What you can expect from undergraduate study in Humanities and social sciences

Specialisations you can do

Includes areas such as Aesthetics, Arab studies, Archaeology, Archival studies, Biological anthropology, Child and family studies, Curatorial studies, Library and information science, Religion, Russian studies, Social welfare, Sociology, Spanish studies, amongst others.

What you're in for

If you are interested in the big picture, the timeless questions, really getting your head buzzing, then it’s hard to go past the humanities and social sciences.

This is the second largest of our fields of study after business and management. It is also one of the most complicated — lots of courses and specialisations within courses, different kinds of careers and many further study options. There are also some problems. Many humanities and social sciences departments and faculties have had a hard time. In comparison to the past, old disciplines like history, English and geography have shrunk in secondary schools and have therefore lost follow-on customers. Subjects like sociology, philosophy and political science are not offered by a lot of schools and sometimes have lower student numbers. Unlike other university faculties, most disciplines in the humanities and social sciences have not been able to raise money by selling their services, getting grants from big business or attracting overseas students (who tend to go into the more ‘applied’ or vocational studies). With shrinking amounts of money to spend, there has been much publicity about increasing student-staff ratios and declining library services — and libraries are the workshops of these disciplines. What is worse is that humanities and social sciences graduates can sometimes have a tough time getting jobs (see below). There are some specialisations in this field that offer clear career paths (e.g. counselling, library studies) but for grads of others, it takes a while for their skills and knowledge to reap rewards. But this is only the scene immediately after graduation. Ten years down the track, some graduates are finding their way to positions where communication, critical thinking, research, and problem-solving skills are highly prized and, many claim, equip graduates for an evolving labour market. The humanities and social sciences that seemed a bit dull and useless may often have a value-added future.

If you want to have your cake and eat it too there are lots of double degrees available — for a meal ticket add law, education, engineering, business, or one of many others. You could also do as so many humanities graduates do and take a postgraduate certificate or diploma or masters degree to get that vocational edge. A clear career path might not present itself straight away, but a good degree in this field will open up a very wide range of occupations and workplaces. What’s more, these seem to be among the most appreciated and best-taught courses in the universities (for details, see below). They offer a thoroughly pleasant way of studying, usually only ten or so ‘contact’ hours a week, most of them non-compulsory. And if the courses vary greatly in their ideologies and teaching approaches, you’d expect that. Disciplines like politics and philosophy are, after all, among the oldest of all western forms of learning and with long histories come an equally long list of schools of thought.

If you’re thinking about choosing a course in this field, you need to consider the following: (1) Courses are available on just about every campus in the country but even courses with the same names differ a great deal from one campus to another (sometimes within the same university), so shop with care. (2) There is much choice within as well as between courses, so you don’t stop making decisions on enrolment day. (3) Once enrolled, there’s a lot of ‘spare’ time. It’s easy to forget what you’re there for. (4) The loss of contact with practical learning and responsibility doesn’t work for some students. (5) If you think you might do postgraduate research, the universities with established research track records are usually best.

Many courses offer part-time options, quite a few will accommodate distance education students. Most have either modest cut-offs or plenty of room for mature age and other special entrants. Other related fields that may be of interest include business and management, communications, economics, education and training, languages, law, psychology, and social work.

What’s happening?

Amid some educators’ concerns that the more vocational ‘creative industries’ will impact on enrolment and course numbers in the humanities and social sciences, measures are being taken to emphasise the value of the general degree and its traditional disciplines. Recent efforts by the Australian Government to emphasise history in secondary schools may have an influence on humanities and social sciences in universities in the future. A study is also being conducted by the Deans of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities to outline the contemporary role and long-term value of the BA for graduates.

In addition, a university model similar to some overseas systems is in the process of being introduced in Australia. It involves a generalist undergraduate system (including, of course, humanities and social sciences), followed by more specific professional graduate programs.

On average, how tough is it to get into Humanities and social sciences courses?

Very Easy

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Average

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Tough

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Who does undergraduate courses in Humanities and social sciences?

Number of students	87,310
Percent of students over 25 years	28%
Percent of students from non-English speaking backgrounds	16%
Number of international students	5,110
Percent studying part time	27%
Percent studying externally	16%
Percent women	69%

Tuition costs

Average tuition fees for international students $46,101 per annum
Average tuition fees for domestic fee-paying students $37,553 per annum

Graduates views of the course experience

Teaching quality
Development of generic skills
Overall satisfaction

Your prospects

These courses always score very well in the national survey of overall satisfaction of university graduates. Graduates are usually pleased with the teaching, their university workload and assessments, but their employment and salary records are less impressive. Career pathways may include postgraduate study, with nearly 50 per cent of graduates going on to further study. Many government and major corporations offer programs for graduates of humanities and social sciences. In 2006, there was a 28 per cent graduate unemployment rate. For those who did enter the labour market, the average starting salary (at nearly $39 000) was still below average.

What salary can I expect?

Graduate starting salary	$38,945

Will I get a job?

Percentage of graduates looking for job who did not find full time work four months after graduation	28%

Where graduates go when they do get jobs:

Public sector	39%
Private sector	37%
Private practice	9%
Overseas	7%

Will I need to go on to further study?

How many graduates immediately go on to further study?	45%

How does Humanities and social sciences compare with other fields of study?

Click here to compare Humanities and social sciences with the other 29 fields of study.

How difficult is it to get into undergraduate courses in Humanities and social sciences?

Click here for entry toughness to non-combined courses.

Do institutions differ in how they teach Humanities and social sciences?

Yes. The following 125 campuses all provide Humanities and social sciences courses. Click on the campus name to find out more about the individual campuses. Click on the University name to see how their Humanities and social sciences courses rate and compare.

Adelaide Central School of Art CRICOS Provider ID: 01126M Norwood Australian Catholic University CRICOS Provider IDs: 00885B, 00873F, 00004G, 00112C Ballarat Brisbane Canberra Melbourne North Sydney Strathfield Australian College of Applied Psychology CRICOS Provider IDs: 01328A(NSW), 0256B(QLD) Brisbane Melbourne Sydney Australian Defence Force Academy CRICOS Provider ID: 00100G Australian Defence Force Academy Australian National University CRICOS Provider ID: 00120C Main Avondale College CRICOS Provider ID: 00618K Lake Macquarie Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education Alice Springs Batchelor Bond University CRICOS Provider ID: 00017B Gold Coast Campion College, Australia CRICOS Provider ID: 02738G Main Central Queensland University CRICOS Provider IDs: 00219C (QLD), 01315F (NSW), 01624D (VIC) Bundaberg Gladstone Mackay Rockhampton Charles Darwin University CRICOS Provider ID: 00300K Casuarina Charles Sturt University CRICOS Provider IDs: 00005F, 025973E Albury Canberra Distance education Wagga Wagga Christian Heritage College CRICOS Provider ID: 01016F Main Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider IDs: 00301J, 02637B (NSW) Bentley Esperance Geraldton Universities Centre Kalgoorlie Karratha Margaret River Port Hedland Deakin University CRICOS Provider ID: 00113B Geelong Melbourne Warrnambool Edith Cowan University CRICOS Provider ID: 00279B Joondalup Mt Lawley South West Flinders University CRICOS Provider ID: 00114A Bedford Park Griffith University CRICOS Provider ID: 00233E Gold Coast Logan Nathan/Mt Gravatt James Cook University CRICOS Provider ID: 00117J Cairns Mackay Townsville Jansen Newman Institute of Counselling and Applied Psychotherapy St Leonards Kranz International College Adelaide La Trobe University CRICOS Provider ID: 00115M Albury-Wodonga Bendigo Melbourne (Bundoora) Mildura Shepparton Macquarie University CRICOS Provider ID: 00002J North Ryde Monash University CRICOS Provider ID: 00008C Caulfield Clayton Gippsland Malaysia Peninsula South Africa Murdoch University CRICOS Provider ID: 00125J Murdoch Rockingham

Open Universities Australia Open Universities Australia Queensland University of Technology CRICOS Provider ID: 00213J Caboolture Carseldine Gardens Point Kelvin Grove RMIT University CRICOS Provider ID: 00122A City Southern Cross University CRICOS Provider ID: 01241G Coffs Harbour Lismore Tweed Gold Coast Southern School of Natural Therapies Fitzroy Swinburne University of Technology CRICOS Provider ID: 00111D Hawthorn Lilydale Tabor College CRICOS Provider IDs: 00946E, 01039K, 01294M, 01686A Adelaide Melbourne Sydney Tasmania University of Adelaide CRICOS Provider ID: 00123M North Terrace University of Ballarat CRICOS Provider ID: 00103D Mt Helen University of Canberra CRICOS Provider ID: 00212K Canberra University of Melbourne CRICOS Provider ID: 00116K Parkville University of New England CRICOS Provider ID: 00003G Armidale University of New South Wales CRICOS Provider ID: 00098G College of Fine Arts Kensington University of Newcastle CRICOS Provider ID: 00109J Callaghan Ourimbah University of Notre Dame, Australia CRICOS Provider IDs: 01032F, 02651D Fremantle Sydney University of Queensland CRICOS Provider ID: 00025B Gatton Ipswich St Lucia University of South Australia CRICOS Provider ID: 00121B City West Magill University of Southern Queensland CRICOS Provider IDs: 00244B, 02225M Fraser Coast Toowoomba University of Sydney CRICOS Provider ID: 00026A Camperdown/Darlington Mallett Street St James University of Tasmania CRICOS Provider ID: 00586B Cradle Coast Hobart Launceston University of Technology, Sydney CRICOS Provider ID: 00099F City Kuring-gai University of the Sunshine Coast CRICOS Provider ID: 01595D Noosa Centre Sunshine Coast University of Western Australia CRICOS Provider ID: 00126G Albany Crawley University of Western Sydney CRICOS Provider ID: 00917K Bankstown Campbelltown Parramatta Penrith University of Wollongong CRICOS Provider ID: 00102E Batemans Bay Education Centre Bega Education Centre Moss Vale Education Centre Shoalhaven Wollongong Victoria University CRICOS Provider ID: 00124K Footscray Park St Albans Wesley Institute CRICOS Provider ID: 02664K Wesley Institute