General information
Welcome to the Master of Geoscience program in the School of Earth Sciences!
Hello MGeo students!
Each red section in the text below is a link. Please follow these links as necessary.
My name is Dr Brendan Duffy and I am the coordinator of the Master of Geoscience (MC-GEOSC) degree programme in the School of Earth Sciences. This degree offers professional training in geology and allows you to build on your formal undergraduate training through advanced level coursework.
At the start of your first semester I will give you a briefing, and you can download a copy here. However, the following instructions describe the three main steps to begin your UniMelb courses.
1) Planning - You must complete a coursework plan for my approval, typically before the 4th March. You may contact me as soon as your course offer is accepted, for advice on course planning. I recommend using this spreadsheet that I have devised to help you plan your course. To use the spreadsheet, read the instruction sheet first, then look at the example and work through course selection until all lights are green.
The best approach is to sort the course selection table by your preferred MGeo stream (blue cells). The courses are ranked by me according to their relevance, although you may have different ideas based on what line of work you expect to follow.
You are required to take 50 points each semester. You must take all of the core practical subjects. We recommend that you take prac A, B and Project (Geol90022, 90023 and 90024) in your first three semesters, in case you wish to take the research project. The points values for these three courses are pre-filled on the spreadsheet.
You can read about the courses in the spreadsheet by clicking on the links in the spreadsheet or in the Master of Geoscience course handbook. For each course you wish to take, copy its credit points into the semester in which you wish to take the course (yellow cells). Don't select VIEPs courses that occur at the same time as each other. Make sure that component totals for each of ELECTIVE, CORE and PROF courses are within the required limits (cells will turn green). For example, you must select between 37.5 pts and 62.5 pts of professional skills. You are allowed to take up to 50 pts of level 3 subjects. Most students would take 25 pts of level 3 subjects in the first semester of their program, unless they have already taken equivalent subjects. The remainder of your coursework will consist of VIEPS courses.
2) ENROLMENT PART 1 - THE VIEPS SYSTEM - Once you have selected your courses, you need to enrol in the 2019 courses. You will take at least a few courses at other universities, as part of a collaborative programme between Earth sciences/geosciences departments from several other institutions (Monash University and La Trobe University in Melbourne; The University of Tasmania in Hobart). This cooperation, known as the Victorian Institute for Earth and Planetary Sciences (VIEPS) provides students from all of the participating institutions with the opportunity to access the best and broadest array of advanced coursework in the Earth sciences discipline. You enrol in the courses through this VIEPS system! MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHERE THE SUBJECT IS TAUGHT, BECAUSE YOU MAY NEED TO TRAVEL
3) ENROLMENT PART 2 - the UniMelb system - Having enrolled through VIEPS, you also need to enrol through the unimelb system. The two are not linked! If you forget to enrol in the unimelb system you will not get credit.
4) Begin your semester - For many of you there will be some challenges to face, as you begin university in a foreign country and sometimes in a foreign language. As you prepare for your time here in Melbourne, some of you may wish to look at the academic skill support and the support available for international students here at The University of Melbourne. During your first semester you will take the first Practical course, a basic course just to ensure that everybody is on the same page. I will communicate with you about this course through email and the university's Learning Management System.
I hope you all enjoy your time here at Melbourne and I look forward to learning a bit more about you. My welcome presentation is available here.
Cheers
Brendan
Hello MGeo students!
Each red section in the text below is a link. Please follow these links as necessary.
My name is Dr Brendan Duffy and I am the coordinator of the Master of Geoscience (MC-GEOSC) degree programme in the School of Earth Sciences. This degree offers professional training in geology and allows you to build on your formal undergraduate training through advanced level coursework.
At the start of your first semester I will give you a briefing, and you can download a copy here. However, the following instructions describe the three main steps to begin your UniMelb courses.
1) Planning - You must complete a coursework plan for my approval, typically before the 4th March. You may contact me as soon as your course offer is accepted, for advice on course planning. I recommend using this spreadsheet that I have devised to help you plan your course. To use the spreadsheet, read the instruction sheet first, then look at the example and work through course selection until all lights are green.
The best approach is to sort the course selection table by your preferred MGeo stream (blue cells). The courses are ranked by me according to their relevance, although you may have different ideas based on what line of work you expect to follow.
You are required to take 50 points each semester. You must take all of the core practical subjects. We recommend that you take prac A, B and Project (Geol90022, 90023 and 90024) in your first three semesters, in case you wish to take the research project. The points values for these three courses are pre-filled on the spreadsheet.
You can read about the courses in the spreadsheet by clicking on the links in the spreadsheet or in the Master of Geoscience course handbook. For each course you wish to take, copy its credit points into the semester in which you wish to take the course (yellow cells). Don't select VIEPs courses that occur at the same time as each other. Make sure that component totals for each of ELECTIVE, CORE and PROF courses are within the required limits (cells will turn green). For example, you must select between 37.5 pts and 62.5 pts of professional skills. You are allowed to take up to 50 pts of level 3 subjects. Most students would take 25 pts of level 3 subjects in the first semester of their program, unless they have already taken equivalent subjects. The remainder of your coursework will consist of VIEPS courses.
2) ENROLMENT PART 1 - THE VIEPS SYSTEM - Once you have selected your courses, you need to enrol in the 2019 courses. You will take at least a few courses at other universities, as part of a collaborative programme between Earth sciences/geosciences departments from several other institutions (Monash University and La Trobe University in Melbourne; The University of Tasmania in Hobart). This cooperation, known as the Victorian Institute for Earth and Planetary Sciences (VIEPS) provides students from all of the participating institutions with the opportunity to access the best and broadest array of advanced coursework in the Earth sciences discipline. You enrol in the courses through this VIEPS system! MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHERE THE SUBJECT IS TAUGHT, BECAUSE YOU MAY NEED TO TRAVEL
3) ENROLMENT PART 2 - the UniMelb system - Having enrolled through VIEPS, you also need to enrol through the unimelb system. The two are not linked! If you forget to enrol in the unimelb system you will not get credit.
4) Begin your semester - For many of you there will be some challenges to face, as you begin university in a foreign country and sometimes in a foreign language. As you prepare for your time here in Melbourne, some of you may wish to look at the academic skill support and the support available for international students here at The University of Melbourne. During your first semester you will take the first Practical course, a basic course just to ensure that everybody is on the same page. I will communicate with you about this course through email and the university's Learning Management System.
I hope you all enjoy your time here at Melbourne and I look forward to learning a bit more about you. My welcome presentation is available here.
Cheers
Brendan