Bachelor of Arts in Musicology

at Western Sydney University - Penrith Campus (Kingswood) Australia

You’re curious, enjoy telling stories, and you want to use media to share ideas about the things that get people talking.

Journalism

The Journalism major combines an understanding of how the news media work with practical experience in broadcast, print and online journalism.

Students develop journalism skills suitable for newspapers, magazines, internet, radio and TV, corporate and community media.

The degree will develop the mindset, risk tolerance, creativity, passion, big thinking, team formation and leadership capabilities – the key distinct characteristics of high-impact entrepreneurs.

In an entrepreneurial ecosystem, you will learn the knowledge and techniques for opportunity discovery, impact analysis, customer analysis, strategic team-building and leadership, the psychology and ethics of the start-up, funding modelling and financial analysis, growth and exit strategies.

The Games Design and Simulation specialisation will convert your passion for playing games into deep knowledge of the science and art of problem solving through development and application of games and simulations.

This area of study includes gamification, games design, game-based learning, and psychology of gaming, serious games, games entrepreneurship, as well as broader modelling and simulation. It features two majors that are not available in any other Western University degree - Game Programming and Game Design.

Upon completion you will have developed an entrepreneurial mindset and will know how to apply this mindset to address a diverse range of problems through game and simulation-based solutions.

The program incorporates practical experience in every semester of study, placing students in entrepreneurial environments (incubators, technology parks, innovation centres) and enabling them through all the stages from creative ideation through the sustainable development of the idea into a lean start-up.

Game Programming

In this major you will gain skills in programming, data structures, video game development, artificial intelligence and more. 

If you’re creative, passionate and a problem solver, our enhanced Arts degree could be for you.

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.

Sociology

Sociology is the study of society and culture. Using diverse methods, practices and theories, it helps us understand social life. Sociology is fundamental to the social sciences because the quality of life of every human on the planet is directly or indirectly influenced by their relative position within, and responses to, society.

This major in Sociology provides you with a thorough training in the methods, theories and select leading areas of contemporary sociology. In the Sociology major, you will have opportunities to study particular themes from a sociological perspective, including inequalities, deviance, identities, gender, religion, medicine and health care, ethnicity and migration, and the family, among other possibilities.

We all had that one teacher who made a difference in our life. Western prepares you to be that person. This degree offers a mix of theory and real-world experience, so you emerge as a highly sought-after secondary-school teacher.

At Western, we know the value a great teacher brings to the classroom as well as the challenges you’ll face. That’s why we’ve built our Master of Teaching (Secondary) around giving you practical tools to provide inspiration and direction to high-school students.

Offering a mix of on-campus theory and school-based placements, this program helps you turn your specialist undergraduate degree into an inspiring career path. The aim is to produce teachers with strong academic knowledge and skills, excellence in professional practice, commitment to equity and social justice, and dedication to personal and professional growth.

If you’re creative, passionate and a problem solver, our enhanced Arts degree could be for you.

With a Bachelor of Social Science from Western, you will have the ability to help shape the world we live in. This degree expands your knowledge through theory, research and practical application and offers you a deep understanding of our complex, culturally diverse and dynamic world. You will gain access to industry-based projects and placements, local and international work experience and build the practical skills that will get you ready to apply your knowledge to the workforce.

Sociology

The major in Sociology provides students with a thorough training in the methods, theories and select leading areas of contemporary sociology. As well as units in which methods and theories are taught, through the social science core, students enrolled in the Sociology major will have opportunities to study a number of particular themes from a sociological perspective, including inequalities, deviance, identities, gender, religion, medicine and health care, ethnicity and migration, and the family, among other possibilities.

A Bachelor of Social Science (BSS) with a major in Sociology will prepare students for both employment and a research higher degree.

Mathematics plays a crucial role in almost every sector of the economy. From finance to engineering, teaching, medicine and politics – mathematics is essential to model, analyse and solve problems.

The essence of mathematics is the use of abstraction and logic to discover, describe and completely and unambiguously understand systems.

Develop your ability to discover, describe and analyse patterns with the Bachelor of Mathematics. You will learn from world-class academics with a research strength in mathematics, and have opportunities for industry engagement. With your logical mind and analytical skills, you’ll enter the job market as a highly sought-after graduate.

Our degree also gives you the option of completing majors in Financial Mathematics, Data Science, or Computational Mathematics, or you can use the degree as a pathway to secondary teaching.

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.

 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.

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.

Arabic

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 Arabic, Chinese, Indonesian or 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.