Bachelor of Arts - Flinders University

Flinders University Adelaide • Australia 1
Welcome to the Bachelor of Arts at
Flinders University!
The BA is the most flexible of university degrees, allowing you
to choose from a wide range of topics and devise a study
program which suits your individual needs and interests. You
can specialise in up to two areas and acquire a breadth of
knowledge across a number of fields of study.
Virtually all the subject areas that seek to understand people
and the cultural, social and physical context in which they live
can be studied within a BA; these include the "humanities"
(such as languages and literature), the "social sciences" (for
example political and economic studies) or the "life sciences"
(e.g. biology and earth sciences).
To qualify for a BA you’ll complete up to two major sequences
("majors") of your choice, as well as a number of other topics
which interest you. A major involves taking topics from a
particular area of study in all three years of your course.
Completing more than one major does not increase your
workload; it simply means your study will be more focussed in
your chosen areas.
Majors offered by three of the university’s faculties (Education,
Humanities & Law; Science & Engineering; and Social and
Behavioural Sciences) can be taken within a BA but,
irrespective of which faculties teach the topics you choose, the
same degree structure and requirements will apply. It is
important to fully understand these requirements and plan
carefully to make the best of your opportunities.
This booklet is designed to help you make the right decisions.
Whatever your choice of sequences and topics, by the end of
your course you should have a well-grounded understanding of
significant aspects of human activity and have acquired a broad
range of general skills rated highly by employers: research;
problem solving; critical thinking; communication; and the ability
to work in teams.
For help sorting out your choices, workload or program, contact
the Bachelor of Arts Office. If you need advice about a specific
topic or sequence, contact the relevant school or department.
You’ll find a list of Directors of Studies – the main advisory
staff for all Flinders-based Arts sequences on page 10.
Program Advisers, who assist with enrolment issues, are
listed on page 11.
If you want help to develop the study skills the BA requires –
listening to lectures, writing essays, making presentations and
preparing for exams – we recommend the book Making the
Grade: A Guide to Successful Communication and Study
(Edition 4, 2012) by Hay I, Bochner, D, Blacket G and Dungey
C. You’ll find it in the library and the Unibooks store on campus.
Support also is available from the University’s Student Learning
Centre.
What is first year?
Throughout this booklet and in the University’s Course
Information Handbook 2013, the terms "first year", "second and
third years" refer to the three years of study normally
undertaken by a full-time BA student. Naturally, if you are a
part-time student you will actually take more than one year to
complete each of the three years.
In essence, "first year" means "first level" – but most people
think in terms of years, so we adopt that terminology.
Bachelor of Arts Office
Room 252, Social Sciences South
(adjacent to car park 4)
Fax: (08) 8201 3241
Email: baemail@flinders.edu.au
Website: www.flinders.edu.au/ba
Administrative Officers
Chris Hankel
Telephone (08) 8201 2519
Lauren Richards
Telephone (08) 8201 3925
Trish Wescombe
Enquiries
Telephone (08) 8201 2519 or (08) 8201 3925
Student Email
Students are strongly advised to check their university email on
a regular basis as this is often the preferred method of
communicating information from teaching staff. There are
computers available in both the Central University Library and
the Sturt Library as well as computer laboratories. This will
enable students to have access to their university email if they
do not have a home computer.
To access your Flinders email go to:
You can forward your Flinders email to another email account if
you prefer, using the functions built into the Live@Edu web
email system. If you are not going to check your Flinders email
account regularly, please ensure that you re-direct your Flinders
email to another email account that you do check regularly.
If you email a message to the BA Office always ensure that you
include your full name and student ID number.
More information about your Flinders email account and
Flinders University’s policies relating to the use of email are
available from the student email user guide:
http://www.flinders.edu.au/current-students/computing/studentemail/student-email_home.cfm