Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences : Guide to courses 13. Honours in psychology

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13. Honours in psychology
    13.1. Course objectives
    13.2. Admission requirements
    13.3. Course structure
    13.4. Pass criteria
    13.5. Mid-year entry
    13.6. Study abroad or exchange program

13. Honours in psychology

The Department of Psychology offers an innovative fourth year program that has been designed to provide students with flexibility and choice in coursework areas, as well as a significant 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, it is necessary to register with the Psychologists Registration Board of Victoria. To be eligible for registration, applicants are required to complete a degree with an accredited four-year sequence in psychology, followed by either two additional years of full-time postgraduate training or supervised experience. Part-time studies in postgraduate courses is also available via the School. 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 objective of the fourth-year program is to help students acquire the knowledge, skills, and scholarship necessary for achieving excellence in psychology. More specifically, the fourth-year program is designed to provide students with the opportunities to learn the intellectual background, ethical principles, and content areas of psychology as a scientific discipline, and to acquire the general skills for:

• critically analysing the existing knowledge about a research topic prior to one's own research (eg. sophisticated conceptual analysis of relevant content area/literature/intervention program etc., critical appraisal of one's own and others' research, generation of productive research questions);

• constructing a research plan (eg. research design, methods of observation) to address one's research question;

• executing one's research plan adequately to obtain data;

• analysing the data so as to address the research questions appropriately; and

• discussing the implications of the results coherently within the context of the existing knowledge relevant to the research topic.

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 qualifications recognised by the faculties;

  (Please refer to the Faculty of Arts Eligibility section and Faculty of Science Faculty requirements for the Bachelor of Science (Degree with Honours) program for further selection criteria.)

  and

• completed an Australian Psychological Society (APS) accredited three-year major sequence in psychology

Entry to the Postgraduate Diploma in Psychology is open to graduates with an ordinary Bachelors degree or equivalent qualifications that includes an APS accredited three-year sequence in psychology (or equivalent). Successful applicants must satisfy the Department's selection criteria.

Departmental Selection Criteria

A numerical index is computed for each applicant using a combination of second- and third-level subjects. The index is a weighted average of all third-level subjects and all second-level psychology subjects. All results are converted to the University of Melbourne scale (H1=80+, H2A=75-79, etc.). Third-level marks are weighted by their credit-point value, and second-level psychology subjects are weighted by one third of their credit-point value. (For University of Melbourne students, second-level psychology subjects usually contribute around 20 per cent of the final index.)

In the event of students completing a psychology major as part of a combined degree, the selection committee exercises judgement in the use of non-psychology third-level subjects.

For students completing a major as part of the Graduate Diploma in Psychology or other second degree (eg. BLitt), the numerical score is constructed in the manner described, but using only those non-psychology subjects (if any) completed in the second degree.

Students are ranked for selection according to the index and the highest ranked students falling within the agreed quota are recommended to the faculties for selection. It should be noted that students are only considered for selection if the credit-point weighted average of all second- and third-level psychology subjects is at least 70 per cent (when converted to the University of Melbourne scale).

13.3. Course structure

Students must complete all the compulsory subjects and two elective subjects.

13.4. Pass criteria

Arts students are required to achieve an honours grade (ie. H1, H2A, H2B or H3) for each component of assessment in fourth year and an overall grade of at least H3 (65 per cent) 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 per cent) 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.

13.6. Study abroad or exchange program

A research project at the fourth-year level can normally be undertaken by students who are studying for one or two semesters at the University of Melbourne as part of a Study Abroad or Exchange program. Students will have the opportunity to gain experience in aspects of conducting and reporting of independent empirical research. To undertake the research project, students must meet the following prerequisites:

• 512-320 Research Methods 3 or equivalent;

• a three-year sequence of undergraduate psychology studies equivalent to 100 points; and

• prior acceptance (ie. the student must arrange research supervision and negotiate a general topic - the supervisor must be an academic member of the Department of Psychology).

Study Abroad students have the option of enrolling in the research project as a subject comprising either:

• 12.5 points (requiring a project report of not more than 4000 words);

• 25 points (requiring a project report of not more than 7000 words);

• 37.5 points (requiring a thesis of not more than 9000 words); or

• 50 points (requiring a thesis of not more than 10 000 words).

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