Student Data
Student Load and Targets (Administration Statistics)
NOTE: This content is available only to limited staff of the University of Melbourne
Student data changes on a daily basis as students change their enrolment by varying their courses or even their enrolment status. During peak enrolment and other key periods of the year snapshots are taken of the university's student profile to "see how it is travelling". From the snapshot a range of reports are produced to facilitate this analysis. With the exception of some key dates (which are known as census dates) all such snapshots and the reports derived from them are referred to as "preliminary".
Signed Off (also referred to as Historical, Official or Final)
When the snapshots of the university's profile are taken on a census date (see above) the data and the reports derived from them are deemed to be "signed off". This is because the data captured on these dates is submitted to the Federal Government as being the Official University data for the given year. Sometimes this data and related reports are referred to as "official" or "final". The repository of signed off data is an archive of signed off reports for all previous years.
VTAC
The Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC) provides institutions with a range of data enabling them to analyse their student applications and enrolments. The University of Melbourne uses this data to generate a range of reports useful for such analysis. These reports enable investigation of different applicant populations (School leaver, Non-School Leaver, interstate) and their course preferences.
One of the most valuable reports, obtained using VTAC data, is the Pop Polls (Popularity Polls) Report. This compares the popularity of University of Melbourne courses against the popularity of courses offered by other institutions. From this analysis popularity rankings are produced.
Faculty Reports
Load, Enrolments, Completions and Undergraduate Outcomes
These historical reports (no longer being produced) cover a range of student analyses such as teaching, fee, department, postgraduate, international, faculty and combined degrees (not offered as part of the Melbourne Model). These reports evolved over time from the many ad hoc data and report requests from faculties.