• Section 1 - Purpose
• Section 2 - Scope
• Section 3 - High-Level Timeline
• Section 4 - Timetable Production
• Confirmation of Course and Subject Offerings
• Timetabling Services Pre-Production Preparation
• Section 5 - Timetable Data Collection
• Programs of Study: Clash Avoidance
• Subject Teaching Requirements
• Teaching Staff Availability and Reasonable Adjustments
• School Meeting Times
• Section 6 - Timetable Development
• Creating the Timetable
• Lunch Breaks
• Travel Between Campuses
• Teaching Activity Times
• Other Considerations
• Section 7 - Draft Timetable
• Section 8 - Timetable Publication
• Managing Tutorials
• Changes to the Published Timetable
• Section 9 - Overcrowded Teaching Spaces
• Section 10 - Post-Session Review
• Section 11 - Record Keeping
• Section 12 - Roles and Responsibilities
• Section 13 - Related Documents and References
• Section 14 - Stakeholders
• Section 15 - Definitions

Section 1 - Purpose

(1) The purpose of this Procedure is to:

1. create a student-centric timetable by implementing processes pertaining to the scheduling principles outlined in the Timetabling Policy;
2. define the roles and responsibilities that underpin the University’s timetable production in consultation with Faculties and Schools and other relevant departments.

Section 2 - Scope

(2) The instructions in this Procedure outline the stages of the timetable production for the University’s teaching activities at its Australian campuses.

(3) This Procedure does not apply to UOW College Australia, global campuses, or partner institutions.

(4) This Procedure does not apply to other institutional events such as academic forums, meetings, presentations, and professional development.

Section 3 - High-Level Timeline

Section 4 - Timetable Production

Confirmation of Course and Subject Offerings

(5) Faculties should finalise their course and subject offerings prior to the annual subject database rollover, to ensure subjects that require timetabling are not missed in the timetable data collection and production processes.

Timetabling Services Pre-Production Preparation

(6) The Timetabling Services Team will:

1. create a detailed Timetable Production Timeline which outlines the key tasks, communication activities, and roles and responsibilities over the timetable production period;
2. create a Timetable Communication Plan which includes faculty and school contacts, roles and responsibilities, template emails to various stakeholder segments, and schedule of communications;
3. seek feedback on the production timeline from the stakeholders outlined in the communications plan;
4. following feedback, upload a summarised version of the Timetable Production Timeline to the Timetabling Services Web Page and distribute to stakeholders;
5. following feedback, update production timeline on intranet and distribute to stakeholders;
6. update documentation pertaining to upcoming session, including:
   1. Restricted Teaching Availability Form; 
   2. reference documentation on Timetabling Intranet page;
   3. update the Timetables and Classes web page with updated timetable publish dates;
   4. review and update any timetabling knowledge management articles;
   5. review Timetabling Services SharePoint pages.

(7) Confirm any variations to non-Wollongong operating hours and specific timetabling needs with non-Wollongong campus managers.

(8) Check the timetable system database venue information is up to date, working with Infrastructure and Property (IP), IMTS Service Delivery (IMTS) and Schools. Update accordingly in system and Teaching Venue Guide on the intranet.

(9) Organise and present school-level academic roadshows to reiterate roles and responsibilities, timelines, school requirements, any changes to process and their rationale.

(10) Update timetable database with sessions subject offerings from SAI.

(11) Update data configuration (fields of information we request) for data collection tools.

(12) Deliver training for timetabling system functions to all school professional staff involved in the timetabling process (new and experienced users). Staff will be granted access to systems following successful completion of training.

Section 5 - Timetable Data Collection

(13) The Timetabling Services Team coordinates three (3) timetabling data collection sessions per year:

1. Autumn and other sessions commencing between January and June, which is collected in September of the previous year;
2. Spring and other sessions commencing between July and October, which is collected in February of the same year;
3. Summer and other sessions commencing in November and December, which is collected in July of the same year.

(14) Timetabling data must be submitted as per the key timetable production timeline deadlines established and communicated by Timetabling Services.

(15) Timetable requests submitted after specified deadlines will be allocated to the best available day, time, and venue. However, it may not be possible to apply the desired provisions as outlined in this Procedure.

(16) Timetabling data collection consists of four components:

1. programs of study for clash avoidance;
2. subject teaching requirements;
3. teaching staff availability; and
4. school meeting times.

Programs of Study: Clash Avoidance

(17) Scheduling of the timetable will consider subjects that cannot clash for a student to complete their studies for prescribed courses, and can consist of all core subjects or a combination of core and elective subjects.

(18) The timetable system works on the basis that core subjects will not clash with core subjects, and elective subjects will not clash with core subjects within the same program.

(19) Elective subjects can clash with other elective subjects.

(20) When a core subject consists of many repeat teaching activities, they can clash as students have options to choose from to manage their own clash avoidance.

(21) Nominated School staff will enter programs of study for clash avoidance via the approved UOW data collection system, using the naming conventions specified by the Timetabling Services Team during training. Information will consist of subject combinations, credit points, and estimated program numbers and include:

1. department;
2. session; 
3. degree Short Code;
4. degree full name;
5. major/minor where required;
6. year Level;
7. credit points;
8. degree estimated size.

(22) Clash avoidance is generally driven by approved course structures to allow students the option to progress in their degrees with a full-time load, ensuring they can complete within the approved duration of their program.

(23) Faculties and Schools may make decisions to include additional clash avoidance requirements.

(24) Generally, programs of study for the purposes of clash avoidance are kept within the same level (e.g. 100 or 200 level). 

Subject Teaching Requirements

(25) Faculties and Schools will provide and confirm the required subject timetabling data using the approved UOW data collection method.

(26) Faculties are responsible for having appropriate processes in place to ensure data submitted for timetabling is correct and internally approved.

(27) Data to be provided and confirmed for each subject is as follows:

1. subject instance (code, name, session, delivery method, and campus); 
2. subject delivery structure, which includes:
   1. estimated subject enrolment size;
   2. subject design (e.g. students attend a 1 x 1hr lecture over a 13-week period as well as a 1 x 2 hour tutorial over a 12-week period);
   3. maximum teaching activity sizes (e.g. Lecture = 100, Tutorials = 25);
   4. venue configuration requirements (e.g lecture theatre with dual delivery capability or flat teaching space with whiteboards);
   5. teaching staff (if known) and any reasonable adjustments;
   6. required teaching weeks within the session;
   7. tutorials requiring import into SMP;
   8. general scheduling requests (e.g, lectures before tutorials, specific windows for tutorials). Requests for a specific day and time will be actioned where possible. However, feasibility will be impacted by venue availability, student availability, and other scheduling constraints;
3. not all staff teaching allocations will have been finalised by Faculties at this point. Further teaching allocations should be provided to the Timetabling Services Team as soon as they become known.

(28) Where subjects do not have an allocated Subject Coordinator or other Academic Leader, school staff generally will advise to adopt the same data as the previous year/session. The previous teaching staff will be allocated to the teaching activity to allow the incumbent to inherit scheduling parameters such as start and finish times as well as lunch break, etc. This ensures the subject is included with clash avoidance and venue needs, and refinements may be made after staff are allocated.

Teaching Staff Availability and Reasonable Adjustments

(29) In accordance with the University of Wollongong (Academic Staff) Enterprise Agreement, 2023, academic staff are expected to make themselves reasonably available for scheduled academic and other commitments.

(30) The timetable is developed on the assumption that teaching staff are available in session to teach Monday to Friday between the hours of 8:30 am and 8:30 pm, to align with the usual span of hours for teaching activities. Assumptions are also applied to certain Schools whose staff teach between 8:30 am and 5:30 pm on Saturdays and Sundays.

(31) Teaching staff can use the Restricted Teaching Availability Form to request individual restrictions to availability within this span of hours to accommodate circumstances such as (but not limited to):

1. carers responsibilities;
2. a disability or chronic medical condition;
3. set required research days, industry meetings;
4. UOW Committee Meetings or commitments; or
5. religious observance.

(32) Submissions received for teaching unavailability are received throughout the data collection period via the schools. The deadline for these requests is in line with the data collection date. Teaching staff should submit requests in accordance with communicated deadlines and prior to timetable publication to avoid any potential impacts to the published timetable.

(33) Endorsement for requests is required from the Faculty Executive Manager (FEM) or authorised nominee, and with final approval from the Head of School (HoS).

(34) Faculties are responsible for having processes in place to obtain HoS and FEM approval for these requests, and approved requests should be sent to the Student Services Division (SSD) Timetabling Services Team timetabling-services@uow.edu.au.

(35) Eligibility for restricted teaching availability should be considered in line with the provisions set out in the University of Wollongong (Academic Staff) Enterprise Agreement, 2023 for flexible working. Further advice can be sought from relevant Faculty Senior People Partner.

(36) The role of Timetabling Services staff is to provide the Restricted Teaching Availability Form to Faculties and Schools, facilitate the process for review and approval, and provide advice and feedback to faculty management where:

1. an approval may have a larger-ranging impact in terms of setting a precedent;
2. an approval will result in impacts to the published timetable. In these cases the Timetabling Services Team may seek additional confirmation from Faculty approvers that they have considered the impacts before processing;
3. a request is unable to be feasibly accommodated, or will create an unreasonable negative impact for students, Health and Safety, or other priority factors. These will be escalated to the Senior Manager Scheduling and Core Data who will work with the relevant Faculty Executive Manager to achieve an appropriate outcome.

(37) SSD Timetabling staff have no role in approving or declining applications.

School Meeting Times

(38) School meeting times will be provided as per school direction and according to appropriate timeframes as set out in this procedure. Where requested, the standard allocation of two (2) hours will be integrated into each School’s timetable to facilitate staff meetings during session.

Section 6 - Timetable Development

(39) The institutional timetable will be developed by Timetabling Services in line with the timeframes outlined in this procedure.

(40) Timetables for all sessions are routinely rescheduled each year and as such day/time/room allocations will vary from year to year.

Creating the Timetable

(41) During the timetable development process, several factors will determine the day, time, and location of teaching activities, including:

1. teaching activities are allocated evenly across the core teaching hours and entire teaching week;
2. staff constraints (teaching time and location availabilities);
3. student availability to attend teaching activities (e.g. students on clinical or practical teaching rotations);
4. course constraints; and
5. general room availability.

(42) When developing the institutional timetable, the learning needs and learning experience of students are prioritised over other activities occurring in the University, as stipulated in the Timetabling Policy.

(43) The following considerations will be adopted by Timetabling Services when allocating teaching and learning spaces:

1. larger teaching activities generally have a priority over smaller teaching activities. Noting, fluctuations in enrolment numbers can impact on the type of room allocated and impact the current scheduled venue. For example, teaching activity sizes will not exceed the size of the allocated venue to ensure there is no overcrowding in a teaching space;
2. teaching activities that are conducted on all/majority weeks of session generally have priority over those that are conducted on a minor number of weeks;
3. activities requiring specialised teaching facilities and technology generally have priority for teaching spaces which meet those needs, over those requiring standard facilities; 
4. requests made at the data collection stage of the timetable will be given priority over any subsequent requests;
5. activities which occupy large blocks of time have priority over those which occupy small blocks of time; and
6. meeting equity needs of individual students and staff takes precedence over other considerations. Students with needs that impact their timetable options can liaise directly with the relevant Subject Coordinator and via the University’s support services. Where the needs of individual students and/or staff create unfeasible timetabling scenarios, Timetabling Services will work with the Faculty Leadership and where necessary the Student Accessibility Team, to reach a suitable solution.

(44) Where incomplete or unclear data has been provided to Timetabling Services within agreed timelines there may be an impact on the ability to meet the provisions outlined in this Procedure.

(45) Where requested, a two-hour (2) time window confirmed by each relevant academic school will be kept free for each school to schedule meetings (e.g. Faculty, School/Unit and research meetings). Two (2) or more schools will not share the same window but may overlap by an hour. 

(46) Special requests for specific day/time/venue will be considered, but not always possible to achieve.

Lunch Breaks

(47) Where possible, the timetable will include a common lunch period for each campus on designated days during session. The intention is to allow time for cross School and Faculty meetings and for student groups to meet. These common lunch periods are:

1. Wollongong campus between 12:30 pm and 1:30 pm on Wednesdays and Thursdays;
2. regional and metro campuses designate a minimum of two (2) days for common lunchtimes. Each campus requests different days of the week during the data collection process.

(48) Staff who are entitled to a break under the University of Wollongong (Academic Staff) Enterprise Agreement, 2023, and will have a lunch hour scheduled between 11:30 am to 2:30 pm Monday to Friday.

(49) Weekend classes are intensive in nature and teaching staff set their own lunch breaks within the teaching block.

Travel Between Campuses

(50) Students should not be required to attend teaching activities for their core subjects at more than one (1) campus in the same day, unless unavoidable to deliver the timetable.

(51) Timetabling Services will incorporate identified travel restrictions to ensure teaching staff do not have to travel to more than one (1) campus a day (excluding the combination of Wollongong and Innovation campuses), unless teaching staff request an exemption from this practice.

Teaching Activity Times

(52) Teaching activities are scheduled on the half hour and generally in multiples of 60-minute blocks. Start and finish times are in accordance with this procedure. Any requests outside of these times is considered on a case by case basis with reference to impacts of the overall timetable.

(53) Teaching activities will commence at 25 minutes to the hour and will conclude at 25 minutes past the hour. This allows a 10 minute buffer for:

1. venues to be vacated and contents re-set where necessary;
2. teaching activity set up time; and
3. staff and students to move between venues and get settled for their next teaching activity.

Other Considerations

(54) Timetabling Services, where identified, aim to provide the below for all teaching staff:

1. a randomly allocated teaching free day to conduct research and other non-teaching UOW work commitments;
2. later morning starts where the staff member had a late finish (after 5:30 pm) the day prior; and
3. a maximum of two 8:30 am starts each week.

Section 7 - Draft Timetable

(55) Timetabling Services will release a draft timetable to stakeholders outlined on the communication plan for feedback, prior to publishing the final timetable to students. 

(56) A minimum of 10 working days will be provided for Faculties/Schools to review the draft timetable and provide feedback and request changes in line with the processes outlined in this Procedure.

(57) As per the objectives set out in the Timetabling Policy, changes post publication should be kept to a minimum. Wherever possible, timetable changes should be submitted and actioned prior to publication of the timetable, to minimise students work/life arrangements around their studies.

Section 8 - Timetable Publication

(58) The institutional timetable will be published a minimum of eight (8) weeks prior to commencement of the teaching session.

(59) Timetables are published to staff and students via the UOW Timetable Viewer. Staff may also utilise the Staff Timetable Viewer.

Managing Tutorials

(60) Timetabling Services requests, from each School, the preferred dates for opening and closing tutorial enrolments for each discipline’s subject level (i.e. ACCY100 level, ACCY 200 level).

(61) Where schools have indicated (at Data Collection) subjects’ tutorials are to be imported into SMP from Syllabus +, Timetabling Services also request from those relevant schools to:

1. nominate a buffer of tutorial places (at School level);
2. whether tutorials should be imported with a status ‘open’ (this allows students to view all tutorials as potential options in their personal SOLS class timetable) or ‘closed’ (this prevents any visibility of tutorials on SOLS class timetable).

(62) SMP definitions for Tutorial Groups are:

1. Open status: tutorials are visible to students in their personal SOLS timetable page. The ‘open’ status does not allow students to enroll into a tutorial, it only allows the student to view tutorials as potential options and thus assist planning their tutorial enrolment;
2. Closed status: tutorials which are not visible to students in their personal SOLS timetable page, are generally held as spare in case increases in subject enrolment necessitate more tutorials to become open and available for students;
3. Open Date: the date set which students can commence enrolling in a tutorial group;
4. Closed Date: the date set when students can no longer enrol in a tutorial group themselves.

Importing tutorials from Syllabus+ into SMP

(63) Where schools have identified subjects that require their tutorials to be imported into SMP from Syllabus+, Timetabling Services will commence this process as soon as the timetable is published.

(64) Tutorials are imported into SMP via a bulk import, which takes between two (2) and five (5) working days. During this period, timetable change requests will not be processed to ensure that the data held within the timetable system synchronises with SMP. Tutorials are bulk imported into SMP to avoid staff manually importing one tutorial at a time.

(65) Once imported into SMP, faculty teaching and/or school staff are responsible for managing their tutorial visibilities via SMP and tutorial quotas via monitoring subject enrolments. 

(66) Faculty teaching and/or school staff must liaise with Timetabling Services with regards to tutorial quotas that would exceed allocated room capacity or creating/deleting tutorials.

(67) Tutorial group quotas must not exceed the allocated teaching activity venue capacity as per the Overcrowding in Teaching Spaces Procedure.

(68) Where creating tutorials, Timetabling Services requires the relevant delegated authority approval.

(69) Where deleting tutorials, Timetabling Services requires the relevant teaching staff to consult with any impacted students and relocate them to a suitable alternative.

Tutorial Enrolment timelines

(70) As per the objectives set out in the Timetabling Policy, the University will facilitate tutorial enrolment with sufficient lead time to enable students to plan and finalise their enrolment and other work/life commitments.

(71) Tutorial enrolment timelines are typically as below:

1. 100 level subject tutorial enrolment commence two (2) weeks before the start of session; and
2. 200, 300 and all other upper-level subject tutorial enrolment commence five (5) weeks before the start of session.

Changes to the Published Timetable

Reasons for change

(72) Staff and students organise their activities around their timetable. Consequently, changes to the published timetable should only be made in exceptional circumstances.

(73) Valid reasons for changes to be considered may include:

1. unexpected increase or decline in student enrolment numbers;
2. unexpected teaching staff changes;
3. unexpected and significant impact to the student experience;
4. a location becomes a health or safety hazard;
5. a subject is deemed no longer viable;
6. technology failure;
7. reasonable adjustments to accommodate students and staff with extenuating needs; and
8. data errors and/or omissions.

Change types

(74) Types of changes can include the following:

1. reschedule day/time of an activity;
2. increase or decrease duration of an activity;
3. deletion of an activity;
4. changing venue of a teaching activity within the same campus;
5. amendment to teaching week pattern;
6. change of teaching staff;
7. change to teaching activity type, e.g. Workshops to Practicals;
8. deletion of booked venue no longer required due to low enrolments and no students are enrolled in the teaching activity group;
9. addition of a repeated activity, justified by enrolment numbers; and
10. one-off change to a day or time of a teaching activity due to public holiday or other unforeseen circumstances (facilitated through casual room booking).

Implementing changes

(75) Teaching or school staff will request a change via the Timetabling Services email timetabling-services@uow.edu.au. Timetabling Services assess the various change options and implement the optimal option, and then confirm the change with the relevant teaching or school staff.

(76) Where change options contain staff or student constraints (i.e. staff availability, student subject clashes), the following change scenarios and corresponding actions must be followed:

1. changes that involve student constraints require teaching or school staff to receive the appropriate Faculty approval for the most suitable change option identified prior to it being actioned by Timetabling Services;
2. where an activity flagged for deletion has existing enrolments, teaching or school staff must ensure the affected students have suitable alternatives arranged prior to its deletion.

Resolving Issues

(77) Where a student or staff member has a request which they have been unable to resolve via the standard change request process, they should first liaise with the relevant Faculty or School.

(78) The Faculty or School will liaise with Timetabling Services on potential solutions. When determining how to solve issues, principles and priorities outlined in this Procedure and in the Timetabling Policy will apply.

Section 9 - Overcrowded Teaching Spaces

(79) Reference to the Overcrowding in Teaching Spaces Procedure is required when an allocated venue becomes overcrowded due to either an unexpected increase in enrolment numbers or over-allocation of tutorials.

Section 10 - Post-Session Review

(80) Following each session’s timetable production, Timetabling Services will schedule post-session review meetings with each faculty involved in the timetable production process.

(81) The purpose of these meetings is to review the entire timetable production process and to identify areas for improvement in future iterations.

(82) Timetabling Services will collect data on changes made to the timetable across its various production stages and teaching trends, including delivery modes, venue, and category usage.

(83) Prior to the post-session review meetings, Timetabling Services will compile this data into a spreadsheet report. The compiled spreadsheet report will be provided to the respective faculties before the scheduled wash-up meetings.

(84) Meetings may concentrate on specific themes, including but not limited to:

1. demands on venues;
2. procedural aspects;
3. communication effectiveness;
4. timelines;
5. timetable changes; and
6. teaching trends.

(85) During the meetings, Timetabling Services and faculty representatives will discuss the timetable production process, identify challenges, and propose solutions for improvement in future timetabling processes.

(86) Actionable items and recommendations arising from the meetings will be documented by Timetabling Services for implementation in subsequent timetable productions.

(87) Timetabling Services will follow up on the implementation of agreed-upon improvements and monitor their effectiveness in subsequent timetable productions.

Section 11 - Record Keeping

(88) Versions of the institutional timetable are stored in the on-premise server of the central timetabling system managed by IMTS.

(89) Every version of a past timetable is available from 2010 onwards, this includes draft, publish and final timetables.

(90) Timetable amendment records are kept from 2018.

(91) Individual timetables for students are available to be viewed in SMP.

Section 12 - Roles and Responsibilities

(92) SSD Timetabling Services is responsible for:

1. managing and coordinating the data collection, production, publishing, and maintenance of the University timetable in accordance with the provisions set out in this Procedure and the associated Timetabling Policy;
2. communicating information (such as publication timelines) to relevant stakeholders.

(93) Faculties are responsible for:

1. providing required data and information to allow Timetabling Services to produce the University timetable;
2. managing and coordinating teaching staff to ensure the published timetable is delivered;
3. reviewing draft timetables and providing feedback within specified periods;
4. notifying Timetabling Services of scheduled teaching activities that will no longer be running so resources can be reallocated;
5. monitoring activity enrolment numbers and requesting appropriate amendments to the timetable;
6. ensuring the appropriate delegated faculty authorities approve any post-publication timetable changes that impact the student experience, including study pathways;
7. coordinating the use of faculty-managed, specialist teaching spaces.

(94) The Infrastructure and Property (IP) is responsible for:

1. ensuring centrally-managed venues are physically fit for purpose in advance of each scheduled activity teaching session;
2. liaising with IMTS to ensure centrally-managed venues have required audio-visual setups to support required teaching activities;
3. conducting regular audits of centrally-managed teaching space use;
4. Coordinating, in a timely manner with SSD and IMTS, any upgrades, refurbishments, or changes impacting the venue’s configuration, capacity, availability or technological capabilities.

(95) IMTS is responsible for:

1. maintaining IMTS-managed computer labs, including conducting regular audits of IT equipment;
2. planned and unplanned maintenance of technology in centrally-managed teaching spaces;
3. ensuring appropriate user instructions are in place for all technology options that can be utilised within centrally-managed teaching venues;
4. coordinating, in a timely manner with SSD and IP, any upgrades, refurbishments, or changes impacting the venue’s configuration, availability or technological capabilities.

(96) Teaching staff are responsible for:

1. ensuring timely availability of teaching activities are available for student enrolment;
2. ensuring the standard providing a buffers of five (5) minutes after the scheduled commencement time, and five minutes before the scheduled completion time of teaching activities is adhered to by vacating rooms in line with these buffers, to enable students time to move between activities;
3. ensuring the classroom is vacated in a reasonable state for the next scheduled teaching activity, including returning furniture to the original position and clearing whiteboards.

(97) Students are responsible for:

1. enrolling into teaching activities (such as tutorials and labs), which have more than one (1) scheduled option;
2. making all reasonable efforts to be available to attend their scheduled teaching activities;
3. using established channels and mechanisms to request consideration of reasonable adjustment requests.

Section 13 - Related Documents and References

(99) Restricted Teaching Availability Form;

(100) Staff Timetable Viewer;

(101) UOW Timetable Viewer;

(102) Timetabling Intranet page;

(103) Overcrowding in Teaching Spaces Procedure;

(104) Timetables and Classes web page;

(105) Timetable database venue information (Intranet Teaching Venue Guide).

Section 14 - Stakeholders

(106) When reviewing this Procedure, the following stakeholders should be consulted:

1. Faculty staff;
2. Infrastructure and Property (IP));
3. IMTS Service Delivery (IMTS);
4. Education Innovation and Enablement (EIE);
5. Academic Governance and Standards (AGS);
6. UOW College;
7. Student Accessibility Team (SAT);
8. Wellbeing Health and Safety Unit (WHS);
9. People and Culture Division;
10. Future Education Division (Future Ed);
11. SSD Student Systems.

Section 15 - Definitions