C10242v1 Bachelor of Science

Overview

The Bachelor of Science gives students a solid foundation in scientific knowledge and practice while allowing them to specialise in an area of interest. Students may follow any of the 12 different majors leading to the award of a degree naming the chosen major, e.g. Bachelor of Science in Nanotechnology, or Bachelor of Science in Medical Science, or any of the majors available. Majors are chosen at the end of first year when students have experienced a range of disciplines and are more equipped to choose their preferred path. Students may also choose not to follow a major, but to select a range of second- and third-year subjects to tailor their study according to their interests and graduate with a cross-disciplinary degree.

The flexibility of this course allows students to either specialise in a specific professional area or to develop skills and knowledge in a range of scientific disciplines. All majors aim to produce professional scientists with a thorough grounding in theory and highly adaptable and practical scientific, experimental and computational skills relevant to the discipline chosen.

Career options

Graduates are highly versatile as they can work in almost any industry such as biotechnology, biomedical science, medical science, marine biology, environmental management and forensics, mathematics, statistical modelling, applied chemistry, applied physics, nanotechnology and material science. Graduates could be employed to analyse traffic flow, calculate the optimum distribution of branches for major banks, set rates of insurance premiums, analyse the consumer demand for products, be part of a medical team working on groundbreaking research, determine the effectiveness of new drugs, evaluate the environmental impact of pollution or provide advice on the stock market.

Assumed knowledge

Mathematics; any two units of English.

At least two units of science relevant to the individual discipline chosen is recommended; HSC Mathematics Extension 1 is recommended for those majoring in mathematics/statistics.

Course duration and attendance

Students can complete the course in three years of full-time study. Full-time attendance involves approximately 24 hours each week on campus. Students may also be able to complete the course part time, usually at the rate of two subjects a semester (a 50 per cent load), taking six years to complete. Part-time students are required to attend some sessions in daytime hours.

Course structure

Students must complete a total of 144 credit points to graduate. Subjects offered by the University have been classified as introductory (normally taken in stages 1 and 2), intermediate (stages 3 and 4) and advanced (stages 5 and 6 or later). In the Bachelor of Science, students are required to complete one of three introductory foundation streams (mathematical sciences, physical sciences, life and environmental sciences). Upon the successful completion of first year, they may choose one of the majors that follow from that stream. The chosen major specifies a series of intermediate and advanced subjects that, if taken, result in award of a Bachelor of Science in that major.

Alternatively, students may choose not to take a specific major but a flexible mix of subjects of interest and graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree without a specified major. If so, they must complete 36 credit points of intermediate and 36 credit points of advanced science subjects. In doing so, students must ensure that they have completed the required prerequisite subjects at each stage. It cannot be guaranteed that all subjects that students in a flexible program wish to take together can be timetabled without clashes and so students need to check timetable constraints before final subject choice each semester.

The Bachelor of Science also contains 24 credit points of free elective subjects that enable students to increase their expertise in other areas of science or other disciplines in the University. This can be in the form of a specialised 24-credit-point sub-major or by a varied selection of subjects.

Students must satisfactorily complete 120 credit points of specified major or flexible science subjects and, in addition, 24 credit points of elective/sub-major subjects for award of the degree.

Course program

The majors available and the course programs for each major are shown below.

Honours

The Bachelor of Science (Honours) is available in all disciplines as an additional year to meritorious students.

Other information

Further information is available from: