Caution
Copyright © Monash University 1996
ISBN 1320-6222
Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
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 over 4000 undergraduates, the majority of whom were full-time, and nearly 1200 graduate students. Its teaching staff numbers over 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 (Communications) and a Bachelor of Arts (Humanities and Social Sciences). The Faculty of Arts is also responsible for the administration of two university degrees - the Bachelor of Communication degree offered on the Berwick Campus and the Bachelor of General Studies degree.
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; and Visual Arts. Each department has a head of department, 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, Cognitive Studies, Bibliographical and Textual Studies, Development Studies, Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies, Drama and Theatre Studies, European Studies, International Relations, Policing and Public Safety, Science and Technology Studies, Studies in Religion and Theology, Women's Studies and the Koori Research Centre. Other centres of the faculty are, East Asian Studies, Japanese Studies, Malaysian Studies, South Asian 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 wholly 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 major academic responsibilities of the faculty are vested by legislation in 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 university's 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 relating to graduate students as they arise, including admission of candidates to higher degree programs; scholarship selection, examination of theses; formulation of policy and approval of new programs and subjects. In addition, the committee acts for the board in cases involving the use of discretionary powers conferred on faculty by the degree regulations, is 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.
The faculty registrar (Arts) provides student administration and student services, secretarial services needed by the faculty, and provides information on policy and planning matters.
On the Clayton campus the student advisers are available to advise undergraduate students on the planning of their courses and on changes of course, and the office of graduate studies is established to assist graduate students.
Any student wishing to see the dean, the faculty registrar (Arts), the student advisers or postgraduate administrative officers are normally able to make an appointment at fairly short notice. Inquiries should be made at either the undergraduate or graduate office, first floor, west wing of the Robert Menzies School of Humanities. Caulfield, Peninsula and Frankston students needing advice should consult the faculty office on their home campus for course-related advice.
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 (Arts).
+ PhD
+ Master of Arts (by research and by coursework)
+ Master of Environmental Science (by coursework only)
+ Master of Bioethics (by research and by coursework)
+ Master of Social Work (by research and by coursework)
+ Graduate diplomas of arts
+ Graduate Diploma of Environmental Science
+ Graduate Diploma in Bioethics
The Subfaculty of Art and Design which comprises the School of Art at Gippsland; the Peninsula School of Art at Frankston; the departments of Ceramic Design, Fine Art, Graphic Design and the Centre for Industrial Design, at Caulfield offer graduate diplomas, and PhD studies; masters degrees (by research and by coursework). (Intending students should consult the faculty's Art and Design handbook for further details.)
At the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Gippsland, students can undertake a Master of Arts by research or a PhD. Refer to index for additional details.
In an ideal world every department and centre would wish to have their graduate students accommodated in close proximity to the teaching staff. Unfortunately, it is very obvious that current facilities in the Menzies building make such an arrangement impossible. As a short term solution the deputy vice-chancellor (research) has offered us space in the Graduate Centre to develop a physical presence. The faculty's plans, following a survey of current occupants, is to develop some better arrangement of the internal configuration of one floor to meet the needs of graduate students - especially those in the final stages of writing up. In addition, it hopes to be able to provide space for a few members of staff who would be seconded to the school while concentrating on completing some of their own research work. Such staff, it is hoped, will include those from other campuses and visiting scholars to the faculty. They would be encouraged to interact with the graduate students during their time in the school. Implicit in such plans is the notion that no one individual or discipline is the respository of all good ideas. Exposure to the ideas and interests in other disciplines should create the basis for a richer and more stimulating intellectual environment. But it is also important to think of the activities of the graduate school as complementing and not competing with those of departments and centres.
Professor J S Whitelaw, director of the Arts Graduate School, has emphasised that students see the location of the graduate school in a separate building as a temporary measure. The dean has a small but active group working on refurbishing the Menzies building and in creating additional space for the faculty. The needs of graduate students figure prominently in the faculty's plans for the future.
At this stage in the development of a graduate school the faculty board approved in principle the following objectives:
1. to provide leadership and direction for all graduate programs;
2. to enhance the opportunity for interdisciplinary contact and exposure for the intellectual enrichment of graduate students;
3. to oversee supervision and encourage greater use of panels of supervision where appropriate (such arrangements might well be conducive to greate exploration of exciting topics which often fall between disciplinary boundaries);
4. to monitor progress and completion rates;
5. to provide counselling;
6. to organise a regular series of seminars of broad interest to all graduate students;
7. to increase resources allocated to the school;
8. to initiate and develop national and international networking with other universities, commerce, industry and governments;
9. to provide the possibility of experimenting with new styles and forms of teaching and learning in graduate classes;
10. to provide an appropriate induction program for new students;
11. to facilitate serice courses, eg languages, computing, statistics;
12. to administer travel, conference and field grants.
Further inquiries should be directed to the coordinator, graduate studies.
The faculty's language and learning unit advises students particularly on matters of learning, essay, research paper and thesis writing, and on other aspects of their academic work. The unit also runs workshops on research paper and thesis writing at various times during the academic year. Details of these workshops are available from the unit at the beginning of each semester. Students on the Clayton campus can make an appointment by ringing 9905 2263 or by visiting the unit, room 129, in the Menzies building.