Institute of Land and Food Resources : Guide to courses

17. Bachelor of Forestry/Bachelor of Science

Table of Contents

 17. Bachelor of Forestry/Bachelor of Science

This combined degree takes five years of full-time study to complete and is offered at the Parkville and Creswick campuses. Students spend their first, fourth and fifth years at Parkville, and spend their second and third years at Creswick.

The course enables students to combine specialist forestry subjects with a wide range of science subjects including genetics, biochemistry, earth science, anatomy and cell biology.

 17.1. Course objectives

Students who complete this course should have acquired:

• an ability to demonstrate a broad knowledge of fundamental scientific precepts across a range of disciplines, with a higher level of achievement in one or more of the biological, chemical, earth, mathematical and physical sciences;

• an understanding of the structures of Australian forest industries and the principal factors that determine location, environmental impact, sustainability, profitability, and international cost-competitiveness;

• an ability to relate the scientific knowledge gained to the technical and vocational aspects of the students chosen discipline;

• an ability to organise knowledge and ideas systematically, discriminate among relevant data, and generalise safely;

• an ability to demonstrate skills in problem definition and solution, in decision making and in program design and implementation;

• an ability to design and conduct scientific enquiries, both on an individual basis and as part of a team through application of scientific method and hypothesis teaching;

• and ability to demonstrate initiative and the interpersonal skills necessary for the conduct of such inquiries;

• essential skills in the acquisition and interpretation of forestry data;

• an understanding of principles of sound practice in relation to health, safety, animal welfare, and the environment in forestry and forest industries;

• a capacity for the exchange, acquisition, and dissemination of scientific and industry information and technology transfer;

• an ability to demonstrate leadership skills and an ability to interact effectively with professional colleagues, individuals and the general community.

 17.2. Career opportunities

The combined degree offers career prospects in research or management in forestry or conservation related areas. Graduates can be employed in areas such as forest botany, wildlife ecology, biotechnology, computing and biometrics.

 17.3. Course outline

To be eligible to graduate students must obtain 500 credit points. A minimum of 237.5 Science points must be achieved. Typically students will spend second and third year of their degrees at Creswick, as in the structure below, but it is possible to spend second year at Parkville taking 100 Science points, then spend third and fourth year at Creswick.

Forestry points must include:

• 18 core and selected Institute and degree core subjects

• 16 weeks of compulsory work experience - 202-001 Work Experience

Science points must include:

• Between 75 and 125 science points at 100 level

• 50 science points at 300 level

Industry Research Projects for combined degree students will be projects with a significant science orientation, and will be supervised jointly by Faculty of Science and ILFR staff. The credit points fir this project will make up 25 points of the required 237.5 point. The other 25 points will be credited towards the ILFR content of the degrees.

A typical course combination would appear as follows:

First year
Semester 1		Points
	211-101 Conservation of Australian Forests	12.5
	600-141 Biology of Cells and Organisms	12.5
	610-141 Chemistry	12.5
	620-160 Experimental Design & Data Analysis	12.5
Semester 2
	209-101 Economics of Resource Use	12.5
	600-111 Biology of Australian Flora & Fauna	12.5
	600-142 Genetics & The Evolution of Life	12.5
	610-142 Chemistry	12.5
	Sub total	100.0

Second year
	202-106 Land Resources	12.5
	202-201 Plant Function	12.5
	202-203 Soil and Water Resources	12.5
	211-261 Wood Science	12.5
	211-262 Forest Mensuration and Surveying	12.5
	211-263 Forest Ecology	12.5
	211-264 Field Studies and Dendrology	12.5
	211-265 Forest Inventory and GIS	12.5
	Sub total	100.0

Third year
	211-321 Timber Management and Harvesting	12.5
	211-322 Forest Products	12.5
	211-323 Native Forest Silviculture	12.5
	211-324 Plantation Silviculture	12.5
	211-325 Field Studies II	12.5
	211-326 Forest Entomology and Pathology	12.5
	211-405 Fire Ecology and Management	12.5
Elective subject
	One forestry elective	12.5
	Sub total	100.0

Fourth and fifth years
	202-301 Industry/Research Project	50
	209-201 Resource Industry Economics I	12.5
Elective subjects
	137.5 (11 x 12.5 subjects) Science credit points
	(50 points at 300 level in a particular Science discipline)	137.5
	Sub total	200.0

Status:                   Official 2001
Last Modified:            Wednesday May 23 22:25
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Email Enquiries:          Course_Information@registrar.unimelb.edu.au