Bachelor of Arts in Sociology

at Western Sydney University - Penrith Campus (Kingswood) Australia

You’re curious, enjoy telling stories, and you want to use media to share ideas about the things that get people talking.

Our Communication degree will give you the professional skills and knowledge to build the ‘go anywhere, do anything’ career you want. Major in Journalism, Advertising, Public Relations or Screen Media and develop job-ready skills in communication, digital media, media production, research, and innovation.

Advertising

The Advertising major gives students a thorough grounding in general principles of communication as well as practical skills in advertising. The major offers a balance of advertising theory and practice and focuses on real, project-based outcomes.

Areas of study include advertising strategy, advertising creative and art direction, client and account management, digital and social media contexts, advertising campaigns.

If you want to explore how the mind works, question why people behave the way they do and help others lead their best lives, this degree is the ideal choice. Western’s Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) will pave the way for a range of career options, including further study required to become a psychologist.

Psychology at Western combines evidence-based biological, cognitive, neurological, social, developmental, and personality theory with statistical expertise and practical experience.This program is strongly vocational, equipping you with the specialist psychological and research skills you will need to discover more about human behaviour and answer questions about things we don’t yet understand.

As part of your four-year degree, you will be taught by some of the most respected experts in the field and gain the opportunity to undertake local and international work placements.Additional study is needed to become a practising psychologist. This program gives you a thorough grounding in psychology and the academic degrees to take your ambition to the next level.

The specialist knowledge of engineering technologists is a key element in the practice of engineering. The engineering technologist’s focused learning and practical skills are highly utilised in industry and make a significant contribution to Australian engineering success and prosperity.

The Western Sydney region has experienced strong growth and the engineering industry requires engineering technologists in a range of specialisations to support industry.

Civil 

Civil engineering covers the fields of structural design, geotechnical engineering and water engineering, together with infrastructure design and environmental engineering. Graduates may pursue career paths in the fields of design, construction and management of engineering structures and be associated with private industry, government departments, or in city, municipal or shire councils. These career paths may include engineering projects related to residential and commercial buildings, highways and airports, water supply and sewerage schemes.

Graduate destinations include:
Civil Engineering Technologist, Structural Engineering Technologist, Geotechnical Engineering Technologist, Site Engineering Technologist, Water Engineering Technologist, Maintenance Engineering Technologist.

Many future challenges exist at the nexus of environment, infrastructure and technology. Solutions to these will demand innovative engineering combined with applied science and business acumen. Engineers with a head for business will find many opportunities to leverage their highly developed analytical skills towards a host of technical and commercial challenges.

How 4 plus 3 makes 5
This outstanding double degree program combines a 4 year Bachelor of Engineering (honours) degree with the 3 year Bachelor of Business degree to yield a course of study that takes only 5 years to complete (in Full-time mode).The Engineering component of this program is offered at the Penrith and Parramatta City campuses, and the Business component is offered at the Parramatta City campus.

At Western Sydney University, we prepare our students to take on big challenges and succeed. The combined Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) / Bachelor of Business degree covers all major engineering and business domains. You can also experience many facets of engineering before deciding upon your major at the end of your first year.

Construction

Construction Engineering consists of core subjects in structural engineering, project management and construction technologies. Graduates will work in the fields of construction, structural design, and project management. Career opportunities include those in the private or public sector on projects covering highways, airports, and residential & commercial buildings.

Our Computer Science (Advanced) program is an elite degree aimed at transforming today’s brightest minds into tomorrow’s computing leaders.

Systems Programming

This major is only available to students enrolled in the Bachelor of Computer Science and Bachelor of Computer Science Advanced.

This major aims to develop graduates with sound skills in the discipline of programming. The focus is on programming at the level of system calls to the underlying operating system and many of the units use the industry standard language for systems programming, namely C/C++, as the vehicle of instruction.

There is a strong emphasis on the development of highly efficient and reliable code that can provide support services for higher level application oriented programs, as well as the development of programs suitable for systems administration and management.

Practical work utilises the Unix environment. This major is appropriate where a career in systems programming or systems administration is planned, or where the student wishes to develop advanced systems programming skills.
Students must maintain a grade point average of 5 or above to remain in the program. Those who do not maintain this average will be transferred to the Bachelor of Computer Science.

This double degree program is designed for students whose interests span the Arts and Social Sciences.

It will give you the skills and versatility to work across a range of academic and professional disciplines, including the opportunity to develop global perspectives and communication skills.

You need to include a Social Science Major, so you can design your own academic program within the Bachelor of Social Science program structure.

Anthropology

Social Anthropology is the study of humans and the cultures they create.

The major in Anthropology within the Bachelor of Social Science offers students the opportunity to examine social patterns and practices across cultures, to discover similarities and differences between cultures, and to understand the processes by which humans organise and create meaning.

Areas of focus include the development of anthropology as a discipline; globalisation and culture; power and politics; gender and sexuality; identity and belonging; ethnography and ethnographic methods; indigenous peoples and nation states. Specific attention is given to cultures of Australasia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific, and to cross cultural interactions, at both global and local levels.

The major seeks to equip students with multi-cultural knowledge as well as to provide a thorough grounding in research methods and ethics with utility in a variety of professional and academic contexts.

This program is ideal for anyone interested in a practical and professional degree within the building industry.

This program is a shortened version of the full Bachelor of Construction Management four-year program. It allows students to obtain a Bachelor degree in three years and enter the industry quicker.

This program offers theoretical, practical, and hands-on experience, with four concentrated areas on construction technology; construction economics; construction law; and construction project management. You are able to obtain a Minor in construction economics, if desired.

Although there is no compulsory work experience requirement for this program, you are still encouraged to gain work experience through cadetships in the building industry in areas including project home building, building surveying and residential development.

With a Bachelor of Social Science from Western, you will have the ability to help shape the world we live in. This degree expands your knowledge through theory, research and practical application and offers you a deep understanding of our complex, culturally diverse and dynamic world. You will gain access to industry-based projects and placements, local and international work experience and build the practical skills that will get you ready to apply your knowledge to the workforce.

Heritage Tourism

In a highly mobile world (migration, tourism, media and communications, travel and transport) and in contemporary life where the preservation of historical and natural environments present as one of the major challenges facing all societies, heritage has become a touchstone for social and cultural identity, our understanding of modernity, peace and development, our senses of citizenship, custodianship and community. At the same time heritage places have become significant tourist destinations and so in a world of flows and networks, the heritage-tourism relationship is a critical one. In the 21st century it is impossible to disentangle the two.

This major introduces contemporary heritage issues and provides an in-depth understanding of tourism as a social phenomenon. It enables a critical examination of the relationship between heritage and tourism in number of settings within Australia (including Indigenous Australia) and internationally.

Graduates with a heritage and tourism major can contemplate careers within a diverse range of government, non-government organization and businesses that require understanding, insight and skills related to heritage and tourism.

The specialist knowledge of engineering technologists is a key element in the practice of engineering. The engineering technologist’s focused learning and practical skills are highly utilised in industry and make a significant contribution to Australian engineering success and prosperity.

The Western Sydney region has experienced strong growth and the engineering industry requires engineering technologists in a range of specialisations to support industry.

Advanced Manufacturing

Manufacturing is continuously transforming as it integrates automation, analytics, intelligence, digitisation, and Internet of Things (IoT) into physical operations. In this major, you integrate techniques and methods to improve the sustainability and efficiency of manufacturing taking advantage of digitisation tools. You tackle complex problems, propose innovative solutions, and apply critical thinking to industry problems considering social, ethical and environmental factors. 

Graduate destinations are varied and include:
Digital Product Design Engineer, Digital Process Engineer, Additive Manufacturing Engineer, Digital Twins Engineer, Systems Engineer, Automation Specialist, Robotics Specialists, Advanced Sensors Specialists, Industry 4.0 Transformation Specialist, IIoT Specialist. 

The Bachelor of Music at Western takes an eclectic, modern and inclusive approach to music repertoire, performance, sound design, songwriting, composition and musicology.

The Bachelor of Music offers you the chance to significantly focus and develop your practical skills and theoretical knowledge beyond the scope of the Bachelor of Music degree.The program offers high-level training in music, music performance, composition, sound technologies, music theory, musicology, arranging music and music analysis.

The program is offered in well-equipped studios, and in a lecture/workshop/ tutorial environment. Skills in music performance, composition and sound technologies are augmented by intellectual, theoretical and contextual studies. Hands-on involvement from music academics will support you as you build toward the production of a major project.