Twenty new courses to begin at UNE next year

September 05, 2007

From the stage to the operating theatre, students at the University of New England will have plenty of options to choose from next year. The University is introducing 20 new courses to begin in Semester One 2008.

Keeping pace with workplace changes is no easy task, but UNE is confident that the 20 new courses being introduced in 2008 will address the ever-changing needs of employers.

The 20 new courses cover a broad range of topics: from theatre studies, music, psychology, and world religions to medicine, criminology, accounting, and marine science and management. For information on all of them, go to:
http://www.une.edu.au/for/future-students/newcourses.php.

While some of the new courses to be offered have previously been components of other degree programs, the Bachelor of Medicine degree is new to UNE, being offered for the first time in 2008 as part of the Joint Medical Program with the University of Newcastle and Hunter New England Health Service.

The curriculum, which will be taught through UNE’s School of Rural Medicine, comes from the University of Newcastle’s highly respected medical course and capitalises on UNE’s strong rural standing and expertise in delivering nursing, health and science programs.

"The Joint Medical Program’s Bachelor of Medicine curriculum prepares students for work in urban and regional areas and incorporates a focus on rural health and rural medicine," said the School of Rural Medicine's Associate Professor John Nevin. "While graduates will have all the traditional training necessary to work in urban areas, they will have a broader-based medical degree focusing on rural health issues – including Aboriginal health."

"Doctors in rural areas require a high level of skill across a broad range of areas," Dr Nevin explained.

Also being offered for the first time next year is a Bachelor of Psychological Science degree: a three-year undergraduate program that – unlike the Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) program – is not integrated with a fourth (Honours) year.

"The expectation is that those students who are unable to maintain the High Distinction and Distinction grades required for the Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) program will qualify for the three-year Bachelor of Psychological Science degree and then enter the workforce," said Professor Bill Noble, Transitional Head of UNE's School of Behavioural, Cognitive and Social Sciences. "Various careers in human resources, management, health, and social work require psychological training, but not the four-year degree (plus a further two years either in a Master's degree program or as a working intern psychologist) required of a registered psychologist."

Posted by Jim Scanlan at September 5, 2007 05:19 PM