Timetable Procedure

The purpose of our procedure

Our procedure supports a high-quality student experience through a coordinated, consistent timetable that accommodates our diverse timetabled activities.

Please read this procedure in conjunction with our:

• [Student Administration Policy]
• Enrolment Policy
• Enrolment Procedure
• [Estates and Facilities Policy]
• [Facilities Hire Procedure].

Who our procedure applies to

Our procedure applies to:

• students enrolling at Adelaide University
• staff involved in teaching or the management and administration of the timetable process
• timetabled activities that students are required to attend either face-to-face or online to complete their program

This procedure does not apply to short non-credit bearing courses, or professional and executive education programs.

Our Timetable Procedure

1. Student-focused timetable

We will develop, where possible, a student-focused timetable that:

• provides students with a clash-free timetable allowing them to enrol and attend the core courses they need to meet their program requirements
• avoids student travel between metropolitan and city campuses on any one day
• considers anticipatory travel time for student movement between Adelaide City East and Adelaide City West campuses.

Students will normally be usually provided with timetable information no less than one week prior to course enrolment opening.

2. How we will create an equitable timetable

Our timetable ensures a fair and flexible schedule for all timetabled activities.  It is reviewed annually to meet program and course needs to maximise use of available spaces for all timetabled activities. 

Scheduled timetabled activities will be based on the approved course outlines. Any changes that impact timetabling must be approved through the [course change procedure].

Timetabled activities will be scheduled in our timetable system and published on [website].

Most timetabled activities will be scheduled to occur during the University’s standard teaching hours, and academic staff are expected to be available to teach.  

For activities that occur outside standard teaching times, including after-hour classes, fieldwork, or intensives, these will be scheduled with the agreement of relevant teaching staff.

Timetabled activities will normally be scheduled in one-hour blocks.  These will appear on the web timetable and [student enrolment system] with the first hour of any timetabled activity starting at ten past the hour and finishing on the hour, for example, from 9:10 am to 10:00 am.

Face-to-face/in-person courses must include regular scheduled in person teaching activities, throughout the teaching period, excluding lectures. Courses without this component will be classified as online.

3. Our teaching spaces

Teaching space suitability will, wherever possible, match the type of timetabled activity. Scheduling of classes and allocation of teaching spaces will make the most efficient use of the spaces and endeavour to support the most effective teaching and learning practice. Class sizes must not exceed the capacity of the allocated teaching space, or the combined capacity of all teaching spaces allocated to a single class.

All teaching spaces are managed at the University level. Priority allocation of specific, dedicated and specialist teaching spaces to a school or college will occur only with authorisation from appropriate senior leaders of all areas affected. These allocated spaces must be used to capacity before booking general purpose spaces. They must also be available to other schools or colleges that require a similar teaching space.

 Spaces assigned to [schools/colleges] must be used to capacity before booking general purpose facilities. When these are assigned to [schools/colleges] they must be available to other schools or colleges that require a similar teaching space.

If a class is not using a large room efficiently, it will be moved to a more appropriate classroom (if available) to improve overall room usage. External groups wanting to book our teaching spaces for non-timetabled activities should contact [Facilities], who will then consult the [Timetable Manager].

[Facilities] will review teaching spaces regularly and notify the [Timetable Manager] of changes to communicate to the [Timetable Teams].

4. Allocating priority of teaching spaces

Teaching spaces will be allocated in the following order of priority:

• students or staff who require [reasonable adjustments] or arrangements
• timetabled activities over non-timetabled activities, unless the Vice Chancellor or nominee has approved the non-timetabled activity
• timetabled activities in courses approved by the [Deputy Vice Chancellor – Student Experience and Success] or Delegate as high priority
• courses or timetabled activities with large enrolments, over smaller-sized courses
• courses delivered across multiple campuses
• timetabled activities that are longer than four hours
• timetabled activities that require specialist equipment, before those needing general purpose facilities
• non-repeated timetabled activities, for example, classes with only one session offered, over repeated timetabled activities
• approved supporting timetabled activities, such as peer-assisted study sessions, over non-timetabled activities

specific teaching spaces prioritised for a [school/college] only where authorised by the Provost and [Infrastructure]. Priority allocation of specific teaching spaces to a [school/college] will occur only with authorisation from the Provost.

5. How we build our timetable

[Timetable role] will work with college staff and the [central timetable unit] to ensure course availability for program completion. Together, we will create an effective timetable that considers staffing, class sizes and available teaching spaces.

The [central timetable unit] will provide a provisional timetable to [colleges]. The relevant [Program Coordinators] and [Course Coordinators] are required to check the timetable to ensure it aligns with program requirements and available staffing. [Course Coordinators] must communicate essential changes to the [central timetable unit] before publication.

Timetable changes may be requested based on scheduling needs only, including ensuring students have a clash-free timetable.  Course structure changes must be approved separately (see our [Course and Program Approval Procedure]). Timetable changes are only considered after course changes are finalised.

After approval, the [central timetable unit] will publish the timetable on the Adelaide University website on less than one week before enrolment.

6. Our students’ responsibility once the timetable is available

Students will be notified when the timetable is available, along with information on enrolment dates and contact details for timetable-related queries.

Students are then responsible for understanding their [program schedule] and the options available for their chosen program.

The [timetable unit] will monitor class availability, ensuring space for mid-year intake or late admissions, and preventing enrolment bottlenecks by opening tentative classes early. Unneeded resources will be reallocated, and timetable support will be provided to colleges and [Student Success, Campus Central teams].  Changes to the final timetable will be considered only when:

• student enrolment demand is higher or lower than expected
• student demand exceeds the capacity of the booked venue
• staff availability unexpectedly changes
• the location is a safety issue, health hazard or an incident has occurred
• an accessible teaching space for a student is required
• a compelling business case can be mounted by the [course coordinator] to support a change

All other changes to the final, published timetable must be approved by the [College Dean Students] or [Timetable Manager]. Refer Table 1 Decision Matrix below:

Table 1 – Decision Matrix for post-publication timetable changes

Changes impacting students that require the approval of the [College Dean Students] include:

• changing or deleting classes with enrolments, where students’ program progress is negatively impacted
• changing or deleting classes with enrolments that affect an international student’s enrolment and compliance with visa requirements
• adding extra teaching weeks for courses with enrolment
• changing campus location of courses and classes
• requests to change the approved course structure (teaching components, campus or term category)

Changes with little or no impact on students that require the approval of the [Timetable Manager] include:

• changing or deleting classes with student enrolment, where student impact is minimal (students have multiple, alternative classes of the same enrolment type available and are able to move without experiencing timetable clashes)
• changing staff or location of courses and classes on the same campus
• timetable changes as a result of an emergency or maintenance situation
• deleting teaching weeks, as long as it fulfils requirements for minimum structured timetabled activities

Once changes have been finalised, [Course Coordinators] are responsible for communicating with students about changes to their timetable.

Definitions used in our procedure

Please refer to our Adelaide University glossary for a full list of our definitions.

Timetabled activities means any activities scheduled in advance by a college, required for a course to be taught, for example lecture, tutorial, laboratory, practical, workshop.

Teaching spaces means a location which may be used to conduct timetabled activities.

Specialist teaching spaces are learning and teaching facilities owned or leased by the University which contain specialist equipment or are configured according to the specific needs of a limited number of schools, such as a laboratory.

General purpose spaces are generic learning and teaching spaces owned or leased by the University which are configured according to agreed minimum standards and which can be used for timetabled activities.

Non-timetabled activities means any activities which are not timetabled activities (such as staff meetings, conferences).

High priority timetabled activities are timetabled activities given preferential treatment in the scheduling process, meaning they are prioritised to be placed in the most suitable time slots first, usually because they are considered crucial or essential for the course, often due to their importance for learning outcomes. 

Definitions used in our procedure

How our procedure is governed

This Procedure is categorised, approved and owned in line with the governance structure of Adelaide University and the offices and officers listed below.

Legislation and other documents related to this procedure

History of changes

At the time of writing, the organisational structure, positions, committees etc for Adelaide University have not been confirmed. Accordingly, square brackets [ ] temporarily enclose position titles in this procedure until position titles for Adelaide University are confirmed.