Undergraduate handbook 2004
Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences

Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Social Work

Course abbreviation: BA/BSW + Course code: 3426

Admission and selection

VCE prerequisites

VCE units 3 and 4 with a study score of at least 25 or equivalent in each of English (any).

Application procedure

Application for entry to the Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Social Work on campus is through the Victoria Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC), 40 Park Street, South Melbourne, Victoria 3205, telephone 1300 364 133, website http://www.vtac.edu.au. All applicants are also required to complete a Monash University Social Work application form, available from http://www.adm.monash.edu.au/ssd/seladmis/ug, or from the Social Work department on telephone (03) 9903 1120. The completed forms must be returned to BA/BSW Application, Social Work at Monash, PO Box 197, Caulfield East, Victoria 3145 by 2 January 2004.

Selection

Selection will be made on the basis of ENTER and the Monash Social Work application form. Applicants should consult the latest VTAC guide for further details.

Admission to first year with equivalent qualifications

Students who have not achieved their entrance qualifications in Victoria must hold qualifications which, in the faculty's opinion, are equivalent to those held by local candidates. The qualifications must include the same prerequisite units as those for local candidates outlined above. Such applicants must demonstrate at least the same level of academic merit as that which is required for local applicants.

Police checks

Students are required to undergo police checks prior to undertaking both field placements (practicum).

Units offered

The BA/BSW offers the equivalent of two years studies in arts and two years in social work. The arts component must include an arts major and an arts minor stream, as well as the prerequisite studies of the individual and of society listed under the prerequisites for the Bachelor of Social Work (see Arts faculty offerings for arts units available).

Course structure

The course structure will be described in general terms because there is a wide variety of choices of arts units that students can select from arts discipline areas. The main structural characteristics of the course are:
The normal pattern of study is for student to study four units per semester; in semesters where the field placement is undertaken, this is reduced to two units plus the placement

In the arts component of the degree, students need to complete:

• an arts major (the equivalent of eight units within a particular discipline spread over three years)
• an arts minor (the equivalent of four units within a particular discipline spread over two years)
• two other streams (the equivalent of two units each completed within the first year)
• two units in each of the following areas specified by the AASW: studies of individual behaviour (found in units such as psychology or human development); studies of how society functions (found in units such as sociology, anthropology, gender studies, cultural studies, politics, philosophy, history and so on); a unit in Indigenous studies is required.

The AASW prescribed studies can be completed within the two first-year streams, but students may study them in their major or minor sequences if they wish.

The social work component of the degree, as well as the field placements, are listed under the Bachelor of Social Work entry. The only modifications to this listing are that SWK3220, SWK3250 and SWK3260 are offered at second-year level in the double degree so that the arts major can be completed in third year.

The arts and social work units are combined in the following sequence:
(a) the first year is comprised of arts subjects only
(b) the second year is comprised of five arts units and three social work units
(c) the third year includes three arts units (which complete the major sequence); the rest are social work units (including the first field placement)

(d) the final year is comprised of social work units only, including the second field placement.

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