Bachelor of Social Science in Peace and Development Studies

at Western Sydney University - Penrith Campus (Kingswood) Australia

With our interconnected degrees in Engineering, ICT and Industrial Design, you can pursue exciting opportunities in diverse areas and learn how to address humanity’s global goals and challenges. This program covers all major engineering domains, so you get to experience what they’re like before deciding on your major.

The future presents significant challenges for managing the environment, infrastructure and technology. The world needs innovative engineering, applied science and design strategies.

Get to experience areas like Civil, Construction, Electrical, Mechanical and Robotics and Mechatronics and then decide on your specialisation.

We all had that one teacher who made a difference in our life. Western prepares you to be that person. This degree offers a mix of theory and real-world experience, so you emerge as a highly sought-after secondary-school teacher.

At Western, we know the value a great teacher brings to the classroom as well as the challenges you’ll face. That’s why we’ve built our Master of Teaching (Secondary) around giving you practical tools to provide inspiration and direction to high-school students.

Offering a mix of on-campus theory and school-based placements, this program helps you turn your specialist undergraduate degree into an inspiring career path. The aim is to produce teachers with strong academic knowledge and skills, excellence in professional practice, commitment to equity and social justice, and dedication to personal and professional growth.

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.

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.

Robotics and Mechatronic

Robotics and Mechatronic engineering combines electrical, computing and mechanical engineering and is at the forefront in designing smart machines and systems, such as pilotless spacecraft, car cruise control, automated factories and medical telerobotics. Students explore intelligent mechanical systems and automation through an extensive and integrated hands-on laboratory program, as well as work-integrated industry projects. Students learn in-depth knowledge about the design and construction of these systems to integrate, evaluate and address their performance. The multidisciplinary skills students develop are sought after by leading edge industries, including aerospace and biomedical engineering.

Graduate destinations include:
Robotic and autonomous systems technologist, Autonomous equipment technologist, Electronics design technologist, Instrumentation technologist, Automation technologist, Control systems technologist.

If you’re creative, passionate and a problem solver, our enhanced Arts degree could be for you.

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.

Peace and Development Studies

The Peace and Development Studies major is concerned with inequalities of power and opportunity that lead to international and local conflict, uneven development, social dislocation and environmental degradation. This major examines the structural causes of racist and gendered violence, environmental crises, forced migration, poverty, resource conflict, and inter-generational inequity.

You will be introduced to theories and methods for identifying, measuring and resolving conflict and environmental degradation. Constructive solutions include empowerment and self-determination, sustainable living, peace building and conflict resolution strategies.

The major is organised around three fields of inquiry: structural inequality, social justice and human rights; development and sustainability; and peace and humanitarian responses/ actions.

During your studies, you will engage with social theory within an interdisciplinary and applied framework of important civic and global issues.

Western’s Bachelor of Construction Management (Honours) prepares you for an unlimited career in the building industry. Along with the full suite of theory and practical knowledge that enable to develop a broad-based view of how the construction industry operates, you will gain a strong understanding of construction technology; construction economics; construction law; and construction project management through this degree.

You could also opt to specialise either in ‘quantity surveying’ or ‘building surveying’ by undertaking relevant suite of electives under each specialisation pathways.

With the 1200 hours of industry based experience requirement before graduation, the program is offered with flexible and condensed timetables to enable you to undertake industry cadetships and other work-integrated learning activities.

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

Journalism

The Journalism major combines an understanding of how the news media work with practical experience in broadcast, print and online journalism.

Students develop journalism skills suitable for newspapers, magazines, internet, radio and TV, corporate and community media.

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.

 History and Political Thought

Since the revival of humanist thought in the Renaissance, universities have placed studies in history and political thought at the centre of exploring what it is to be human.

At the heart of the History and Political Thought major are four compulsory units, which introduce the student to the modern history of humanity (since 1500). Although Europe is very prominent in the major, you will be invited to compare its history to the histories of Asia, Africa and the Americas.

The major culminates in a capstone unit in students’ final semester, discussing historical theories and methods. A wide range of elective units covers European, American, Australian and Asian history and political thought, and includes thematic units which range widely over time and place.

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.

Criminology and Criminal Justice

This criminology major offers students the opportunity to study crime and criminal justice in a critical way that particularly stresses social and cultural definitions of criminality and the reactions to it.

Areas of focus include criminal justice institutions and practices; the development of criminology as a discipline and its various strands; forms and patterns of victimisation; crime prevention strategies and debates; aspects of juvenile justice; the evolution of prisons and different forms of punishment; law enforcement and surveillance; violence, gender and crime; cultural depictions of crime and contemporary debates in criminology.