Enrolment Policy

Fact box

Policy owner: Registrar
Policy category: Academic: Academic Administration
Policy status: Approved
Approval body: Academic Board
Endorsement body: Quality Assurance Committee
Related policies:
Last amended: 16th June 2025
Relevant HESF: Standards 6.2–6.4 / RTO Standards: 2.1, 2.2 / National Code: Standards 2.1, 3.3, 4.6, 5.6, 7.2, 8.16, 8.17, 9

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to outline the principles and key requirements for subject or unit enrolment at Alphacrucis University College (AC).

Scope

This policy applies to all students seeking to enrol into Higher Education (HE) and Vocational Education and Training (VET) courses at all AC campuses, including online and physical delivery locations.

Policy

Definitions

For the purpose of this policy, the following definitions apply:

International Student: International Student is defined as an Overseas student per the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000 (ESOS Act).
Overseas student: An overseas student is not an Australian or New Zealand citizen an Australian permanent resident or holder of an Australian permanent humanitarian visa. An overseas student is defined as a person who holds an Australian student visa, whether they are within or outside of Australia.
Domestic Student: A student who is an Australian citizen, New Zealand citizen, or holds an Australian permanent visa (including humanitarian visas).
ESOS Act: means Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000.
PRISMS: means the Provider Registration and International Student Management System.
Audit Student: A student approved to attend a subject without undertaking assessments. No credit is awarded, and FEE-HELP is not available.
Census Date: The official deadline by which students can withdraw from a subject without academic or financial penalty. Withdrawals after this date may incur penalties.
Enrolment Period: The designated time before a study period during which students are permitted to enrol in subjects or units.
Full-Time Student (Higher Education): A student enrolled in 30 or more credit points in a semester (domestic) or 40 credit points (international).
Late Withdrawal (LW): A withdrawal from a unit or subject after the census date, approved under compassionate or compelling circumstances. No academic or financial penalty is applied if granted.
Compassionate and compelling circumstances: Compassionate and compelling circumstances refer to situations where a student experiences serious, unforeseen events that significantly impact their ability to meet academic or visa requirements. Compassionate and compelling circumstances are generally those beyond the control of the student and which have an impact on the student’s course progress or wellbeing.
Miscellaneous Enrolment: Enrolment in a single subject/unit without being enrolled in an award or non-award course.
Non-Award Enrolment: Enrolment in a subject or course that does not lead to a formal qualification but may be used for personal interest or as a pathway to an award course.

Policy Statement

Enrolments

It is the student’s responsibility to be aware of the specific requirements of the course for which they apply and/or in which they are enrolled and to select subjects or units that satisfy these requirements. International students have additional responsibilities to be aware of the specific course requirements that may impact their visa status (Refer to International Student Policy for further information).

To assist students in this process, prior to commencement of each study period, AC specifies enrolment periods for each course and mode of study via communication from the Student Experience department. During the enrolment period:

students are able to discuss their choices with the Student Experience Team, State Directors and/or the Faculty Team;
students complete their enrolment through AC’s Student Gateway, selecting the subjects or units they will be undertaking during the next teaching period (ensuring they follow the accredited course progression including the pre-requisites, major/minor requirements as outlined in degree’s governing stipulations and Course Handbooks).

For the purpose of enrolment:

a student, who is a candidate for an award, shall be regarded as full-time or part-time;
for HE courses, where a domestic student is enrolled in 30 or more credit points in a semester period, the candidate shall be designated as a full-time student; otherwise, they shall be designated part-time. International students are required to maintain enrolment at 40 credit points per semester, except where a reduced study load has been officially approved.

Minimum Class Enrolment

AC will endeavour to run all subjects, units and courses as advertised. However, delivery of particular subjects, units or courses is dependent on resources and staff availability, as well as consideration of the following scenarios:

Should enrolments in a unit or subject, irrespective of delivery mode, fall below 10 students, delivery will be subject to review and may be cancelled.
In the case of a subject cancellation, either AC Refund Policies will assure student fee return, or students may take up the offer of an alternative subject (as directed by the Program Director (or equivalent)).
Notwithstanding this requirement for minimum class enrolment, subjects will usually be timetabled to enable combined delivery (streaming lectures to multiple locations) wherever possible.  This could involve blended delivery which is a combination of streamed or pre-recorded lectures (where available) with live/synchronous tutorials.
If a subject is being co-delivered across two AQF levels, overall enrolments must meet or exceed the minimum viable number. 
In the following special circumstances, a unit or subject may be delivered even when Class enrolments fall below this minimum viable number:

It is essential for student course progression; or

No other course is available for the student in the teaching period; or
The unit or subject has broader strategic value which can be demonstrated; or
The relevant course/location is in a development phase; and
Every effort has been taken to ensure the sustainable use of faculty/sessional time.

Auditing, non-award and miscellaneous subject enrolment

Alternative subject enrolments at AC may take the following forms:

"Audit students” are approved to attend classes with no obligation to participate in the assessment. No credit points are awarded for audited subjects and no FEE-Help is available.

"Non-award subject" is part of a “non-award course” (e.g. an enabling course, preparatory course) which does not lead to a formal award but may be counted as credit towards an award course in some cases. The student is not provided with FEE-Help.

Withdrawal from a subject enrolment

Withdrawal of a unit or subject enrolment shall:

be permitted prior to or on census date without academic penalty or financial penalty. A withdrawal is not listed on a student's formal transcript. Withdrawal of a unit or subject enrolment after the census date:
will attract the academic penalty of a Withdrawal Fail ("WF") grade or Not Yet Competent ("NYC") grade;
will attract a financial penalty, usually the full tuition fee;
The above penalties will apply unless a "Late Withdrawal" due to Special Circumstances has been approved via the Student Affairs Committee.

A Late Withdrawal (LW) will not be listed on a student's formal transcript as an LW. Special circumstances are those that are:

deemed compassionate or compelling
beyond the student's control; and
did not make their full impact on the student until or after the census date; and
were such that it made it impracticable for the student to complete their subject(s) or unit(s) requirements.

Please note, special circumstances do not include a lack of knowledge or understanding of the census dates or AC's enrolment and withdrawal processes. Census date information is available on the AC website. Also, if a student withdraws from a unit or subject after the census date because they have changed their mind about studying, the student will attract the academic and financial penalty.

Roles and Responsibilities

The following roles and responsibilities apply in relation to this policy:

Registrar: The Registrar is responsible for ensuring this policy is reviewed regularly and remains aligned with institutional and legislative requirements. The Registrar is also responsible for coordinating communication of policy revisions to stakeholders.
Student Experience Team: Facilitates the unit or subject enrolment process, including making enrolment documents available 6–8 weeks before the study period; notifying students when enrolment opens and providing support; and confirming pre-requisite satisfaction and entering enrolment in the Student Management System.
Students: Students are responsible for understanding course requirements and selecting appropriate subjects or units; completing enrolment within the specified enrolment period through the Student Gateway; requesting enrolment amendments or late withdrawals when needed, including supporting documentation; and maintaining required study loads (especially international students, per visa conditions).
Program Director (or equivalent): Program Directors (or equivalent) are responsible for approving delivery of subjects/units with enrolment below minimum thresholds, in consultation with the State Director, the Head of School, Deputy Vice President Faculty and Vice President Operations. They are also responsible for providing guidance to students on alternative subjects in case of subject cancellation.
Student Affairs Committee (SAC): The SAC is responsible for reviewing and approving or denying Late Withdrawal applications based on compassionate or compelling circumstances.
Vice President Operations (VPO): The VPO must be informed when minimum class size approvals are sought for course delivery.

Responsible for implementation

Registrar
Student Experience Team
Students
Program Director (or equivalent)
Student Affairs Committee (SAC)
Vice President Operations (VPO)

Key stakeholders

All staff and students

Related legislation

Higher Education Standards Framework: Standards 6.2 – 6.4

Federal Register of Legislation - Standards for Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) 2015: 2.1, 2.2 (please note that the Standards for RTO’s 2015 will be replaced by the following as of 01/07/2025: National Vocational Education and Training Regulator (Outcome Standards for Registered Training Organisations) Instrument 2025, National Vocational Education and Training Regulator (Compliance Standards for NVR Registered Training Organisations and Fit and Proper Person Requirements) Instrument 2025)

Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000 (ESOS Act)

The National Code of Practice for Providers of Education and Training to Overseas Students 2018 (National Code 2018): Standards 2.1, 3.3, 4.6, 5.6, 7.2, 8.16, 8.17, 9

Procedures

Enrolment Procedure

Unit or subject enrolment procedure

Unit or subject enrolment occurs under the direction of the Student Experience Team as follows:

six to eight weeks before the commencement of the study period the Student Experience Team will make available all enrolment documents compiled from the accredited course progression data;
students will be informed that enrolments are open and/or of a specific enrolment period;
students are usually required to enrol two weeks before the commencement of a teaching period and/or intensive;
unless otherwise approved by the relevant Program Director or Head of School, students are not permitted to enrol after the census date; this is to ensure students have a reasonable chance of successful completion without requiring a remedial action that would be inequitable for students who complied with the enrolment period;
enrolments are entered into the Student Management System upon confirmation that the student has satisfied the pre-requisite requirements and/or has not received exemption for that unit or subject;
for HE, a student cannot be enrolled in the same subject a third time (see Exclusion from Subject or Course Policy).
Students requesting to change their enrolment in a specific unit or subject after enrolment must submit an Amend Enrolment form request online via the Student Gateway.
Enrolment Amendment requests submitted on or before the relevant census date will result in the unit or subject being removed from the student’s academic record. In cases where upfront tuition fees for the unit or subject in question had already been paid, students may apply for a refund in accordance with AC’s Refund Policy.
Enrolment Amendment requests submitted after the relevant census date but before the subject/unit end date will result in a WF/NYC on the student’s academic record.

Procedure for a Late Withdrawal from a subject

To apply for a Late Withdrawal based on compassionate or compelling circumstances, a student is required to submit a Student Affairs Committee Application and include documentation which satisfies the Special Circumstances criteria.

Applications without supporting documentation will not be considered.

If approved the student can apply for a refund in accordance with AC’s Refund Policy.

If the application was made on or before the end date of the relevant teaching period and is rejected, the student will receive a WF or NYC grade on their transcript and will not be eligible for a refund. Similarly, if the application was made after the end date of the relevant teaching period and is rejected, the unit or subject final grade displayed on the student’s transcript will remain unchanged and they will not be eligible for a refund.

Student complaints regarding Late Withdrawal decisions are processed using the AC grievance and appeals procedures.

Procedure for approval for class delivery below minimum enrolment numbers

To obtain approval to deliver a class below minimum enrolment numbers, the following procedures must be implemented:

The Program Director (or equivalent) has consulted with the relevant State Director and has approval of the Head of School and/or Deputy Vice President Faculty; and
The Program Director (or equivalent) and/or Faculty has informed the Vice President Operations

Review and Revision

This policy will be reviewed by the Registrar on a regular basis in accordance with the Policy Development and Review Policy. Any proposed changes will be tabled at the approving committee for considering. Revisions will be communicated to all relevant stakeholder once approved.