A comparison of the subjects offered to Commerce students in 2007 and 2009 reveals that Commerce students have lost 40 of the 140 subjects offered in 2007. This accompanies the creation of just 14 new subjects leaving a net loss of 26 subjects. The worst hit areas are Economics, which had a net loss of 8 subjects and Management and Marketing which had a net loss of 9 subjects. Business Law is no longer offered to Commerce students, resulting in a loss of 4 subjects.
To suffer a net loss of 26 subjects, represents a reduction in student subject choice of 18.6%, which means that students in 2009 have had their subject choice reduced by nearly one fifth. It is rather sad that the Commerce, which has the highest proportion of full fee international students, has made such drastic cuts to its offerings. The education of the University of Melbourne's Commerce students has clearly been compromised.
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Update:
See comments, a commerce student points out the flaws in the comparison which bring the net loss of subjects much lower.
Update 2: Of 117 subjects in 2007, 9 were lost, a decrease of 7.7%.
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2 weeks ago
7 comments:
I am sorry to tell you that you have been poorly misinformed.
I have done my research and this is what I have concluded (supported by evidence):
• Actuarial studies: net loss = -1
• Accounting: net=0
Four subjects listed in the 2007 handbook were not offered in 2007 – click on the subject in the 2007 handbook
•Economics: net loss = - 1
Clearly, the person who compiled the comparison report does not know anything about the BCom. Introductory Economics is a compulsory subject for ALL commerce students (students either choose QM2 or Intro Econometrics). Furthermore, Econometrics is a must for an Economics major in the BCom, without the subject, no students can graduate with an Economics major. Here is the 2009 handbook entry:
https://app.portal.unimelb.edu.au/CSCApplication/view/2009/316-317
I am enrolled in Basic Econometrics for 2009 and it has been approved.
Probability and Statistics are taught by the Mathematics department which commerce students can still access. They are compulsory subjects for Actuarial students.
The subjects below were wrongly labeled as ‘lost’:
316 211 still exists
https://app.portal.unimelb.edu.au/CSCApplication/view/2009/316-211
316 318 still exists
https://app.portal.unimelb.edu.au/CSCApplication/view/2009/316-318
If you want more information on the subjects and course structure of the BCom, download the 2009 course guide at:
http://www.ecom.unimelb.edu.au/students/undergrad/guide.html
*Correction for previous comment – Introductory Econometrics not Introductory Economics
It is slightly more complicated for Management and Marketing
• Management and Marketing: net gain = +1
3 retained (wrongly labeled as ‘lost’), 5 new, 6 listed in 2007 handbook but not actually offered in 2007, 9 replaced, 4 not retained
(All subject codes proceeded by 325)
325102 retained:
https://app.portal.unimelb.edu.au/CSCApplication/view/2009/325-220
207 not offered in 2007
104 replacing 211
341 replacing 213
214 not offered in 2007
215 not offered in 2007
216 not retained
226 not retained
333 replacing 228
228 replacing 301
229 replacing 302
218 replacing 303
227 replacing 307
230 replacing 309
310 not retained
322 not offered in 2007
323 not offered in 2007
219 replacing 324
325 retained:
https://app.portal.unimelb.edu.au/CSCApplication/view/2009/325-325
328 not offered in 2007
331 not retained
332 retained:
https://app.portal.unimelb.edu.au/CSCApplication/view/2009/325-332
The ‘new’ subjects replacing the ‘old’ subjects are pretty much the same except for the year which they are offered for; ‘2’ being for second years and ‘3’ being for third years. Their subject names and description are near exact.
• Business Law
Business law is offered by the Law faculty. Business law is in fact still offered to commerce subjects. It is a pre requisite for accounting students who later want to attain their CA or CPA (and most accounting students do). There would be strong opposition from these professional organizations if commerce students were not able to access these subjects. I am enrolled in Principles of Business Law for 2009.
Do you know how I can contact the original author so I can pass on my critique?
This gives a net loss of one subject for the entire faculty. I don't think the education of commerce students has been compromised at all.
Hello anonymous,
Your comment is most welcome. 316-317 does not come up when browsing for subjects in 'Commerce, economics and management' (which is the stated method for this comparison). So it is understandable that while 316-317 does exist, that it was missed in this comparison.
The same goes for 316-211 and 316-318. Clearly you are correct that the person who did the comparison does not fully understand the B.Com, but there are also issues with the way subjects are reported by the handbook.
Email me (imitationrituals[at]gmail.com) and I'll put you in touch with him. I'm sure that he'll be more than happy to hear from you.
(Thank you for reading)
To add:
Your critique is flawed because while you have checked the entries in the 2007 list, it does not seem that you have checked the 2009 list.
The following 306 subjects are not offered in 2007:
303, 313, 316, 317, 320, 328, 333
The following 306 subjects are not offered in 2009: 207, 303, 313, 318, 328, 332, 333
Both years lose 7. The retained, new and lost figures are therefore wrong but the net figure is correct.
For economics (316 subjects)
The following 2007 subjects are not offered
208, 304, 325, 327, 328, 347, 352 (total 7)
The following 2009 subjects are not offered
208, 304, 325, 327, 328, 345 (total 6)
Add 3 (317, 211 and 318) + the two Maths subjects; yields change in the net figure of +6, still leaving an overall net change of -2.
For management and marketing
The following 2007 codes were not offered (325):
207, 214, 215, 317, 322, 323, 327, 328, 334 (total 9)
The following 2009 codes were not offered:
325 - 228, 306, 315, 317, 318, 334 (total 6)
You point out that 3 subjects were not lost but retained.
So 2007 loses 9 subjects and 2009 loses 3 subjects. The net figure changes +6 from -9 to -3.
Giving 2009 a +4 for Business Law subjects, we have a net result of
Actuarial -1
Accounting -4
Economics -2
Management and Marketing -3
Faculty net loss of -9.
A much smaller figure than -26, but still representing a net loss of 6.4%.
Thanks for pointing out my honest mistake. I did forget to check out the 2009 subjects.
Although the 7% decrease in subject choice may sound bad, its effects are neglible. For example, an accounting student (and the majority of accounting students double major in accounting and finance), there is little room to take on 'non-core' subjects after everything else is considered (ie subjects required to satisfy a major, breadth subjects and subjects needed for accreditation). In fact, as shown in the 2009 course guide, such a student would only have one 'spare' space to choose a subject of their 'choice' in their third year. The subjects that have been cut are mostly third year subjects. Therefore, it would make little sense for the Accounting Department to offer subjects that very few will study (both practically and economically). This also applies to students undertaking other majors.
The fact is, compulsory breadth subjects decreases the demand for commerce subjects, hence leading to a slight dip in subjects offered. Students from other faculties would be not be affected as it would be unlikely they would have the room to study beyond the mainstream commerce subjects.
Your point about breadth subjects is very interesting, something I hadn't thought of before. I suppose I had assumed that the breadth subjects would have no net effect on student numbers. However, NG students haven't yet reached third year, so cuts to third year are only effecting the heritage students.
For majors with large numbers of compulsory subjects I concede that subject choice is much less relevant. However, any space to move is worthwhile pedagogically since it reduces class sizes and increases the depth with which a subject can be taught. I think opinion on small class sizes is pretty much universally in favour of smaller ones.
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