Courses and scholarships

To be eligible for the UOW Ramsay Scholarship, applicants: 

• must enrol in the Bachelor of Arts in Western Civilisation as a single degree or double degree***;
• must enrol and remain enrolled as a full-time student in a Bachelor of Arts in Western Civilisation;
• will normally be in Year 12; or have completed Year 12 within the past 12 months at the time of application;
• will normally be aged 17-21 when the scholarship commences;
• must be an Australian Citizen or Australian Permanent Resident.

Applying online

To apply for a UOW Ramsay Scholarship, applicants will have completed the Bachelor of Arts in Western Civilisation online application.

Applicants will then be required to complete the UOW Ramsay Scholarship online application.

As part of the scholarship process, you will:

• Submit a short 700-to-800-word essay in advance of your interview at the point of applying for a UOW-Ramsay Scholarship (This essay will not be marked but if you are invited to interview it will be discussed with your selection panel on the day)
• Submit a 1-page CV as part of your scholarship application.
• Participate in a short group activity on the day of interviews Saturday 27 September 2025 (The group activity will not be assessed, but you will be asked to reflect on it in your interview)
• Join a 15-minute individual interview with members of a panel (either Face to Face or Via Zoom. Interviews will be held Saturday 27 September 2025.

You do not need to prepare beyond submitting your application and essay.

Essay Task

Please respond to the following question in 700–800 words:

“Is it true that every topic should be up for discussion; that no proposition should be left unexamined?”

We’re interested in what you think about this question and the reasoning that stands behind your answer. You do not need to reference external sources unless you wish to.

The essay will not be marked, but it will be discussed in your interview, so please reflect carefully on what you’ve written.

Apply now

2026 Scholarship Round

Your interview will be 15 minutes long and will include:

• A brief discussion of your submitted essay
• A short reflection on the group activity and the exchange with a group partner (the activity itself is not formally assessed)
• A few questions about who you are - your background, values, career aspirations, experiences of leadership, engagement with ideas, and interest in the Western Civilisation Program

Our aim is simply to get to know you better - as a thinker, as a person, and as a potential member of our academic community. You do not need to prepare anything apart from submitting your essay.

Passionate, engaged, entrepreneurial, and responsible, UOW Ramsay Scholars are tolerant and collaborative contributors to their communities and workplaces. They are creative and critical thinkers who challenge and cross boundaries. They contribute effectively and independently to discussion and debate, while demonstrating self-awareness, a desire to empower others, and qualities such as empathy, humility and diplomacy. UOW Ramsay Scholars are the exemplar of UOW graduates: intellectually fearless and socially connected leaders.

** Additional financial support to help cover accommodation only may be provided to successful scholarship recipients who are from Regional, Rural or Remote Area or a state or territory other than New South Wales. Further information will be provided upon invitation for the scholarship interview. 

*** Students are eligible to apply to a double degree, however, funding is for a maximum of three (3) years only.

Applications open: Friday 8 August 2025
Applications close: Monday 8 September 2025, 11.59pm
Shortlisted applicants contacted:  Friday 19 September 2025
Interviews held: Saturday 27 September 2025
Offers: No later than Tuesday 7 October 2025

Q: What is distinctive about the Bachelor of Arts in Western Civilisation?

A: We have designed a curriculum that takes students on a chronologically ordered journey through great periods and epochs of intellectual and artistic change in the West and challenges them to think for themselves.

At each stage of their journey, students will engage directly – in depth and detail – with exemplary classic works and masterpieces of Western art and literature. By learning directly from these works, students will cultivate open, critical minds. Our ambition is to put students into a live conversation with the great minds of the past so they can understand what those minds have to say to us today.

Philosophical reflection and analysis are also at the heart of our program. By joining the great conversation, our students will grapple with concepts they may not otherwise question, such as ethics, aesthetics, philosophy of religion and political philosophy.

By becoming acquainted with foundational epistemological and metaphysical debates such as those between rationalists and empiricists, idealists and realists, students will confront questions about the nature of the self, truth and reason.

Q: What is the origin of Western Civilisation degrees?

A: Western civilisation degrees have a special provenance and proud history. The first of their kind, a degree called Contemporary Civilisation in the West, was created for Columbia College of Columbia University in 1919.

It was born out of an effort to restore public faith in Western Civilisation's powerful artistic, literary and philosophical heritage after German forces had tragically misused the "defence of western civilisation" as justification for atrocities committed during the Great War.

This liberal arts degree was designed to teach ‘student officers about the civilisation they had been tasked with defending’ during WWI. The course evolved into a peace studies degree and later became part of Columbia University’s core curriculum. It continues to be one of Columbia University’s most successful and valued programs of study to this day.

Q: What kind of student will study the degree?

A: Students who are intellectually curious and interested in asking questions about received views and assumptions.

Our liberal arts program takes inspiration from the American Philosopher, Robert Hutchins, and his idea of the great conversation. Hutchins wrote in 1952, “Nothing is to remain undiscussed. Everybody is to speak [their] mind. No proposition is to be left unexamined.”

Students will be confronted with questions about the very idea of Western civilisation and its influences on contemporary thought and practice. A major aim of the degree is for students to ask fundamental questions about what they are studying and to give reasons for the views they adopt.

Our ambition is to instil a spirit of open questioning in all of our students and to equip our students to reason about and evaluate possible answers to those difficult questions.

As with our other arts and humanities offerings, they will learn how to think, not what to think.

Q: Can students defer an offer?

A: Yes, students can defer an offer to study the degree however scholarship offers cannot be deferred.

Q: Can this degree be studied part-time?

A: Yes, the degree can be completed part-time however only full-time students are eligible to receive a scholarship.

Q: Can students undertake the Bachelor of Arts in Western Civilisation as part of a double degree program?

A: Yes, students are able to study the Bachelor of Arts in Western Civilisation as a double degree combination with the Bachelor of Laws, Bachelor of International Studies or Bachelor of Creative Arts.

Q: Where will graduates expect to find employment?

A: Graduates will be prepared for the future with invaluable transferrable skills. There is a demonstrated need for erudite graduates who can think and reason critically and creatively and who can communicate clearly. They will be well placed to be leaders in the knowledge economy, ready for careers in sectors including civil society, business and government, and ready to tackle the challenges facing Australia and the world.

Career opportunities