Study options

What can I study?

You can enrol in almost any of the 6000 units (subjects) offered across our eight campuses in Australia, South Africa and Malaysia – as long as you have the necessary academic background and satisfy any pre-requisites.

Regardless of which campus you choose as your study abroad destination, the units you study are globally recognised and accredited by many professional international bodies. For example, our psychology subjects are recognised by the Psychological Society of South Africa, and the Australian Psychology Accreditation Council (APAC). If you’d like to study accounting your units are accredited by the Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants (among others), the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA), the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (ACCA), and many professional associations in Australia.

Our faculties

While it may make more sense to study subjects in line with your majors and minors back home, you’re actually allowed to choose subjects from any Monash faculty – and we have 10 of those to choose from:

So even if you’re studying a Bachelor of Science you could try some journalism, maybe a Bachelor of Arts student might like to sample from our many language units, or an Engineering student may have always wanted to have a go at drawing architectural designs. Whatever you’d like to achieve, or try, you can do it with Monash.

Areas of study

Have a look at our areas of study when planning which Monash campus you’d like to attend. Each campus has their own strengths, for example Parkville is all about pharmacy studies, and not everything is offered at every campus – so it’s a good idea to check that the subjects you’d like to study are offered at the campus you want to attend.

Academic considerations

Some units have restrictions that apply to exchange and study abroad students – find out more about academic considerations.

Most units don’t have quotas, but occasionally the number of students has to be restricted. We’ll notify you (as early as possible) if you’ve chosen a unit where this is the case, and we’ll suggest some equivalent or alternative units for you to choose from.

Pre-approved units

A number of the units offered at Monash have been pre-approved for you to study. We encourage you to consider the units on this list, not only because choosing these units will speed up your application process, they’re also designed to give you a unique insight into the culture of your exchange/study abroad destination.

Student handbooks and unit descriptions

The Monash handbook contains everything you’ll need to know about every unit offered at Monash, including:

  • unit code
  • faculty
  • credit points
  • study hours
  • semester(s) offered
  • campus(es) where the units are taught
  • any prerequisites
  • a description of what you’ll study
  • assessment requirements.

Monash Course Finder may also be helpful. It’s an online database of every degree offered by us, and it’s a great tool for searching keyword terms – you can navigate to individual unit details this way. You should be aware that the fee and application information in Course Finder does not apply to exchange and study abroad students.

The specifics about study at Monash

Your study load

Under Australian, Malaysian and South African visa rules, as an exchange or study abroad student you must be enrolled full-time throughout your stay.

A normal full-time load at Monash is 24 credit points (four units/subjects), but 18 credit points (three units/subjects) is permitted. You can’t enrol in more than 24 credit points per semester.

How many hours will I be doing?

The hours you’ll spend in class, and in self-directed study, vary depending on the type of class you’re taking (check the unit’s handbook entry for specific details), but generally:

 

Type of class Contact hours per week
Non-lab units
  • 2 x 1 hour lectures
  • 1 x 1 hour tutorial
  • 3 – 5 hours of private study and reading
Laboratory units
  • 2 x 1 hour lectures
  • 1 x 3 hour laboratory session
  • 1 – 3 hours of private study and reading

The Monash grading scale

All faculties at all Monash campuses use a common grading scale for undergraduate and postgraduate coursework units. When you complete your studies at Monash you will receive an official Monash transcript that will display the grades you earned in each unit.

Grade Percentage score GPA value
High distinction (HD) 80 – 100% 4
Distinction (D) 70 – 79% 3
Credit (C) 60 – 69% 2
Pass (P) 50 – 59% 1
Fail (N) 50% 0.3

The Monash grading policy gives you more detailed information about grade conversions, although your home university might convert grades using a different measure.

Monash terminology

The Monash campus you attend may use different terminology than universities in your home country. Understanding these terms will help you when completing your study plan. For example “course” in your country may refer to single classes/units, whereas “course” at Monash refers to a whole degree or program (for example Bachelor of Arts).

Read our full list of Monash terminology.