University home

Library

Current students

Staff intranet

Find an event

Give

Current students

Home / Higher degree by research / Planning your research / HDR units of study

HDR units of study

As a research student, depending on the year you commenced your studies, your faculty, school or course requirements, you may need to complete certain coursework units of study. You can also request access to units of study that you think will benefit your study.

HDR units of study

Exemptions from coursework units

In exceptional circumstances, you may be able to apply for an exemption from coursework based on previously completed coursework. Find out more.

If you're a research student commencing your degree from 2021 onwards, you'll have to complete a compulsory coursework component.

If you commenced your research degree before 2021, your faculty or school may require you to complete units of study specific to research students, or as a key part of your degree requirements.

Alternatively, you may have the option of completing units of study that are of benefit to your degree but are not compulsory.

If you commenced from 2021 onwards

If you commenced before 2021

Students who commence from 2021

To support the research capabilities and success of HDR students, and in response to a changing world, all HDR degrees from 2021 include a compulsory coursework component. For more information, refer to Table R in the Handbook.

The coursework provides the opportunity to create a distinct research pathway by selecting from over 300 units from any faculty, with study areas ranging from specialist analytical methods and professional engagement courses, to discipline-specific subjects.

All units offered will be at the 5000-level or above.
Units and grades will appear on your final transcript, this includes all failed units and those where the requirement was not met satisfactorily
There is no separate tuition fee cost for the coursework units of study undertaken, it is part of the tuition fee for the course. See the 'Your fee' section of each course page for fee information. Additional non-tuition course costs vary depending on the units of study. Additional non-tuition course costs (such as fieldwork costs, laboratory coats, books/learning material, etc) vary depending on the units of study.

When will I complete my coursework units?

You are expected to choose your first Table R coursework units in the first 3 months of full-time equivalent (FTE) candidature. For more information about Table R milestones and activities refer to Schedule 1 in the Progress Planning and Review for Higher Degree by Research Students Policy 2015.

You need to have completed your coursework by the end of Year 2 (FTE) if you are a doctoral candidate (PhDs) and by the end of Year 1 if you are studying a masters. If you need to enrol in Table R units later than this, you should consult your supervisor and postgraduate coordinator.

You need to be aware of the relevant enrolment deadlines for both the research and coursework components of your degree to understand when to enrol in your units of study.

Enrolling in your units

To enrol in coursework units of study, you will need to select units in Sydney Student. Find out more on our How to enrol in units page.

You will be able to enrol in any of the units available, subject to unit capacity, departmental permission where applicable, and your research background, as some units vary in levels of capability.

You can reflect with your supervisor on the coursework options that are most suitable based on your prior experience and the demands of the research project. Faculties or schools may elect to define certain units of study as mandatory for a given degree pathway.

Check Table R in the Handbook for coursework units available for higher degree by research students.

Students who commenced before 2021

To enrol in coursework units of study, you will need to complete a special permission request through Sydney Student. Information about this process can be found on the How to enrol in units page. You need to be aware of the coursework unit of study deadlines to enrol in, or remove units of study. Units of study will only appear on your transcript if you are officially enrolled.

As an HDR student, you won't need to pay any tuition fees to complete coursework units of study.

You can also access short online units in the Open Learning Environment (OLE), at any time and for free. 5000-level OLE units are designed specifically to help you develop the essential skills and knowledge required to successfully complete your research and to help you in your post-PhD career. You can enrol in these units through Canvas and complete them at your own convenience.

Required units of study for students who commenced before 2021

Architecture, design and planning

Unit of study code	Unit of study name	Course	Course stage	Advice
ARCF9001	Modes of Inquiry: Research and Scholarship	All	Year 1	N/A

Arts and social sciences

School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry

Unit of study code	Unit of study name	Course	Course stage	Advice
GCST5909	Key Thinkers for Cultural Studies	Subject to arrangements with your supervisor(s)	Any time	Offered Semester 1
GCST6903	Debates in Cultural Studies	Subject to arrangement with your supervisor(s)	Any time	Offered Semester 2
GCST5910	Health, Pleasure and Consumption	Subject to arrangement with your supervisor(s)	Any time	Offered Semester 2
GCST6901	Cultural Policy	Subject to arrangement with your supervisor(s)	Any time	Offered Semester 2
GCST6905	Gender in Cultural Theory	Subject to arrangement with your supervisor(s)	Any time	Offered Semester 2
WMST6902	Arguing the Point	Subject to arrangements with your supervisor(s)	Any time	Offered Semester 1
WMST6903	Gender, Media and Consumer Societies	Subject to arrangements with your supervisor(s)	Any time	Offered Semester 1
WMST6904	Modernist Cultural Studies	Subject to arrangements with your supervisor(s)	Any time	Offered Semester 1

School of Social and Political Science

Unit of study code	Unit of study name	Course	Course stage	Advice
SSPS6001	Quantitative Methods for Social Science	Subject to arrangements with your supervisor(s)	Any time	Offered Semester 2
SSPS6002	Qualitative Methods in the Social Sciences	Subject to arrangement with your supervisor(s)	Any time	Offered Semester 1
SCLG6902	Ethics of Social Research	Subject to arrangement with your supervisor(s)	Any time	Offered Semester 1
ECOP6031	Research in Political Economy	Subject to arrangement with your supervisor(s)	Any time	Offered Semester 2
GOVT6139	Research Design	Subject to arrangement with your supervisor(s)	Any time	Offered Semester 1

Sydney College of the Arts

Unit of study code	Unit of study name	Course	Course stage	Advice
CART7006	Art as Research	Doctor of Philosophy	First research period of candidature	Course details will be emailed to students
CART7006	Art as Research	Master of Fine Arts	Year 1	Course details will be emailed to students

Business

Unit of study code	Unit of study name	Course	Course stage	Advice
BUSS7901	Research Design	All	Year 1	Offered in Semester 1 and Semester 2. Must be taken in first semester of candidature. Must be taken prior to 1st Year Faculty Milestone (Thesis Proposal Defence).
BUSS7902	Introduction to Quantitative Methods	All	Year 1	Offered in Semester 1 and Semester 2. Must be taken in first semester of candidature. Must be taken prior to 1st Year Faculty Milestone (Thesis Proposal Defence).
BUSS7903	Introduction to Qualitative Methods	All	Year 1	Offered in Semester 1 and Semester 2. Must be taken within two semesters. Must be taken prior to 1st Year Faculty Milestone (Thesis Proposal Defence).
BUSS7904	Advanced Quantitative Methods	PhD Students only*	Year 1-2	Offered Semester 2 only. Must be taken within 3 semesters. Pre-requisite is BUSS7902. *MPhil students intending to upgrade to PhD must take either BUSS7904 or BUSS7906.
BUSS7906	Advanced Qualitative Methods	PhD students only*	Year 1-2	Offered Semester 2 only. Must be taken within 3 semesters. Pre-requisite is BUSS7903. *MPhil students intending to upgrade to PhD must take either BUSS7904 or BUSS7906
BUSS7908	Research Reading Seminar	All	Year 1	Offered at discipline’s discretion.
BUSS7910	Philosophy of Business Research	All	Year 1	Offered in Semester 1 and Semester 2. Must be taken in first semester of candidature. Must be taken prior to 1st Year.

Education and social work

Unit of study code	unit of study name	Course	Course stage	Advice
EDPZ5003	Thesis proposal writing	Recommended for all Doctoral and MPhil students PhD(Ed) pathway requirement	Year 1	Offered in semester 1
EDPK5001	Qualitative Methods	PhD pathway requirement MPhil elective MEd(RES) – Option B elective	Year 1 1st RP	Offered in Semester 1 and Semester 2
EDPK5003	Developing a research proposal	MPhil(Ed) core unit MEd(RES) – Option B elective	Year 1 1st RP	Offered in Semester 1 and Semester 2
SCWK6902	Social research	PhD(SW) pathway requirement MPhil(SW) core unit	Year 1	Offered in semester 1
EDPK5002	Quantitative methods	MPhil elective	Year 1	(not offered in 2019)
EDPC5012	Evaluating Learning Tech. Innovation	MEd(RES) – Option B elective	1st RP	Offered in semester 1

Engineering and computer science

School of Computer Science

Unit of study code	Unit of study name	Course	Course stage	Advice
INFO5993	Research Methods in IT	All School of Computer Science candidates need to complete this unit in their first semester of candidature	Year 1	May be taken in Semester 1 or Semester 2

School of Civil engineering

Unit of study code	Unit of study name	Course	Course stage	Advice
CSYS5010	Introduction to Complex Systems	All - subject to arrangement with your supervisor(s)	Any time	May be taken in Semester 1 or 2
CSYS5020	Interdependent Civil Systems	All - subject to arrangement with your supervisor(s)	Any time	May be taken in Semester 1
CSYS5030	Information Theory and Self-Organisation	All - subject to arrangement with your supervisor(s)	Any time	May be taken in Semester 2
CSYS5040	Criticality in Dynamical Systems	All - subject to arrangement with your supervisor(s)	Any time	May be taken in Semester 2
CIVL6257	Concrete Structures - Prestressed Concrete	All - subject to arrangement with your supervisor(s)	Any time	May be taken in Semester 1
CIVL6264	Composite Steel-Concrete Structures	All - subject to arrangement with your supervisor(s)	Any time	May be taken in Semester 2
CIVL6267	Steel Structures - Advanced Analysis and Design	All - subject to arrangement with your supervisor(s)	Any time	May be taken in Semester 1
CIVL6268	Structural Dynamics	All - subject to arrangement with your supervisor(s)	Any time	May be taken in Semester 2
CIVL6455	Engineering Behaviour of Soils	All - subject to arrangement with your supervisor(s)	Any time	May be taken in Semester 2
CIVL6456	Energy Geotechnics	All - subject to arrangement with your supervisor(s)	Any time	May be taken in Semester 2
CIVL6665	Advanced Water Resources Engineering	All - subject to arrangement with your supervisor(s)	Any time	May be taken in Semester 2
CIVL6666	Open Channel Flow & Hydraulic Structures	All - subject to arrangement with your supervisor(s)	Any time	May be taken in Semester 1
CIVL6669	Applied Fluid Engineering Computing	All - subject to arrangement with your supervisor(s)	Any time	May be taken in Semester 2
CIVL5351	Geoenvironmental Engineering	All - subject to arrangement with your supervisor(s)	Any time	May be taken in Semester 2
CIVL5458	Numerical Methods in Civil Engineering	All - subject to arrangement with your supervisor(s)	Any time	May be taken in Semester 1
CIVL5460	Particle Mechanics for Geotechnics	All - subject to arrangement with your supervisor(s)	Any time	May be taken in Semester 1
CIVL5999	Advanced Research and Analysis	All - subject to arrangement with your supervisor(s)	Any time	May be taken in Semester 1
CIVL5701	Transport Networks, Geography, and Land Use	All - subject to arrangement with your supervisor(s)	Any time	May be taken in Semester 2

Law

Unit of study code	Unit of study name	Course	Course stage	Advice
LAWS6077	Legal Research 1	Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of Juridical Studies, Master of Laws (Research), Master of Criminology (Research)	Year 1	Semester 1 timetable
LAWS7001	Legal Research 2	Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of Juridical Studies	Year 2 for full-time students	Semester 2 timetable
LAWS7002	Legal Research 3	Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of Juridical Studies	Year 3 for full-time students	Semester 2 timetable. One other session involving a one or two day conference in which students give presentations of their thesis will be held later in the year. The dates will be confirmed at the first meeting.

Medicine and health

Sydney Dental School

Unit of study code	Unit of study name	Course	Course stage	Advice
DENT6000	Research Methods in Dentistry	Master of Philosophy	Year 1 (recommended but may be completed later)	May be taken in Semester 1 or Semester 2

Sydney Medical School

Unit of study code	Unit of study name	Course	Course stage	Advice
MEDF5005	Health Research Methods and Ethics	Master of Philosophy	Year 1 (recommended but may be completed later)	Offered in Semester 1

Sydney Nursing School

Unit of study code	Unit of study name	Course	Course stage	Advice
A minimum of one unit of study	N/A	Master of Philosophy	Year 1 (recommended but may be completed later)	May be taken in Semester 1 or Semester 2

Sydney Pharmacy School

Unit of study code	Unit of study name	Course	Course stage	Advice
PHAR6000	Research Methods	Master of Philosophy	Year 1 (recommended but may be completed later)	May be taken in Semester 1 or Semester 2

Science

Unit of study code	Unit of study name	Course	Course stage	Advice
MATH1005	Statistics	All– optional	Year 1 recommended	May be taken in Semester 1 or Semester 2
DATA1001	Foundations of Data Science	All - optional	Year 1 recommended	May be taken in Semester 1 or Semester 2

Last updated: 22 May 2023

Website feedback

Tell us if you’ve spotted a typo or something else wrong with this page.

Thank you

Your feedback has been sent.

Sorry there was a problem sending your feedback. Please try again

You should only use this form to send feedback about the content on this webpage – we will not respond to other enquiries made through this form. If you have an enquiry or need help with something else such as your enrolment, course etc you can contact the Student Centre.

Cancel