Bachelor of Science and Honours Degree of Bachelor of Science

• General
• Course objectives
• Course requirements
  • Major sequence
  • Minor sequence
  • Sequences
• Students whose first enrolment in the BSc is in 1998
• Students whose first enrolment in the BSc is prior to 1998

General

Clayton campus

Course code: 0050/0051

Course objectives

The degree of Bachelor of Science is a course of three years full-time duration (or equivalent part-time) which has as its objective the training of graduates in science who at the end of the degree are able to show a breadth of knowledge of fundamental scientific concepts covering a range of disciplines. At the same time students will acquire a more specialised understanding of concepts within biological, behavioural, physical, chemical, earth or mathematical sciences derived from more detailed subjects offered in the later years of the degree. At the end of the course, science graduates will be able to relate acquired skills to technical and vocational applications relevant to specialist disciplines; they will be able to organise knowledge, ideas and concepts efficiently, rationalise and define problems and logically carry out processes for their solution.

To this aim, students will be enabled to:

• organise ideas systematically;
• carry out problem-solving methods and experimentation, either as solitary investigators, or in a team environment;
• test and investigate a particular scientific problem or set of problems singly or in complex interactions.

Students will acquire sufficient skills to disseminate the results of investigation, by oral, written or electronic means, or in some cases all three. Graduates will exhibit leadership qualities; they will have scientific skills and confidence in their ability as scientists and will be able to interact easily with colleagues and with the general community. They will also be scientifically responsible, trained in scientific disciplines and entitled, where appropriate, to membership of learned societies and professional associations.

In a fourth year leading to the award of the Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree, in addition to the above, students will be expected to display a higher level of independent analysis and research in their chosen field of expertise. This higher level of experience has vocational aims but also provides a preparation for study by coursework and/or research for the higher degrees of Master of Science or Doctor of Philosophy.

Course requirements

Students must include subjects to the value of at least 144 points, including:

• at least eight and at most ten (six-point) subjects at level one;
• at least three (twelve-point) sequences, a sequence being a pair of subjects in the same discipline, at level one;
• not more than two level-one (six-point) subjects that do not form part of a level-one sequence;
• such additional subjects at levels two and three as are required to complete two major sequences or a major sequence and a minor sequence.

Major sequence

A major sequence (at least fifty-two points) in a discipline comprises three successive parts, being a level-one (twelve-point) sequence followed by level-two subjects totalling at least sixteen points followed by level-three subjects totalling at least twenty-four points.

Minor sequence

A minor sequence in a discipline comprises at least twenty-eight points including at least sixteen points from level two or levels two and three.

Sequences

Sequences in disciplines can be of two types:

1 subjects taught by the same department at levels one, two and three (in whichever combination of levels to satisfy a major or minor sequence requirement), or

2 deemed disciplines which apply where subjects only begin at levels two or three. The deemed discipline sequence in this case requires the completion of the prerequisite subjects (from another discipline) at the preceding level(s) (in whichever combination of levels to satisfy a major or minor sequence requirement).

Except at level one, students may study up to thirty points per semester. At level one, students may study up to twenty-four points per semester.

To enrol in level-two subjects, students must have already passed at least twelve points within one discipline at level one.

To enrol in level-three subjects, students must already have passed at least thirty-six points of subjects at level one.

Students whose first enrolment in the BSc is in 1998

For students enrolling in the BSc for the first time in 1998, the `Schedule of approved science subjects: BSc' is divided into three sections, parts A, B and C. To satisfy the requirements for the degree, students must take:

• at least forty-two points from part A;
• at least ninety-two points from part A if subjects are taken from part C;
• at least 104 points from part A if subjects are taken from outside the schedule.

If at levels two and three, subjects are chosen from part C, then all other level-two and level-three subjects must be from part A or C.

Normally students will take a level-one twelve-point sequence from subjects designated in part A of the schedule as laboratory subjects but if they do not, all level-one subjects must be taken from the schedule (parts A, B and C). No more than three pairs of subjects should be taken from subjects designated as laboratory subjects.

Contingent upon meeting the above requirements for subjects to be taken from parts A, B and C of the schedule, remaining subjects may be selected from non-scheduled subjects offered by the Faculty of Science, or from the subjects offered by the faculties of Arts, Business and Economics, Computing and Information Technology, Education or Law, subject to meeting any entry requirements of those faculties.

Students whose first enrolment in the BSc is prior to 1998

Subjects must be taken from the `Schedule of approved science subjects: BSc' as follows:

• at least thirty-six of the forty-eight points at level one from parts A, B and C;
• at least thirty-two points of the forty-eight points at level two from parts A, B and C;
• at least twenty-four points of the forty-eight points at level three from parts A, B and C.

The following additional requirements apply:

• with the exception of mathematics subjects, students taking only thirty-six points from the BSc schedule at level one may not take more than two subjects from the same discipline;
• students taking more than thirty-six points from the schedule at level one may enrol in three subjects from the same discipline except for computer science or geography and environmental science subjects (Students may not take more than twelve points of computer science or geography and environmental science subjects at level one.);
• at least one and no more than three pairs of subjects at level one must be taken from subjects designated as laboratory subjects in part A of the schedule;
• students may not count more than twenty-four points from geography and environmental science in the schedule at level two.