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About the School

 

Assoc. Prof Jeff Archer, Head of School  

Students find study in the School of Social Science exciting and rewarding. Our courses provide students with the opportunity for broader and deeper understanding of the world in which we live. The School encourages innovative and student-centred learning, aided by enthusiastic, committed and expert academic staff. Students get to know and work closely with academics in ways now rare in other Australian universities.

Our students are not part of an anonymous mass, but individuals whose education is our primary concern. Our outstanding results in the annual national survey of university graduates over many years show how much our students have appreciated studying with us. The School contributes to students’ future lives by developing general skills and abilities in all its areas of study.

We provide students with:

  • Research Skills: learn how to discover, explore and verify relevant data.
  • Analytical Skills: understand and assess information and formulate interpretations.
  • Exposition Skills: present your ideas and your findings verbally and in writing.

These are skills necessary for higher-level careers requiring creativity, clear thinking and effective communication. It is easy to see why our graduates are valued by a wide range of employers.

Undergraduate teaching includes units in a wide range of the University's awards - most prominently in the Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Social Sciences, but also in many other awards in Arts and other faculties. The School offers or contributes substantially to postgraduate awards in Asian Studies, Public Policy, Criminology, Defence Studies, Humanities, Social Sciences, MBA, as well as the Master of International Studies (in collaboration with the University of Sydney).

This School was established at the beginning of 1998 with the merging of the former Departments of Philosophy, Political Science, Sociology and the Asian Societies staff of the Department of Asian Languages and Societies. In 2000 the School was reorganised into 3 disciplines: Philosophy, Sociology, and Political and International Studies (including staff formerly in Asian Societies, International Relations and Political Science). The School has an active research culture, demonstrated in high levels of publications and considerable success in winning competitive research grants. The areas of research excellence and productivity are too extensive to list, as they cover a very wide range of the key areas of research in the School's several disciplines.

Members of the School are involved in consultancies in areas such as development projects in Asia, Australian local government and teaching in Hong Kong. Others hold leading positions in academic professional bodies, edit or sit on editorial boards of scholarly journals, or are active in organising scholarly conferences. The School contributes greatly to community service in many areas, such as regular participation in activities of community groups, presentations in mass media, advice on HSC curricula and leadership in the local area health service. Members of the School have also been prominent in contributions to University service, holding leadership positions in Faculty and University bodies.