Bachelor of Arts (Deans Scholars) in History and Political Thought

at Western Sydney University - Parramatta South Campus Australia

This combined degree offers you a unique opportunity to gain the creative and business skills necessary to prosper in the contemporary innovation landscape.

Underpinned by a foundation of graphic design, the Bachelor of Design gives you fundamental skills and knowledge in the exciting and constantly changing area of visual communication.

The Creative Industries component combines a core of entrepreneurship with major studies including culture and society, creative writing, design, enterprise innovation, journalism, literature, media arts, music performance and photo media.

The program is designed for those who wish to pursue a creative practice while gaining the business and legal acumen to become a successful part of the creative economy on their own terms.

Music

The Music major provides students from outside the Music program with a comprehensive introduction to current practice in the fields of music, performance and sound production for sound design, composition and performance. Foundation level units examine the fundamentals of music performance, acoustics, stereo recording and mixing, MIDI systems and sequencing, sound synthesis, and composition utilising environmental sound. Technical concepts are contextualised within a survey of electroacoustic music and sonic arts practice. Students will also examine studio techniques, new performance technologies, and composition and design for screen media.

The Graduate Diploma in Information and Communications Technology is designed for students from both computing and non-computing backgrounds, to enable you to have a pathway into higher studies in Information and Communications Technology and to support a career in ICT.

The Graduate Diploma offers you formal training in the theoretical aspects of ICT, creating a solid base to continue your progression in the ICT field.

The speed of change in ICT requires everyone to update their knowledge every few years. This Graduate Diploma program lays a proper foundation in ICT whereby you can gain knowledge and confidence to proceed to further studies and career advancement.

The program is also designed to enable inexperienced, non-ICT students to enter a career in ICT. You will benefit from the University's policies on recognition of prior learning by allowing a matching of an individual's professional experience against specific subjects that form part of the Graduate Diploma in ICT.

The University has a long history of providing well-designed degrees in ICT that are accredited at the professional level by the Australian Computer Society (ACS). We recognise and concentrate on the vital role that computer networks, including internet and web technologies, play in all areas of life. This is reflected in our research strengths in networking and web engineering. This program will prepare you to undertake further studies in these two vital areas.

This double degree provides you with the practical skills and knowledge required to excel in the fields of both business and law. The Bachelor of Business degree gives you the knowledge to create a career as a business professional. Whether you wish to pursue a corporate role in a global enterprise or start your own business, this degree will provide you with the skills to do it.  

The Bachelor of Laws (Honours) program satisfies the academic degree requirements for admission to practice as an Australian lawyer. Students will engage in collaborative face-to-face problem and case-based learning, will be supported by online learning materials, and will participate in authentic assessment to develop knowledge and skills. The program provides students with a broad progressive legal education with a strong practical orientation to the law. Students develop skills in problem-solving, critical thinking, research, communication, collaboration, self-management, and ethical and professional awareness and judgement. Students will have the opportunity to develop skills in legal advocacy, negotiation, and legal technology and extend their professional and learning experiences through work integrated learning, clinical placement and international exchange engagements.

Applied Finance

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 double degree program is designed for students whose interests span the Arts and Sciences. Our graduates work across a range of academic and professional disciplines, including the opportunity to develop global perspectives.

Global Buisness

The global economy is becoming increasingly important for organisations seeking out new opportunities to expand their customer base and develop partnerships.

Managers who are well versed in the needs of doing business internationally and who can exploit these opportunities will therefore play an integral role in any such corporation.

Building on a solid foundation in domestic business education, including global sustainability, international business strategy, managing in a global environment, and international marketing, this major equips graduates with the detailed knowledge of the international dimension of business and the necessary understanding of the workings of that market system.

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.

Creative Writing

The Creative Writing major provides you with the opportunity to produce your own creative writing and to edit and learn how
to publish your work.

You will study with professional authors, editors and publishers from the Writing and Society Research Centre and staff from the School of Humanities and Communication Arts.

In addition, you will have the opportunity to study contemporary approaches to language and literary studies, including literary criticism and theory, linguistic analysis, genre and textual study, and to read and examine a wide selection of modern and classic literature.

Tailor your studies to your specific goals by combining our Bachelor of Arts degree with the Bachelor of Creative Industries degree.

When you graduate after four years, you have two degrees, and the unique skills relevant to the contemporary employment environment.

The Arts component combines academic knowledge with practical real life training. It is designed to equip you with a broad range of skills and knowledge in research and critical enquiry, and is sufficiently flexible to cater to a range of career aspirations and personal interests.

In the Creative Industries component you will combine a core of entrepreneurship with major studies including culture and society, creative writing, design, enterprise innovation, journalism, literature, media arts, music performance and photo media.

Digital Cultures

The Digital Cultures Major offers students the opportunity to learn about how cutting edge technology and digital practices are changing society.

By analysing new media, visual arts, and digital design and the effects that the use of these new technologies have on culture and society, students will gain the necessary skills to position themselves for careers in a wide variety of contexts that require understanding of technology or digital media and its impact.

Complementing these analytical skills, students will also gain practical skills in the creation of digital media and design.

This double degree program is designed for students whose interests span the Arts and Social Sciences.

It will give you the skills and versatility to work across a range of academic and professional disciplines, including the opportunity to develop global perspectives and communication skills.

You need to include a Social Science Major, so you can design your own academic program within the Bachelor of Social Science program structure.

Peace and Development Studies

The Peace and Development Studies major is concerned with inequalities of power and opportunity that lead to international and local conflict, uneven development, social dislocation and environmental degradation. This major examines the structural causes of racist and gendered violence, environmental crises, forced migration, poverty, resource conflict, and inter-generational inequity.

You will be introduced to theories and methods for identifying, measuring and resolving conflict and environmental degradation. Constructive solutions include empowerment and self-determination, sustainable living, peace building and conflict resolution strategies.

The major is organised around three fields of inquiry: structural inequality, social justice and human rights; development and sustainability; and peace and humanitarian responses/ actions.

During your studies, you will engage with social theory within an interdisciplinary and applied framework of important civic and global issues.

This double degree provides you with the practical skills and knowledge required to excel in the highly marketable career paths of both construction management and law. The Bachelor of Construction Management Studies will equip students to develop expertise essential to Construction and Project Managers, Building and Quantity Supervisors, Estimators, and Building Researchers which lead to professional accreditation.

The Bachelor of Laws program satisfies the academic degree requirements for admission to practice as an Australian lawyer. Students will engage in collaborative face-to-face problem and case-based learning, will be supported by online learning materials, and will participate in authentic assessment to develop knowledge and skills.

Subjects available in the Bachelor of Information and Communications Technology offer a solid foundation across several domains including Networking, Databases, Systems Analysis & Design, Programming, Web and Mobile Technologies, Project Management, Professional Communications, Operating Systems and Human Computer Interaction. It also covers the necessary mathematical and statistical skills as needed by an ICT practitioner.  

In the Bachelor of Information Systems, you will work with organisations to design, develop, deploy and manage information systems through the application of computing technology. This program will help you carry out a real-life project where you will need to design and develop an information system that solves a community-based problem.

The Bachelor of Laws provides students with a broad progressive legal education with a strong practical orientation to the law. Students develop skills in problem-solving, critical thinking, research, communication, collaboration, self-management, and ethical and professional awareness and judgement. Students will also develop skills in legal advocacy, negotiation, and legal technology and extend their professional and learning experiences through work integrated learning, clinical placement and international exchange engagements.

The Bachelor of Laws equips you with the professional legal skills and knowledge required by the Legal Profession Admission Board (LPAB) for admission to legal practice in NSW, and to solve legal and non-legal problems. Students can undertake specialised study in topical local and international law.

This double degree program is designed in recognition of the globalising nature of the information technology industry.

In the IT area, the program allows students to develop skills in application development, program design, systems analysis and design, networks, web-design, and the implementation of technology.

 Geography  and Urban Studies

Geography is the integrated study of people, places and environments. In this major, you will examine the geography of contemporary Australian cities and regions. The interests of today’s geographers include post-colonialism, the emergence of global information economies, indigenous issues, class and cultural disparities, population movement, sexuality and space, and the global diffusion of popular culture.

Urban Studies is a discipline focused on social justice within the city, through its critical assessments of people’s access to scarce urban resources, such as housing, transport, education and employment.

The political, economic and cultural forces that shape cities and urban policy are the key concerns of the Urban Studies curriculum. These applied interests in urban wellbeing and city structure are the intellectual basis for the urban planning profession.

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.

History and Political Thought

Since the revival of humanist thought in the Renaissance, universities have placed studies in history and political thought at the centre of exploring what it is to be human.

At the heart of the History and Political Thought major are four compulsory units, which introduce the student to the modern history of humanity (since 1500). Although Europe is very prominent in the major, you will be invited to compare its history to the histories of Asia, Africa and the Americas.

The major culminates in a capstone unit in students’ final semester, discussing historical theories and methods. A wide range of elective units covers European, American, Australian and Asian history and political thought, and includes thematic units which range widely over time and place.