Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences : Guide to courses

13. Honours in Psychology

Table of Contents

 13. Honours in Psychology

The Department of Psychology (School of Behavioural Science) offers a new and innovative fourth year program for introduction in 1999. This program has been designed to incorporate students' needs for flexibility and choice in coursework areas, in addition to the research component.

Staff supervising and teaching the fourth year program have national and international recognition in research in their areas of specialisation and bring to the course the breadth and depth of that experience.

To be able to practise as a psychologist in Victoria, applicants need to register with the Psychologists Registration Board of Victoria. To be eligible for registration you are required to complete a degree with an accredited four-year sequence in psychology, followed by either a two year full-time coursework Masters degree or two years supervised training. In order to be eligible for registration as a probationary psychologist, the first step to becoming a psychologist, it is necessary to complete a fourth year in Psychology. The Department of Psychology offers two fourth year programs, both accredited by the Australian Psychological Society:

• Psychology Honours

• Postgraduate Diploma in Psychology (please contact the Department of Psychology for further information regarding this course).

Psychology Honours is available through the Bachelor of Arts (Hons) with the Faculty of Arts or Bachelor of Science (Hons) with the Faculty of Science, or through a number of combined degree Honours programs.

 13.1. Course objectives

The objectives of Psychology Honours are to provide students with opportunities to develop:

• an understanding of a representative range of substantive areas in psychology;

• an ability to read and contribute to relevant research in at least one area of psychology;

• some understanding of the practice and ethics of psychology in professional settings.

 13.2. Admission requirements

Entry into the Psychology Honours degree must be approved by the Department of Psychology and the Faculty concerned.

To be admitted to candidature for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Psychology and Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Psychology, a candidate must have:

• Completed all the requirements for a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science or equivalent qualification recognised by the Faculties.

  Please refer to the Faculty of Arts Eligibility section and Faculty of Science Faculty Requirements for the Bachelor of Science Honours Program for further selection criteria.

• Completed an accredited Australian Psychological Society three year major sequence in Psychology, with at least a grade of H2B (70%) in subject 512-301 Psychology 3A.

  Please note that selection into Psychology Honours will be different for the years 2000 and 2001.

  • Year 2000 (transitional students) - a candidate must have at least an overall grade of H2B (70%) calculated as follows:

    (a) 25% from Research Methods 3; and

    (b) 75% from an average obtained from Applied Psychology 3 and two elective subjects (if students choose to enrol in more than the required minimum of two elective subjects, all other elective subjects will be included in the average, with the lowest result being excluded).

  • Year 2001 - a candidate must have at least an overall grade of H2B (70%) calculated as follows:

    (a) 33.33% from an average of all Level 2 psychology subjects;

    (b) 22.22% from Research Methods 3; and

    (c) 44.44% from an average of Applied Psychology 3 and one elective subject (if students choose to enrol in more than the required minimum of one elective subject, all other elective subjects will be included in the average, with the lowest result being excluded).

Due to constraints on supervisory resources, an entry quota will be applied to Psychology Honours.

 13.3. Course structure

The new course structure below is yet to receive final approval, however, changes to the proposed structure are not anticipated.

Psychology Honours
Compulsory subjects:		Points
	512-420 Research Project	50
	512-421 Assessment and Professional Skills	12.5
	512-422 Advanced Design and Data Analysis	12.5
One subject chosen from the following electives:
	512-410 Special Topics in Psychology A	12.5
	512-411 Special Topics in Psychology B	12.5
One subject chosen from the following electives:
	512-430 Human Psychophysiology 4	12.5
	512-440 Vision and Action 4	12.5
	512-450 Brain, Cognition and Behaviour 4	12.5
	512-460 Personality and Social Psychology 4	12.5
	512-470 Cognitive and Neurological Development 4	12.5
	512-480 Personal and Social Development 4	12.5
	512-490 Cognitive Science 4	12.5
Total Points		100

 13.4. Pass criteria

Arts students are required to achieve an honours grade (i.e. H1, H2A, H2B or H3) for each component of assessment in fourth year and an overall final examination grade of at least H2B (70% or better) in order to meet the requirements of the BA (Honours) degree.

Science students will be required to obtain results of H3 (65% or better) in each of the research and coursework components in fourth year in order to pass the BSc (Honours) degree.

Please refer to the Arts or Science sections of this Handbook for more general details on the Honours courses.

Status:                   Official 1999
Last Modified:            Tuesday October 20 11:52
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Authorised by:            Academic Registrar
Email Enquiries:          Course_Information@registrar.unimelb.edu.au