Change of major, minor or specialisation

If you commenced your course before 2020 and your course code has a ‘-T’ at the end of it in eStudent, you may not be eligible to change your major unless you are dropping your Further/Second Major or Minor.

If you believe you have genuine reasons to have your major changed other than course transfer, please submit an AskMQ enquiry for advice.

Major

The core zone of all generalist degrees will require a major – this will be your qualifying major.

A major consists of 80 credit points, of which 30 credit points must be at 3000 level. The list of eligible qualifying majors for a generalist degree are included in the course’s “major schedule” in the Handbook.

Minor

The core zone of a generalist degree may also allow you to complete a minor (eg in a Bachelor of Arts). A minor is a sequence of undergraduate units drawn from a major or specialisation but with a smaller volume of learning requirement.

A minor must be 40 credit points, of which 20 credit points must be completed at 2000 level or above.

Flexible Zone (Second) major

The Flexible Zone (second) major may be chosen from all available majors in the Handbook.

Please note, the Flexible Zone (second) major will be added from the year that you commenced your course. For example, if you commenced your course in 2023 but request to add a further major in 2024, the 2023 version of the major will be added. In the scenario that the further major is not available in your course year but is available in a future year, the major will be added from the first available year after your course commencement year.

Please note, there may be some majors that are ineligible for you to select due to requisite requirements. If you are unsure a further major is suitable for you, please submit a Course Guidance Form. Course advisers provide guidance to students about unit content and how their studies relate to their overall educational and career goals.

A specialist degree may require completion of a specialisation. You are only able to undertake one specialisation in an undergraduate specialist degree.

Undergraduate specialist degree specialisations are at least 120 credit points, of which at least 40 credit points must be completed at 3000 level or above. The list of eligible specialisations for a specialist degree is included in the course’s 'specialisation schedule' in the Handbook.

Your specialist degree may also allow the completion of a minor in the core zone and/or the flexible zone. A minor is a sequence of undergraduate units drawn from a major or specialisation but with a smaller volume of learning requirement. A minor must be 40 credit points of which 20 credit points must be completed at 2000 level or above.

Flexible Zone major

Your specialist degree may also allow the completion of a major in the Flexible Zone. The Flexible Zone major may be chosen from all available majors listed in the Handbook. The major will be added from the year that you commenced your course. In the scenario that the major is not available in your course year but is available in a future year, the major will be added from the first available year after your course commencement year.

Please note, there may be some majors that are ineligible for you to select due to requisite requirements. If you are unsure a further major is suitable for you, please submit a Course Guidance Form. Course advisers provide guidance to students about unit content and how their studies relate to their overall educational and career goals.

If you are admitted into a double degree, you will need to complete the core zone of each component single degree. Your major, minor, and specialisation requirements will be determined by the requirements of the individual single degrees.

There are unit sharing restrictions within double degrees. Students are unable to complete a specialisation or major where it is possible to choose a combination of units which share more than 50 per cent of credit points in common above 1000 level with:

• a major or specialisation from the other course, or
• the core zone of the other course (outside any major or specialisation

If you are admitted into a Combined Bachelor and Master Degree, you may request a change to the major, minor, or specialisation in your Bachelor Course, subject to the course requirements outlined in your Handbook. Students admitted into the Bachelor of Information Technology or Bachelor of Security Studies with a combined Master degree are also able to request a change to their intended Master.

Masters and Extended Masters degrees may require completion of a specialisation in the core zone. In postgraduate specialist courses, Specialisations will constitute 50 per cent of a course’s core zone. Where applicable, the list of eligible specialisations for a Masters degree is included in the course’s 'specialisation schedule' in the Handbook.

• A student completing a Masters degree can only complete one specialisation. However, Extended Masters may permit students to complete more than one specialisation.
• Graduate Certificates cannot have specialisations recognised.
• Graduate Diplomas may require a specialisation.

If you are studying either an Undergraduate Certificate or Diploma at Macquarie University College, speak to a Student Advisor regarding your eligibility for a course transfer.

For all change of major and minor requests relating to OUA courses, please contact Open Universities Australia directly to request this change.