Bachelor of Arts in Sociology

at Western Sydney University - Bankstown Campus Australia

The English major invites students to explore contemporary approaches to language, literary study and writing, including literary criticism and theory, linguistic analysis, genre and textual study, and creative writing.

The English major focuses on the imaginative workings of language, and students can study a wide selection of modern and classic literature, as well as the relationships between written texts and other media such as film and information technology.

Students also have the opportunity to produce their own creative writing and to edit and publish their work.

This is a broadly based, inter-disciplinary four-year double degree offering flexibility and choice within a wide range of offerings in the social sciences, as well as studies of International Relations and Asian Studies and an Asian language.

This degree seeks to equip you with all the interdisciplinary and specialist skills and knowledge that you will need on entering the workforce or on proceeding to advanced study.

Child and Community

The Child and Community major provides a comprehensive introduction to a range of social sciences related areas and a strong grounding in contemporary issues facing children and their families from a critical perspective.

This major provides a good foundation for people interested in a career in the human services with a particular interest in children.

The Psychological Studies major comprises units in the discipline of psychology that focus on the field of inquiry that uses scientific techniques and methods to understand and explain behaviour and experience.

Areas of study include: the brain and behaviour, learning, motivation and emotion, social psychology, lifespan development, perception, and cognitive processes. A Psychological Studies major does not meet APAC requirements for an accredited sequence in Psychology.

Students wishing to enrol in an accredited Psychology sequence should complete the Psychology key program of 160 credit points

The Psychological Studies major comprises units in the discipline of psychology that focus on the field of inquiry that uses scientific techniques and methods to understand and explain behaviour and experience.

Areas of study include: the brain and behaviour, learning, motivation and emotion, social psychology, lifespan development, perception, and cognitive processes. A Psychological Studies major does not meet APAC requirements for an accredited sequence in Psychology.

Students wishing to enrol in an accredited Psychology sequence should complete the Psychology key program of 160 credit points.

The Applied Finance major equips you with the expert skills to create a career as a finance specialist. In this major you will develop in-depth knowledge of finance with a focus on investment and securities, economics, and banking and finance. The core units in the Bachelor of Business will provide you a foundation of business knowledge and develop your skills in innovation, career planning, and numeracy. The Applied Finance major builds on this knowledge and skills in an applied discipline based context. Finance specialists work in a range of roles within the rapidly growing finance sector. This major fulfils the educational requirements for admission as an Associate (A Fin) of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia (FINSIA) provided the applicant is at least working in the financial services industry. All other students are eligible to apply for Affiliate membership (no postnominals apply).

Many future challenges exist at the nexus of environment, infrastructure and technology. Solutions to these will demand innovative engineering combined with applied science and business acumen. Engineers with a head for business will find many opportunities to leverage their highly developed analytical skills towards a host of technical and commercial challenges.

At Western Sydney University, we prepare our students to take on big challenges and succeed. The combined Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) / Bachelor of Business degree covers all major engineering and business domains. You can also experience many facets of engineering before deciding upon your major at the end of your first year.

Human Resource Management

The Human Resource Management Major is designed for people who seek careers in human resource management and industrial relations. Graduates’ careers focus on enhancing the value of human and social capital through supporting employee engagement for many different kinds of organisations, market-oriented and community-oriented organisations and many kinds of people. The teaching philosophy is based on knowledge in action, a fusion of the Australia Human Resource Institute’s capabilities for HR professionals and the Western Sydney University Graduate Attributes designed to secure success. An aim of the program is to instil those values and attitudes that can support leaders in judgements about balancing the pursuit of organisational objectives with creating opportunities for developing people’s capacities and careers. The perspectives are local and international, with an emphasis on the value of cultural and demographic diversity. Graduates have knowledge of how leadership and management of people can support organisational objectives and create organisational opportunities. This capacity comes from grounding in human resource management and industrial relations practice using contemporary law and research in applied projects. Students combine this with an education in the pressures organisations experience in inter-disciplinary subjects focused on money, markets and management. That is, graduates develop commercial acumen and appreciate the competing interests around work, aware of trends locally and internationally. Throughout the program, students are challenged to develop and demonstrate communication, cultural, and analytic skills required to be innovative and responsible team-members and leaders.

This combined degree is designed for students who want to combine their interest and expertise in International Relations and Asian Studies with a good understanding of basic business issues, complemented by a high level of knowledge relevant to a specific business discipline.

Graduates will have a solid grounding in the relationships of societies, cultures, languages and systems of government within the international system.

Students will develop their capacity to appreciate the historical development of relations among nation states, and analyse contemporary political, economic, social and cultural issues such as globalisation, transnationalism and migration.

Students complete a major in International Relations and Asian Studies, a minor in Arabic, Chinese, Spanish or Japanese languages, and a major in Marketing. When combined with a high level of knowledge from the specific business majors, you will be ready for the workplace of the future.

Economics

The Economics major provides a broad pluralist perspective on fundamental aspects of relationships between individuals, firms, institutions and countries. Students will learn how economies function and how public policy and the way organisations behave affect diverse social, economic and environmental problems.

Students are introduced to a wide array of competing economic theories, so that they are critically informed about the ways in which they can transform the world. A major in Economics prepares students to be active participants in addressing the wide range of problems faced by governments, social organisations and the business community in the domestic and international economies. 

The Bachelor of Arts (Dean’s Scholars) degree is designed to develop your communication and personal skills, creativity, capacity for independent thought, adaptability to new situations, and problem-solving abilities.

 Japanese

Language majors will enable you to develop an appropriate level of proficiency in a second language, which may be used for professional purposes such as teaching, interpreting and translation, business or international relations.

If you are undertaking a language major in Japanese, you will be able to use the language in question according to its grammatical and pragmatic principles, communicate with native speakers appropriately in the spoken as well as the written mode, and demonstrate an understanding of the cultures and societies associated with the language.

The Bachelor of Languages and Linguistics is designed to develop expertise in languages, linguistics and inter-lingual communication.

Language is fundamental to the human experience. Through study of how language works, you will make contact with fundamental philosophical, socio-cultural, and psychological questions about what it means to be human.

You will also gain the analytical tools of empirical science, which will prepare you for success in post-graduate studies and careers in research, analytics, business and law.

Linguistics will also equip you to use your language and linguistic skills in professional settings such as teaching, interpreting and translation, journalism, business or international relations.

Students engage in interdisciplinary study essential to an understanding of Islam, past and present. The area of study balances historical and modern Islamic studies and research methods.

One of the keys to Islamic Studies is ‘relevance’ to contemporary Australian society but relevance can only come from a sound comprehension of past traditions in Islamic scholarship and their socio-historical contexts.

Preparation for graduate study is also a key objective of this program, with its focus on developing critical and interdisciplinary research skills through a combination of approaches. Students are encouraged to undertake a sub-major in Arabic to complement the Islamic Studies major.