The Faculty of Arts is one of the largest in the university in terms both of student and of staff numbers. In 1994 on the Clayton campus there were more than 4000 undergraduates, the majority of whom were full-time, and nearly 1200 graduate students. Its teaching staff numbers more than 250 full-time and part-time members, together with sessional staff. About three-quarters of the full-time staff have permanent appointments. The remainder have probationary or fixed-term appointments. The faculty had its first intake of 100 students into the Bachelor of Arts course on the Peninsula campus in 1991 and commenced offering the Bachelor of Arts degree on the Caulfield campus in 1992. With the closer integration of the Gippsland campus into the structure of the university, the newly renamed School of Humanities and Social Sciences became part of the Faculty of Arts in 1993. As its major undergraduate degree program it offers a Bachelor of Arts (Humanities and Social Sciences).
There are fifteen departments in the faculty:
* Anthropology and Sociology
* Asian Languages and Studies
* English
* Geography and Environmental Science
* German Studies and Slavic Studies
* Greek, Roman and Egyptian Studies
* History
* Japanese Studies
* Linguistics
* Music
* Philosophy
* Politics
* Romance Languages
* Social Work and Human Services
* Visual Arts
Each department has a head, who has administrative and academic responsibilities for that department. Most departments have one or more professors, who have particular responsibilities for academic leadership, and a professor is frequently the head of department. Each department has responsibilities for teaching and research in one or more disciplinary areas of study. Some departments contain sections which assume responsibilities for a discipline.
The faculty also has a number of centres, headed by a director and advised by staff who teach or research within that centre. Most of these staff are also members of departments. The centres which offer undergraduate or graduate teaching programs are American Studies, Australian Studies, Human Bioethics, Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies, Drama and Theatre Studies, European Studies, Science and Technology Studies, Studies in Religion and Theology, Women's Studies and the Koorie Research Centre. Other centres of the faculty are Bibliographical and Textual Studies, Development Studies, Migrant and Intercultural Studies, Language and Society, and Southeast Asian Studies. Where centres undertake teaching responsibilities for an area of study, it is normally an interdisciplinary program involving staff and subjects from a number of departments. An exception is the Centre for Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies which has responsibilities for a disciplinary area of study. There are also some centres within departments. Two institutes have coordinating responsibility for activities which involve various departments and centres. These are the Monash Asia Institute, which houses six centres related to Asian studies, and the Institute for Critical and Cultural Studies.
In its legal sense the faculty is a statutory body of which all full-time members of the teaching staff are members. The main business of the faculty is delegated to the faculty board, a smaller body of about eighty, including all heads of departments, other departmental representatives elected on a proportional basis, and eight student members, two graduate and six undergraduate, elected in November of each year by the students enrolled in the faculty. The faculty board normally meets about every six weeks from March to November. Except in certain matters on which it has power to act, it makes recommendations to the Academic Board or through the Academic Board to the Council.
The organisation of teaching and research rests with the heads of the departments, who act in consultation with other members of their departments and within the framework provided by the degree regulations and any other conditions which may be agreed upon from time to time by the faculty board.
The faculty board is concerned with questions which affect more than one department, with interpreting and amending the regulations, and, in particular, with new developments within the faculty. It has certain committees, some of which have power to act on behalf of the board when an immediate decision is needed. These committees include:
(1) the Committee for Undergraduate Studies, which advises the board on all matters relating to undergraduate students as they arise including questions of student workload and matters concerned with assessment; approves admissions to fourth-year honours courses and advises the board on matters concerning the honours degree; acts for the board in cases involving use of discretionary powers conferred on the faculty by the degree regulations and considers proposals for the introduction of new subjects;
(2) the Committee for Graduate Studies, which advises the faculty on all matters concerned with the admission of candidates for higher degrees and graduate diplomas and the awarding of higher degrees and diplomas;
(3) the Admissions and Exclusions Committee, which acts as a subcommittee of the Committee for Undergraduate Studies in controlling the selection of new undergraduate students and considers the cases of students who become liable to be excluded for unsatisfactory progress.
Finally there are various service and administrative components within the faculty. The faculty office consists of the offices of the dean and the faculty registrar, the Finance and Resources Office, the Computer Services Unit, and the Language and Learning Unit. The Language Centre provides services and facilities for the teaching of languages within the faculty.
Officers
The chief officers of the faculty are the dean, the associate deans and the faculty registrar (Arts). The dean is a professor of the faculty and presides over meetings of the faculty, the faculty board and its committees, and is especially concerned with staffing and finance.
The faculty has five associate deans, who are responsible for teaching, intercampus liaison, research, budget, and graduate studies.
The faculty registrar (Arts) provides secretarial services needed by the faculty, and provides information on policy and planning matters.
The coordinator of undergraduate studies is responsible for undergraduate student-related matters on the Clayton campus. Course advisers are available at Clayton to advise undergraduate students on the planning of their courses and on changes of course. Graduate studies staff are available to assist graduate students. Students based on the Caulfield and Peninsula campuses should consult faculty staff on their home campus for course-related advice.
Any student wishing to see the dean, the faculty registrar (Arts), the coordinator undergraduate studies, course advisers or other faculty staff is normally able to make an appointment at fairly short notice. Inquiries should be made at the faculty office, first floor, west wing of the Robert Menzies School of Humanities (Clayton students); fourth floor, B block (Caulfield students); or fourth floor, A building (Peninsula students).
The Language and Learning Unit assists students to improve their approaches to studying, reading and writing. Appointments should be made directly with the unit, which is based on the Clayton campus.
Students wishing to bring any relevant matters to the attention of the student members of the faculty board should feel free to do so. The student members can be contacted c/o the office of the faculty registrar.
Campuses
Students enter the Faculty of Arts as students on a particular campus. The BA course is offered on the Clayton, Caulfield and Peninsula campuses. Once they complete the first year of the BA on the Clayton or Caulfield campus, students may, if they wish, transfer to any other campus to complete the course. Students on the Peninsula campus are required to complete sixty-eight points of arts subjects (closer to two years) on that campus before transferring to another campus. Transfer may be effected earlier with the permission of the faculty. During first year a student may take a subject each semester on another campus. Students on the Peninsula campus may take a subject each semester on a different campus in second year also. There are many reasons for choosing a particular campus.
Clayton has the largest intake of arts students and offers a very large number of first year subjects, minor sequences and major sequences. Most honours courses (fourth year) and graduate courses are offered on this campus. Various specialised degrees and double degree programs are offered at Clayton.
Caulfield offers the BA, BA/BBus double degrees and courses in police studies and human services. It is situated near the Caulfield railway station and attracts part-time students to its evening classes and to its distinctive psychology programs offered by the Department of Psychology in the Faculty of Science. Major and minor sequences in the BA course are offered in sociology, English, politics, applied statistics, cinema studies and psychology. Additional first-year subjects include Japanese studies, philosophy, behavioural studies and history.
Peninsula is geographically convenient to students in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula. It offers the BA as well as the BA/BBus and BA/BTeach double degrees. Major sequences in the BA course are offered in sociology, English, politics, history, applied statistics, business Chinese[1], business Japanese* and psychology. Minor sequences are available in these disciplines as well as in German, philosophy and human biology. Additional first-year subjects include geography and linguistics.
A student can complete the BA on any of these three campuses.
Gippsland offers a number of degrees and diploma courses which enable students to choose an academic program that best suits their individual needs. The BA(Humanities and Social Sciences) degree offers major studies in English, history/politics, mass communications and sociology. Minor sequences are available in Australian studies and gender studies. The BA(Journalism and Communication) includes a major sequence in journalism, a minor sequence in mass communications, and an additional minor from a range of disciplines offered on the Gippsland campus. The BA(Psychology and Humanities) includes a major sequence in psychology, a second major sequence from English, history/politics, mass communications or sociology, with additional minor sequences in Australian studies or gender studies.
Also offered is a Bachelor of Social Welfare degree, as well as associate diplomas of arts in Koorie studies and social welfare, a Graduate Certificate of Arts (Humanities and Social Sciences) and graduate diplomas of arts in humanities and social sciences and in social welfare.
In addition, students may complete the following double degree programs: BA (Humanities and Social Sciences)/BBus(Multidiscipline); BA(Humanities and Social Sciences)/BSocWelf; BA(Journalism and Communication)/BSocWelf; and BA(Psychology and Humanities)/BSocWelf.