B2027

B2027 - Bachelor of Business and Commerce and Bachelor of Digital Media and Communication

Course Map Planning Guide (For Students Commencing 2024)

It is your responsibility to ensure that you chose the correct units, and this web page will give you all the information you need to do this. It will take you through each component of your degree and explain the decisions you need to make.

Message from our Head of School

Professor Nafis Alam

The Basics

At Monash, we call our degrees “courses”. You are enrolled in a double degree called the Bachelor of Business and Commerce/ Bachelor of Digital Media and Communication. It has a course code: B2027.

To graduate from this course you need to complete a total of 32 units. Most students do this by taking 4 units each semester for 8 semesters (two semesters each year for four years). It is very important that you choose your units carefully because you have to meet the rules of the degree. If you get to the end of four years and have chosen the wrong units you won’t be able to graduate and will have to do another semester of study.

Your degree consists of two components:

  • Business and Commerce
  • Digital Media and Communication

You must complete 16 units from each component (giving you the total of 32 units). Each component has its own rules. The following sections take you through each part in detail, explaining exactly what you need to do to meet the rules.

Business and Commerce

The Business and Commerce component is divided into two parts:

  • Part A Business and Commerce Specified Study
  • Part B Business Listed Major

Each part has its own rules. The following sections take you through each part in detail, explaining exactly what you need to do to meet the rules.

As you read through this page you will notice that there are two pathways that are open to you in Part A, one is the accountancy pathway and the other is the non-accountancy pathway.

If you want to major in Accounting, the Accountancy pathway has been setup for you to meet all requirements from the accounting accreditation bodies. The ‘Special Advice for Accountancy Major’ tab summarises the Acounting pathway that you will need to follow.

For all other majors, please follow the non-accountancy pathway in Part A.

Digital Media and Communication

The Digital Media and Communication component is divided into three parts:

  • Part A Fundamentals in communication and media studies
  • Part B Digital media
  • Part C Professional practice

As with the Business and Commerce component, each part here has its own rules. The following sections take you through each part in detail, explaining exactly what you need to do to meet the rules.

Part A: Business and Commerce Specified Study (8 Units)

This part is quite easy to understand, but there are a couple of steps to look out for.

First, choose your first major.

If you are planning to study an Accountancy major, your 8 units in Part A will look different from those who are planning to study a major other than Accountancy

Second, you must take these seven core units:

Accountancy Major Non-Accountancy Major
ACW1120 - Financial accounting 1 aACW1020 - Accounting in business a
ECM1953 - Principles of economics ECW1101 - Introductory microeconomics
BFW1001 - Foundations of finance BFW1001 - Foundations of finance
BTW1042 - Business law BTW1042 - Business law
ETW1001 - Introduction to statistical analysis ETW1001 - Introduction to statistical analysis
MGW1010 - Introduction to management MGW1010 - Introduction to management
ACW2220 - Management accounting 1 bMKW1120 - Marketing fundamentals b

Most of these units have a “1000” code indicating that they are first-year level units, except for ACW2220 that has a “2000” code indicating a second-year level unit. So, you should take these seven units in your first year of study (that is, the first two semesters of study). You must take at least three 1000 level units before taking a 2000 level unit.

You will notice a couple of things about this list.

Student planning for an Accountancy major must take units under the Accountancy Major list starting with ACW1120 - Financial accounting 1. Otherwise, students who don’t plan to study Accountancy must take units under the Non-Accountancy Major list starting with ACW1020 - Accounting in businessNon-Accountancy students can study ACW1120 if you wish, as part of your free elective units in Part C. Accountancy students who have completed ACW1120 don't need to study ACW1020 again if they change their mind to study a Non-Accountancy major. For more information about these two units click on the links for each of them.
b Accountancy students must take ACW2220 Management accounting 1 whereas Non-Accountancy students must take MKW1120 Marketing fundamentals.

Finally, you must take one “capstone” unit:

So far, we have only covered 7 units in Part A. You must take one more “capstone” unit to complete Part A.

Accountancy Major Non-Accountancy Major
ACW3900 - Global issues in accounting BEW3110 - Work experience program
BEW3555 - Integrative business practices
BEW3102 - Experiential learning project
BEW3001 - Ethics and sustainability in a business environment

They are called capstone units because they provide an advanced education experience that integrates the different elements of the degree. You will see that these are all 3000 code units, so you should take this unit in your final year of study. Once again there is a special rule for Accountancy students: they don’t have a choice of capstone and must study ACW3900 Global issues in accounting.

Part A summary

Seven first-year units + one third-year capstone unit = 8 units

Part B Business Listed Major (8 units)

In Part B you must complete what we call a “major”. A major is a set of eight units that concentrate on a single area of study. You can choose your major from the following list:

Each major has its own set of rules. You need to make sure that you follow the rules so you can count the major in your degree. If you don’t follow the rules of the major you won’t be able to graduate after three years.

It sounds complicated, but it’s not really. Majors have two different components.

  • A “core” of compulsory units. All the majors in the degree have a core of compulsory units that you must study to complete the major. For some majors, the core is large: all eight units, so in these majors you have no choice, you must study all eight units in the list.
  • Additional units. Some, but not all, majors have additional units, on top of the core. There is a list of additional units from which you can choose some, to complete the eight unit major. For example, if there are 5 compulsory core units, you will have to choose three additional units from the list. If there are 6 compulsory core units you will have to choose two additional units from the list. And, as we said in the point above, if there are 8 compulsory core units there is no list of additional units. Sometimes the list of additional units will have a mini-rule like “you must choose at least one 3000 level unit from the list.”

Sometimes students find it hard to decide which units in the additional unit list to study. To help you decide, read the unit descriptions (just click on the unit code to take you to the link). You may also find it useful to get the views of other students who have already taken some of the units. And you can always ask questions in our briefing sessions. It's your choice, so you need to do some research to help you decide.

If you look at the unit lists for the majors, you will notice that some of them have a special surprise: they include one of the 1000 level units you have already studied in Part A. That means you have already completed one of the units in the major. Congratulations! Does that mean that you only need to complete seven more units? Not quite, you have to pick up one more “additional” unit from the degree so that in Part A and Part B combined you have a total of 16 units.

Part B summary

You must complete one major = 8 units.

Special Advice for students who want to complete an Accounting Major

The double degree is accredited by ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), CA ANZ (Certified Accountants Australia and New Zealand) and CPA (Certified Practising Accountants). There is a list of units that you have to complete in order to be exempted from some modules set by these professional bodies. These units are already contained in Part A and Part B.

Part A. Business and Commerce Specified Study

You have to complete 8 units in Part A. In your first year, you will be completing these units:

In your third year, you are required to complete 1 capstone unit: ACW3900 Global Issues in Accounting.

Part B. Business Listed Major

To gain a major in Accountancy, you need to complete these 8 units:

Special Note: for Accounting students going for exchange: Students wishing to get professional bodies accreditation are highly advised to NOT enrol for Accounting units while going for Global Intercampus Program or the Inter-university Exchange Program. All accounting units should be taken in Monash University Malaysia to ensure the unit codes match the Monash University Malaysia's unit codes already approved by these accreditation bodies.

Part A Fundamentals in communication and media studies (4 units)

You have to complete 4 compulsory units in Part A:

Part A consists of a combination of 1000 level unit (first year), 2000 level unit (second year) and 3000 level unit (third year). This means that you are not expected to complete all the units in Part A during your first year. Further, you must also examine the prerequisites of a unit. As mentioned above, in order to study some 2000 or 3000 level units you must have already completed a particular lower level unit. Please refer to the course progression map for guidance on unit enrolment for each semester of study.

Part B Digital media (8 units)

You have to complete 8 compulsory units in Part B:

Again, examine the prerequisites of each unit carefully to ensure that you are eligible to enrol in it.

Part C Professional practice (4 units)

You have to complete 4 compulsory units in Part C:

Take note that AMU3744 Workplace learning internship is offered during Summer semester A, which starts in November and ends in February the following year. This entails a different study arrangement compared to a regular semester. For further information on the internship enrolment process please visit this webpage. Additionally the AMU3744 unit prerequisite requires students to have at least one semester remaining to complete the degree at the point of enrolment. Please take note of this important detail and plan ahead to ensure you do not miss this criteria

There is an internship capstone unit in the Business and Commerce component as well, namely, BEW3110 Work experience program. However, it is not compulsory. There are other capstone options you can choose from. Strictly, you are not prevented from taking AMU3744 Workplace learning internship and BEW3110 Work experience program. However, you might want to give this more thought. If it is more work experience that you are after, you can undergo an internship (non-credit bearing) between semesters without incurring tuition fees. Further, you would forego different learning opportunities that come with a different business capstone unit.

If you intend to take BEW3110 Work experience program as the capstone unit in the Business and Commerce component, careful planning is necessary. BEW3110 is also available during Summer semester A. Obviously, it is not possible for you to undertake two distinct internships in the same semester for AMU3744 and BEW3110 respectively. Which is why it is important that you prepare a coherent course map based on the business major that you wish to pursue. Please refer to the course progression map for guidance on unit enrolment for each semester of study.

A2011 Handbook

Alternative exit(s)

You may be eligible to exit the double degree program and graduate with either a Bachelor of Business and Commerce or a Bachelor of Digital Media and Communication after three years, depending on the units studied.

If you wish to graduate with a Bachelor of Business and Commerce (B2026) prior to the completion of the double degree you must have completed at least 144 credit points of studies, including all of the requirements in Part A and B for the Bachelor of Business and Commerce degree.

If you wish to graduate with a Bachelor of Digital Media and Communication (A2011) prior to the completion of the double degree you must have completed at least 144 credit points of studies, including all of the requirements in Part A, B and C for the Bachelor of Digital Media and Communication degree.

How will my unit/major selection impact on my exchange program

During your course, you can opt to study a semester or two at any one of Monash's partner universities or study at a Monash campus in Australia for one semester.

You are encouraged to plan for this early in your course, preferably in your first semester, as you will need some flexibility in your course structure if deciding to study in Australia or a partner university.

Studying at a Monash Australia campus is the most convenient as you will find that most units you need for your major (or minor) are also offered in Australia. Apart from the Faculty conditions, you would also need to check if the units you need for your major are offered while you are in Australia.

If you prefer to study at a partner university, the choice of units you can take at the partner university will be dependent if you are substituting it with a Monash compulsory core unit, unit contributing to your major, or free elective unit. There are faculty policies in determining how the partner university subjects are assessed and approved:

  • For compulsory core units, an equivalency assessment will be made where the partner university subject will need to share an 80% or greater overlap in learning outcomes, content and assessment.
  • Units required for your major offers some flexibility in equivalency assessment and will be determined by the Faculty. This will be approved if the partner university subject is judged to have sufficient equivalent content and equates to six Monash credits on its own or in combination with another host subject.
  • The most frequently used type of unit by students who exchange to a partner university are free electives. These units offer flexibility in your choice of study while overseas and can be anything judged suitable for credit at an appropriate learning volume.

Regardless of your study abroad location of choice, you will find that a single major offers greater flexibility in your course plan as you will have more ‘free electives’ to undertake while overseas. The choice is ultimately yours and we encourage you to plan early.