Waiving hurdle or pre-requisite requirements
Pre-requisite requirements are implemented for some units to ensure that students have the previous knowledge or experience gained in earlier units to progress to further, more complex units within their course. These requirements usually involve a student having completed specific units, or a certain number of units prior to enrolling in the more complex unit.
Some units may have co-requisite requirements, which require the student to either have already successfully completed or be enrolled in a particular unit concurrently with your unit.
Hurdle requirements are conditions placed on the assessment within a unit which require that students meet the requirement to successfully complete the unit (irrespective of the grades they may have achieved for each component part of an assignment). The most commonly used hurdle requirements relate to requirements of obtaining a pass in the End of Unit Assessment task or Examination for the unit (50% of the marks available) or that all tasks must be attempted/submitted.
One thing to keep in mind is whether students have demonstrated achievement of all unit learning outcomes. If they haven’t, then they cannot be deemed to have passed the unit. You will need to design your assessment tasks carefully to ensure all learning outcomes are able to be evidenced by students.
Hurdle and pre-requisite requirements are governed by the Faculty Curriculum Committee and if a requirement is associated with a unit, this information is detailed in the University Handbook listing for the unit. In very limited circumstances, hurdle requirements or pre-requisite requirements may be waived for a single student on compassionate or other grounds.
Approval Steps:
Pre-requisite and co-requisite waivers
To request a pre-requisite or co-requisite waiver students must meet certain enrolment conditions and are required to apply via an online request form. Sometimes a student might contact you as Unit Chair directly in person or via email to request a waiver.
You cannot act on a request received in this way. Instead, direct the student to the online request form so that their eligibility to apply for a waiver is determined by a Student Adviser before the request is sent on the Department for consideration.
If the student is eligible to be considered for a waiver, then the request will be forwarded to the relevant approver in your Department (usually the Director of Teaching).
Hurdle waivers
If you receive a request from the Deakin Disability Resource Centre (DRC) with regards to waiving a hurdle requirement for a student, please contact ad-tlbuslaw@deakin.edu.au or bl-fapc@deakin.edu.au in the first instance.
