Coursework selection for masters students

Before enrolling in any coursework, consult with your supervisor.

This is information on how to satisfy your coursework requirements for the Master of Science (Earth Sciences). The Master of Earth Sciences (a different degree) is no longer offered.

Instructions for Master of Science (Earth Sciences)

Each masters student needs to select subjects as described at http://graduate.science.unimelb.edu.au/programs/msc/earthsci. These consist of professional subjects and discipline-based subjects. You will probably want to complete much of your coursework in the first year of your masters program. To enroll in a professional subject (e.g. Money, People and Projects), simply enter these subjects on your Faculty of Science course selection form.

The enrolment procedure for the discipline-based subjects is more complicated. The atmospheric science and geology masters subjects are made up of modules from the VIEPS coursework (http://www.vieps.org.au/courses.htm) and MTEC coursework (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/mtec/) programs, as described below.

The first step is to enroll in your selected modules. This needs to be done in addition to your University of Melbourne enrollment in the masters subjects. Note that a 5-day module corresponds to half a Masters subject, and a 10-day module is a full masters subject. We’ll tell you how to match modules to subjects below.

The VIEPS program

VIEPS is a group of several universities who collaborate in teaching and research. To enroll in your selected courses, go to http://www.vieps.org.au/course_info.htm#students and follow the instructions there.

The MTEC program

The Minerals Geoscience Honours Program (https://www.adelaide.edu.au/mtec/) is administered by the Minerals Council of Australia, in collaboration with a number of universities throughout Australia. Note that each MTEC course counts as 5 days. Note also that some VIEPS courses are also MTEC courses. This is not important to know for course selection and should not influence your choice, but if an MTEC course is also a VIEPS course, you need to enroll just through the MTEC web site only and don’t have to enroll in it through the VIEPS web site.

Enrolment in MTEC courses must be done at https://www.adelaide.edu.au/mtec/register/?m=auth (username: student_2011 password: student_2011). We recommend that if your supervisor considers it to be appropriate, you should take two MTEC courses as part of your program. Masters students may take a maximum of four MTEC modules during their entire degree. Each student is entitled to one travel bursary to attend an MTEC course. See http://www.adelaide.edu.au/mtec/program/ for more details on bursaries. Only one travel bursary is available to you during your entire Masters degree program.

Matching modules to masters subjects

Once you have enrolled in your modules, you need to match them to appropriate University masters subjects so that you can enroll in those masters subjects. For this purpose, a table is provided below.

Don’t forget that for maximum flexibility in your module selection, we have two masters subjects, Current Topics in Geology A and B, that enable you to select any module as part of them, provided that the later of the two modules selected finishes during the same semester as the selected masters subject. For example, if you want to take two modules, one of which runs in April and the other in September, you can select Current Topics in Geology B, as this is the only masters geology subject that runs in semester 2. Note that not all modules in the table below run in the same semester as the appropriate masters subject listed beside them – some mixing and matching may be required. Consult with your supervisor.

Needless to say, you can’t take the same module twice to satisfy two different subjects, or count it towards two different subjects.

Also: check the VIEPS web site for updates. New modules may be added during the year, and this may affect your masters subject selection for semester 2.

Abbreviations for MTEC and VIEPS subjects

GTC	Thermochronology
PIP	Practical Igneous Petrology
REG	Regolith Geoscience
ORE	Ore Reserve Estimation
GFG	Geology from Geophysics
MSE	Mine Safety Engineering
CUR	Current Topics in Atmospheric Research
MEC	Mineral exploration under cover
CEF	Coastal Environmental Geomorphology
IIS	Remote Sensing
AUG	Geology of Gold
OTB	Ore textures and breccia
MAD	Modelling Atmospheric Dynamics
IGD	Igneous Geodynamics and Magmatic Ore Deposits
HYA	Advanced Hydrology
ASG	Applied Stuctural Geology
ESF	Exploration Skills Mapping
MGR	Mining geology and resource evaluation
BAP	Basin Analysis and Petroleum Geology
ODM	Ore Deposit Models for Mineral Exploration
GIS	Geoscience Information Systems

Masters subject	Appropriate modules	Semester of masters subject
Current topics in AO&S	CUR	1/2011
Atmosphere-Ocean Interaction and Climate	AOI	2/2011
Current topics in Geology A	Any two geology modules	1/2011
Current topics in Geology B	Any two geology modules	2/2011
Deposit models and minerals	Any two of AUG, IGD, ODM, ORE, MSE, MEX (MTEC), MIN (MTEC), OTX (MTEC), BAP	1/2011
Digital Geoscience	GIS, IIS	1/2011
Energy	Not running in 2011
Geochemistry and Geochronology	Any two of GTC, IGD, PIP	1/2011
Geophysics	MSE, GFG (MTEC)	1/2011
Geoscience in the Field	Any two of ESF, EGF, ORE	1/2011
Hydrogeology and the Environment	Any two of HYG, HYA, CEF, MSE, EGF , REG	1/2011
Paleontology and Biogeochemistry	Not running in 2011
Structural Geology and Geodynamics	Any two of GFG (MTEC), ASG (MTEC), BAP	1/2011
Surface Processes and Geodynamics	Any two of CEF, EGF, REG (MTEC)	1/2011
The Geology of Ore Deposits	Any two of AUG, IGD, ODM, ORE, MSE, MEX (MTEC), MIN (MTEC), OTX (MTEC), BAP, MGR	1/2011

Other ways of satisfying your electives

Don’t forget that you can take up to 25 points of appropriate 3rd-year subjects that can count towards your Masters degree. Discuss with your supervisor regarding appropriate choices. These subjects do not have to be in our department, provided they are relevant. Note: if you are working on a hydrogeology project and you have no hydrogeology background, consider 625-307.

You also might want to think about Masters-level subjects that are offered in other Master of Science coursework programs (http://graduate.science.unimelb.edu.au/programs/msc/home). We don’t have a list of “approved” subjects that fit into this category, but if a subject in this category is particularly relevant to your project, discuss it with your supervisor and the Masters coordinator.