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 fourth year program which 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 two additional full-time years of postgraduate training or supervised experience. 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:

• honours in psychology

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

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

 13.1. Course objectives

The objectives of the psychology honours degree 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; and

• 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 Australian Psychological Society accredited three-year major sequence in psychology, based on the following requirements:

  Internal applicants who completed their psychology studies in 1998 or earlier, must have obtained at least a grade of H2B (70%) in subject 512-301 Psychology 3A.

  Internal applicants who completed their psychology studies in 1999, must have obtained at least an overall grade of H2B (70%) calculated as follows:

  • (a) Research Methods 3 result (25% weighting);

    (b) an average of results received for Applied Psychology 3 and two elective subjects (if students completed 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) (75% weighting).

  Internal applicants who complete their psychology studies in 2000 or later, must obtain at least an overall grade of H2B (70%) which is calculated as a weighted average of both second and third level subjects.

  All applicants are ranked in the Department according to the above selection criteria.

Due to constraints on supervisory resources, an entry quota will be applied to honours in psychology.

 13.3. Course structure

Compulsory subjects
	512-420 Research Project	50
	512-421 Assessment and Professional Skills	12.5
	512-422 Advanced Design and Data Analysis	12.5

Elective subjects
Group 1		Points
	512-410 Special Topics in Psychology A	12.5
	512-413 Current Topics in Social Psychology	12.5
	512-414 Current Topics in Cognitive Psychology	12.5
	512-415 Current Topics in Behavioural Neuro.	12.5
Group 2
	512-430 Human Psychophysiology 4	12.5
	512-435 Advanced Cognition 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

Students must complete two subjects from Group 1 OR one subject from Group 1 and one from Group 2 (not two from Group 2).

Students will not be permitted to select subjects from Group 2 if they have completed an equivalent subject in their previous studies.

 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 grade of at least H3 (65%) in order to meet the requirements of the BA (Honours) degree. The overall grade will be based on the weighted average of marks for each component of the fourth year studies.

Science students are required to achieve an overall weighted average of at least H3 (65%) for their fourth year studies in order to qualify for the BSc (Honours) degree.

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

 13.5. Mid-year entry

There is no mid-year entry into the psychology honours program.

Status:                   Official 2001
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Email Enquiries:          Course_Information@registrar.unimelb.edu.au