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Honours

What is Honours and why do it with us?

  • Honours is a program of study for the brightest and most capable Honours students. You develop advanced enquiry, project, and disciplinary skills by working with leading researchers on a problem that needs original answers.
  • The emphasis in Honours is research training with a “mix of advanced theory, professional training (where appropriate), research [skills] training, and a research project leading to a thesis” (AVCC 1995 ‘Fourth Year Honours Programs: Guidelines for Good Practice’).
  • Honours are Level 8 courses in the Australian Qualifications Framework.
  • Honours is considered an undergraduate course so funding, support and HECS arrangements are the same as undergraduate degrees.

What do our Honours programs look like?

  • Most Honours programs are ‘end-on’; that is, after you finish your undergraduate course you ‘add on’ another year of full time study dong your supervised research project. Usually you apply for the Honours course before you finish your final study session. Alternatively you have enrolled in a Bachelors + Honours program. Sometimes, the Honours program is completed as part of a four year degree. This often happens in professional qualification courses and is called ‘embedded’ Honours.
  • End-on Honours apply to science, nutrition, exercise science, biomedical and health science courses.
  • Integrated Honours apply to the Biomedical and Health Advanced course.
  • Embedded Honours apply only to the dietetics course: see the Bachelor Nutrition & Dietetics Course page..
  • Honours students can apply for short term scholarships in consultation with their supervisors: The Faculty Summer Research Scholarship, and the Faculty Honours Scholarship.

Why do Honours?

  • People who achieve Honours separate themselves out from the pack. Not only do you need to be smart and successful, you need to demonstrate the ability to learn new and complex skills in specialized areas where innovation is the focus. No more large group learning! In Honours you work closely with project supervisors who themselves are acclaimed scholars in your discipline. You work in labs or in the field with research and practice colleagues, who are new, emerging and established scholars in project related teams. You become part of the research community, participating in research meetings, seminars and get-togethers.
  • A major report prepared through the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (2009) identified that:

» most people do Honours to improve job opportunities and/or because of interest in the subject
» people who do Honours are more likely to complete a higher degree (eg PhD) than people who enter higher degrees without Honours
» most universities use Honours as the main entrance pathway to PhDs
» Honours gives students a “sense of identity and belonging to a discipline and its research culture (4.3, ALTC)

Why do Honours?

  • If you are amongst the best and brightest undergraduates, then you want to be in a high performing, high prestige environment.
  • The University of Wollongong is ranked 13 in the Times Higher Education Oceania University Rankings. It is ranked in the Top 300 Universities in the World. An Honours degree from UOW brings with it this global reputation.
  • Our researchers are recognized as national leaders with awards, fellowships, competitive and industry grants, publications, and high public profiles that will help you develop your research and professional profile as you work with them.
  • Whether you work in the lab or in the field, you are part of the research community. We meet regularly for research seminars: staff, PhD, visiting fellows and others present their research and discuss. Honours students have a monthly get together with the Honours program coordinator to catch up, exchange advice, or sometimes explore a focus topic like ‘career planning’.
  • Honours students receive project or research training support: with opportunities to attend interdisciplinary events throughout the year.
  • We provide world class laboratory and IT support facilities.

Research Training

You are on a training program that develops not only your research skills, but also your personal and professional approach to academic project completion!

  • Technical training through laboratory induction and/or fieldwork entry
  • Research project planning through supervised proposal development
  • Research ethics training through supervised preparation or implementation of Human Research Ethics Committee or Annual Research Ethics Committee applications
  • Project management, monitoring and completion
  • Academic writing and presentation
  • Regular multidisciplinary research presentations
  • Honours proposal and project presentations
  • Dissertation preparation and examination
  • Dissemination of research outcomes in collaboration with supervisors
  • Critical appraisal skills

Topics

How to decide:

  • There is information for current students, including links to ethics, rules, policies and the Faculty Honours page.
  • Come to the Autumn and Spring information sessions – date, time, location are sent to all students by announced by SOLS.
  • Talk to current and past Honours students – on campus or at the information session.
  • Talk to prospective supervisors.

How to enrol:

How to progress:

  • Participate in the Honours PASS program
  • Read the Honours Code of Practice
  • Go to Honours classes hosted by the Honours Coordinator
  • Check out the MEDI400 subject outline in the Calendar, and log into the MEDI400 eLearning site
  • Attend the Seminar program - dates as advised
  • Meet regularly with your supervisor, keep meeting notes, email agreed actions, monitor your own progress, get help early

How to complete:

Scholarship and Career Opportunities

A major report conducted through the Australian Learning and Teaching Council found that First Class Honours is the most common benchmark used by Universities to allocate PhD scholarships. But increasingly it is recognised that Honours standards can vary from institution to institution. The University of Wollongong, as a research intensive institution is recognized to have very high standards. So our Honours graduates are highly regarded and sought after for research positions and doctoral programs.

Scholarships & project support are available during and after your Honours program

  • Honours is HECS eligible: it is either add-on, intergraded or embedded. In all three you can use HECS support.
  • Specialist Honours scholarships: from time to time organizations may offer a scholarship targeted to Honours students, for example the NSW Dementia Care Honours scholarship.
  • Higher-degree research scholarships: on completion of your Honours degree, you are eligible to apply for admission to PhD programs at universities in Australia and abroad. Many of these offer fee-free scholarships and/or bursaries to cover living expenses. In Australia the most common one is the Australian Postgraduate Award (APA). From time to time industry specific scholarships can be offered.
  • Other financial support: You are eligible to participate in the Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health student programs such as SHARP, and university programs such as PASS tutor employment, and S4S.

Career opportunities

Honours qualifications open up further research training pathways to PhD.

Alternatively, your Honours course develops high level generic skills much prized in the knowledge economy and professional work environment:

  • project management skills
  • data collection, analysis, interpretation, storage
  • writing skills
  • working in high performing teams
  • working in complex environments
  • discipline specific technical skills
  • presentation skills
  • undertaking of policy and regulatory requirements
  • problem solving and communication skills

These skills give you the edge in a competitive work environment or in competitive entry to postgraduate coursework programs in professional areas.