Monash University Arts Undergraduate Handbook, 1997

Objectives

1 To instruct students in the discipline of politics and to foster in them a critical and imaginative understanding of the nature of political life and human community; to develop in them capacities for intelligent reading and communication, a theoretically informed understanding of the general nature, grounds, and purposes of political organisation and culture, and a practical understanding of government, political institutions, and political activity.

2 To offer students a comprehensive range of high-quality courses; to encourage as many as possible to pursue a systematic education in politics, preferably by taking a major sequence leading to a full honours degree.

3 Through the major sequence and the honours degree, to seek to develop in students:

a sound knowledge of Australia's political system and culture;
a comparative perspective on Australia derived from an understanding of other political systems and cultures;
an awareness of the factors influencing the development of Australia's institutions, policies, and political life;
a sense of international dimensions of politics, including the factors influencing the structure and development of the current world order;
an awareness of the conceptual foundations, historical sources and cultural dimensions of political activity, including a greater understanding of the links between politics and closely related subjects in the humanities and social sciences;
the capacity to identify and appraise value systems, including their own;
an ability to construct and evaluate arguments and interpretations intelligently and fairly;
the range of intellectual and practical skills necessary for obtaining suitable professional employment;
the capacity to be a more informed citizenry and to improve the quality of public debate and political discussion in Australia.

4 First-year subjects seek to reach the foundational level of these objectives; second and third-year subjects (the nature of the discipline generally does not allow their separation) seek to reach them on fuller and broader levels, especially conceptually; Honours subjects seek to reach them on a level of critical and imaginative sophistication and self-reflection.

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