of these sections in the Handbook for each faculty. Degree of detail and content varies between faculties, but at a minimum it contains faculty information as outlined under Handbook structure.

Currently this section is produced by faculty editors copying and pasting the information from the current relevant web pages into Word documents and editing these as required using track-change mode. Updates are then made to the web pages by the Handbook coordinator.

2. Outline of courses and Areas of study sections

Collection of course entries, Areas of study and unit information is a separate process from compilation of the Faculty information section of the Handbook (NOTE: the Areas of study section is being expanded and developed, but is currently not relevant to all faculties).

Faculties enter course, Areas of study and unit details into the Course and Unit Publication and Information Database (CUPID) managed by Student Administration and Systems. These entries are published in the Handbooks via extracts taken from CUPID:

course entries are overseen by the publications coordinator as outlined in this Handbook production guide
unit entries are managed by the CUPID team.

Some useful tips for new faculty editors

Some tips to make the editing process a bit smoother and things you will need to check up on:

Check your own faculty’s internal processes and deadlines for approval of courses etc in relation to the Handbook production schedule and the Governing legislation, policies and procedures.
Start editing early. Contact theHandbook coordinator or CUPID staff as necessary
... and remember, no question is too trivial!