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Industry and community projects

4000 level projects

Overview

4000 level Industry and Community Project Units (ICPUs) are available for students enrolled in a Bachelor of Advanced Studies. These are 12 credit point projects that students will need to access through two co-requisite 6 credit point faculty-based shell units (Projects A and B).

The projects will run across two consecutive teaching sessions - the February intensive period (Project A) followed by semester 1 (Project B), or the July intensive period (Project A) followed by semester 2 (Project B) students must commit to and be able to attend the two consecutive teaching session.

These projects will be designed around broad themes and students will interact with multiple industry and community partners who will set the project scope, as well as provide students with advice and resources. Within the context of the project, students will develop a range of personal and professional skills and strategies for effective collaboration and complex problem solving.

From semester 1 2024, The University of Sydney is proud to be launching Startup Year for students going into 4th year (Advanced Studies). For students who are completing Startup Year, you can choose a 4000 level ICPU to fulfill your advanced coursework project unit requirement.

The Startup Year program has been designed to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship capabilities for its students, while supporting Australia’s start-up community, including for profit ventures as well as those focused on social innovation and community-based entrepreneurship. It will prepare future intrapreneurs and entrepreneurs for the task of creating their own startup, followed by the experience of the university’s INCUBATE accelerator.

Find out more about Startup Year from the Handbook. If you have any questions about Startup Year, please book a one-to-one session with the INCUBATE team. 

How it works

2024 projects will be delivered face-to-face on campus. If you have any questions please email pvceducation.enquiries@sydney.edu.au.

Project teams, comprised of around five 4000 level students from multiple disciplines, will develop and submit a full research proposal at the end of Project A identifying the problem or opportunity they wish to explore, aims, objectives, approach and expected outcomes.

The teams will then complete their research projects in Project B and the outcome will be presented in a final report to a panel of external partners.

These outputs will be assessed and contribute to a total group-based mark of 60%. The remaining 40% of the mark will be based on individual performance, participation in project teams and communities of practice and two individual statements. This collaborative framework is designed to allow students to graduate from the University with a personal and professional network.

The intensive portion of these projects will run for four weeks over the intensive period with classes scheduled Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at 9:30am - 1 pm with optional consultation sessions from 2pm - 4pm on each of the days as required. The semester portion of these projects will run for 3 hours a week as timetabled. Students will be expected to complete additional work outside of scheduled class times.

 

Project registration opens

Project registration closes

Project dates

Attendance

Delivery mode
Project part A: February intensive

4 December 2023

14 January 2024

22 January - 18 February 2024

Monday – Wednesday
9:30 am – 1 pm

Face-to-face
Project part B: Semester one

8 January 2024

18 February 2024

19 February – 26 May 2024

3 hours of class a week

Face-to-face
Project part A: July intensive

6 May 2024

16 June 2024

24 June – 21 July 2024

Monday - Wednesday
9.30 am – 1 pm

Face-to-face
Project part B: Semester Two

19 June 2024

30 July 2024

29 July – 3 November 2024

3 hours of class a week

Face-to-face

2024 project and timetables

There will only be one class per project. Please consider the project timetable before registering for a project in Sydney Student and make sure that you are available for the allocated class times. 

Projects will be delivered face-to-face on campus. 

It will take 7-9 days for your personal timetable to reflect your project registration. 

February intensives timetable

  Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Week 1 9:30 am - 1 pm 9:30 am - 1 pm 9:30 am - 1 pm    
Week 2 9:30 am - 1 pm 9:30 am - 1 pm 9:30 am - 1 pm    
Week 3 9:30 am - 1 pm 9:30 am - 1 pm 9:30 am - 1 pm    
Week 4 9:30 am - 1 pm 9:30 am - 1 pm 9:30 am - 1 pm    

Students are expected to contribute a total of 120 – 150 hours of effort towards the intensive unit which includes 42 hours of scheduled classes plus an additional 78 – 108 hours (19.5 – 27 hours/week) outside of class times. This may include group meetings scheduled outside class hours and independent research.

Semester 1 timetable

Industry partner Industry project Timetable Delivery mode
Grains Research and Development Corporation Empowering Australian Grain Growers through Innovation and Technology Thursday 9 am – 12 pm Face-to-face
Ventia Safeguarding Tomorrow Through Innovation in Safety and Climate Change Wednesday 9 am – 12 pm Face-to-face

Grains Research and Development Corporation – Empowering Australian Grain Growers through Innovation and Technology

Please note that for this project our industry partners are not based in Sydney, so partners will engage with students virtually.  

Australian grain growers are innovative, resourceful and resilient. These qualities, combined with world class, cutting-edge research, development and engineering equates to results, such as a national $31.1 billion in grain production (gross value). Objective of Grain Research and Development Corporation is to drive the discovery, development and delivery of world-class innovation to enhance the productivity, profitability and sustainability of Australian grain growers.

Australian grain growers face challenges to do more with less, as input costs increase, and demographics in regional Australia change. Technological advancement has revolutionised planning, operations and decision making for a wide range of industries. GRDC is facing some exciting challenges and is inviting interdisciplinary student groups to explore how can we utilise technology to improve decision making and increase precision to put only what inputs are needed, where they are needed, as well as accelerate the adoption and deployment of automation and robotics to reduce labour and/or efficiency of repetitive tasks? What can be done to help growers to better understand and manage workforce challenges, improve farm safety and support growers to manage complex businesses.

Ventia – Safeguarding Tomorrow Through Innovation in Safety and Climate Change

Ventia oversees a workforce of over 35,000 professionals operating in over 400 sites across Australia and New Zealand. The most important element of successful operation therefore resides in ensuring the utmost safety for its employees, clients, supply chain, and the communities. With an expansive portfolio encompassing diverse industries such as drilling rig maintenance, defence base operations, and incident response on motorways, Ventia is actively seeking cutting-edge solutions to elevate safety standards for its workforce. The company also acknowledges the imperative for strengthening community resilience in the face of escalating climate change impacts. The past few years have witnessed an intensification of stressors, with communities and infrastructure grappling with heightened occurrences and severity of bushfires, floods, storms, and increasing temperatures. In this exciting project, interdisciplinary student groups are invited to conceive and provide integrated innovations that revolutionise safety protocols within Ventia's operations. Alternatively, students can focus on innovative practices to build resilient communities in face of climate change. Students can explore technological innovations, use of artificial intelligence, new product or application development or other core innovations. This initiative embodies Ventia's unwavering commitment to high safety standards and community well-being, providing a platform for students to explore these key domains and deliver futuristic solutions for the organisation.

Timetable and projects to be released May 2024. 

How to enrol

1

Select a shell unit in Sydney Student

This project is accessed through two co-requisite 6 credit point faculty-based shell units. You will need to select the two shell units for the project through Sydney Student. If you've already enrolled you can do this by changing your units of study (go to ‘My studies’, ‘Units of study’, then ‘Change your units of study’)

Shell units for BUSI, SCIE, FASS and ADP are available in Table A and/or Table S. Units as follows:

  • Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences - FASS4901, FASS4902
  • Faculty of Medicine and Health - FMHU4000, FMHU4001
  • Faculty of Science - SCPU4001, SCPU4002
  • Sydney Business School - BUSS4905, BUSS4906
  • Sydney School of Architecture - ARCH4108, ARCH4109
2

Register for a project

Once you've successfully enrolled in both shell units, you will receive an email with instructions on how to register for a project in Sydney Student.

Before registering for a semester-long project, check the timetable and make sure you're available for the allocated class times. It will take 7 - 9 days for your personal timetable to reflect your project registration.

You will finalise your enrolment in the unit and select your project in Sydney Student (go to 'My studies', 'Enrolment', then 'Project registration'. Places in each project are limited so we encourage you to register early to avoid missing out. You will only see projects that are available for your enrolled shell unit and still have places available. If you cannot see a project when you register, you will need to select a different project. Project availability is subject to change.

Once you enrolled into the two shell units, you will need to upload a signed and witnessed Deed Poll to Canvas. This is a compulsory requirement of your enrolment in this unit. Make sure you consider the acknowledgments in the deed carefully before submission. You will be granted access to Canvas the week before teaching starts for your enrolled session and you will need to submit your Deed Poll before the first day of class for Part A of your chosen project.

If you have any questions, please email pvceducation.enquiries@sydney.edu.au.

Student Centre

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Phone

1800 SYD UNI (1800 793 864)
or +61 2 8627 1444 (outside Australia)

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Last updated: 15 March 2024

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