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Frequently Asked Questions

What is required to qualify for the Bachelor of Arts and the Bachelor of Social Science degree?

Both degrees require the completion of 144 units of credit (UOC). The Arts program must include at least one home-based (Arts) major, while the Social Science program requires completion of the Social Science and Policy core courses, as well as a major from a list of approved areas (see below for lists of approved Arts majors and Social Science majors). Both degrees require the completion of 12 UOC in General Education courses.

What is a course?

A course is a discrete unit of study offered by a school over a single semester. These courses are listed in the Undergraduate Handbook.

Examples: ENGL1006 Imagining the City; SOCA1002 Australian Society

What are Units of Credit?

Units of credit (UOC) are allotted to each course, and students must complete courses totalling the required number of units of credit in order to satisfy the requirements for their program. Most undergraduate courses offered by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences are equivalent to 6 UOC.

How many courses do I take in first year?

Both the Arts and the Social Sciences degrees require the completion of eight courses, or 48 UOC, at first year level (Level 1) These eight courses must come from at least four areas, i.e. no more than two courses (12 UOC) in any one area. This is to ensure that students are exposed to a broad variety of disciplines in their first year.

What majors can I do in an Arts degree?

Students in the BA must complete a major in one of the following areas:

AUST Australian Studies
CHIN Chinese Studies
COMD Development Studies
EDST Education
ENGL English
ENVP Environmental Studies
EURO European Studies
FREN French
GERS German Studies
GREK Greek
HIST History
HPSC History and Philosophy of Science
INDO Indonesian Studies
JAPN Japanese Studies
KORE Korean Studies
LING Linguistics
MEFT Media, Culture and Technology/Film/Theatre and Performance Studies
MUSC Music
PECO Political Economy
PHIL Philosophy
POLS Politics and International Relations
SLSP Policy Studies
SOCA Sociology
SPAN Spanish and Latin American Studies
WOMS Women’s and Gender Studies

Students may also do a second major, which may be from one of the areas listed above, or from one of the following areas:

Aboriginal Studies; Art History and Theory; Asian Studies; Cognitive Science; Computing; Economics/Economic History; Geography/Geology; Human Resource Management; International Business; Jewish Studies; Mathematics; Psychology.

What is the difference between an Arts degree and a Social Science degree?

A Bachelor of Arts program allows a student to select either one or two majors, with choices as described above. Students in the Bachelor of Social Science program undertake the Social Science and Policy core courses over the duration of their degree, as well as a major sequence in one of the following areas:

AUST Australian Studies
COMD Development Studies
ECON Economics
ENVP Environmental Studies
EURO European Studies
GEOS Geography/Geology
HIST History
HPSC History and Philosophy of Science
MEFT Media, Culture and Technology/Film/Theatre and Performance Studies
MGMT International Business/Industrial Relations/Human Resource Management
PECO Political Economy
PHIL Philosophy
POLS Politics & International Relations
PSYC Psychology
SOCA Sociology
SPAN Spanish and Latin American Studies
WOMS Women’s and Gender Studies

What other degrees are offered by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences?

As well as the Bachelor of Arts and the Bachelor of Social Science degrees, the Faculty also offers the following degrees:

Bachelor of Arts (Media and Communications)
Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Education
Bachelor of Arts (Dance)/Bachelor of Education
Bachelor of International Studies
Bachelor of Music
Bachelor of Music/Bachelor of Education
Bachelor of Music/Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Social Science in Criminology
Bachelor of Social Work
Bachelor of Social Work/Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Social Work/Bachelor of Social Science

The requirements for each of these degrees can be found in the Arts section of the University's Handbook.

Can I do Media and Communications subjects in an Arts degree?

Courses offered by the School of English, Media, and Performing Arts with the course code MDCM (eg MDCM2000) are only available to students enrolled in the Bachelor of Arts (Media and Communications) program. Students wishing to take media courses as part of their BA program should take courses with the MEFT course code eg MEFT2103.

What is General Education?

Most undergraduate students are required to undertake General Education courses as part of the requirement for their degree. This requires students, from the second year of their studies, to complete 12 UOC (units of credit). General Education courses offered by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (i.e. GENT courses) are not available to students enrolled in Arts and Social Sciences degree programs. All General Education courses are listed in the Online Handbook (http://www.handbook.unsw.edu.au). They are worth either 6 UOC or 3 UOC. This means that students normally undertake two to four of these courses during their degree. For an outline of the rationale and objectives behind the University’s General Education policy, see the University's Handbook.

What is Advanced Standing?

If you transfer to an Arts or Social Sciences degree from another tertiary institution, or internally from another faculty at UNSW, you may be able to count some of your previous studies towards your Arts or Social Science degree. This is known as admission with advanced standing. Application for advanced standing is usually made when a student accepts an offer from the University. Applications must be accompanied by results, course descriptions and details of contact hours. Courses undertaken more than ten years ago cannot be taken into consideration.

What is part-time study?

Both UNSW and DEST (Department of Education, Science and Training) consider a student to be full-time, if he or she is undertaking a Commonwealth Supported load of 0.375 or above. A load of less than 0.375 is considered part-time. In terms of UNSW units of credit, a load of 0.375 is equivalent to 18 UOC per semester. It is important to note that full-time or part-time status is determined by your enrolment per semester, not per year. That is, you must have a load of at least 0.375 in a semester in order to be considered full-time in that semester. Note that your status (part-time or full time) is not determined by how many hours per week or how many days per week you attend classes.

What if I am an older student and want to apply?

The University Preparation Program (UPP) is available to students over 21 years of age whose current academic qualifications do not satisfy the minimum entry standard required for the University. Applicants must be Australian citizens or permanent residents of Australia, and be proficient in English. The UPP can be taken over 24 weeks (the full academic year), or intensively over 12 weeks (ie Semester 1 or Semester 2). The 24-week course involves 2 hours per week of class contact time, the intensive mode requires 4 hours per week. Study time is additional to this. The program includes a core course, University Orientation and Study Skills, and one General Education elective course. The UPP result can be considered in an application for admission into most faculties of the University. Most faculties, particularly the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, set aside places specifically for UPP students.

For more details on UPP see http://www.unsw.edu.au/upp

Where is the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences?

The Faculty Office is located in room G1 on the ground floor of the Morven Brown Building. This building is located near the Library, at University map reference C20. The School of English, Media and Performing Arts is located in the Robert Webster Building (map reference G14). The School of Education is in the Mathews Building (map reference F23).

The University maintains campus maps online including an interactive map at http://www.unsw.edu.au/maps/maps.html

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