Faculty of Arts undergraduate handbook

I extend a warm welcome to commencing and continuing students in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Sydney. As a student in the faculty you are embarking on one of the most enriching experiences of your life. The faculty strives to offer teaching, learning and scholarship which bring to each student skills and knowledge relevant for your future employment, at the same time as being intellectually, socially and culturally rewarding.

Our society needs people skilled in critical analysis, people with the insight, creativity and imagination to transform information into something meaningful. We need people with the capacity to communicate knowledge to others in accessible and informed ways. Increasingly these are the skills that employers are seeking in all their workers and these are precisely the talents you will develop in undertaking your studies in the Faculty of Arts. In this diverse and stimulating intellectual climate you will have the opportunity to explore many fields in the humanities and social sciences, developing new ideas and ways of seeing the world.

Of course an Arts degree does not fit you for a specific job; rather it lays the foundation for success in many spheres. You should see your studies here as part of a larger package, where you will need to combine your generalist degree with either a vocational program (through our combined degrees), a specialised postgraduate coursework degree or on-the-job training provided by an employer (and sometimes a combination of these). What the Faculty prides itself on is the excellence of the generalist foundation it provides. Graduates from this Faculty have forged stimulating and important careers in many fields, such as the professions, the media, government, business, industry, commerce, community organisations and the arts.

An education in the humanities and social sciences, however, is more than just a means of fitting you for the demands of a career. By introducing you to the riches of the humanities, the social sciences, languages, music and the arts, the Faculty seeks to develop new horizons for all its students, to help them achieve their potential as productive, fulfilled, creative, imaginative, tolerant and useful citizens. We believe that what you learn here will stand you in good stead for the rest of your lives, not just your working lives.

You are joining a body of about 7111 students, almost 5781 of whom are undergraduates, with an academic staff of about 287 and 88 administrative staff. Students come from a diversity of backgrounds: Australian and overseas born, of English and non-English speaking backgrounds, domestic and international students, students of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander background, recent school leavers and older students who may have begun or completed other forms of vocational or higher education, with a range of employment experiences, all creating a richness in the student population which contributes to the scholarly debates in formal tutorials and seminars and in your informal discussions.

You will be assisted in all of your learning by the excellent resources of the University Library, by the Multimedia and Edu- cational Technologies in Arts (META) Centre, linking print-based scholarship with other forms of computer-based learning, essential for the acquisition of knowledge and mastery of the new technologies in the contemporary world and the contemporary labour force.

As a new student, how can you find your way around this large and widely dispersed Faculty? The Arts Faculty Office with its central administrative functions is located on the western side of the University quadrangle. The Faculty Office will link you to the central University and more particularly serve as an information centre for the various departments, interdepartmental programs and schools listed in this handbook, where lectures and tutorials and numerous informal meetings, academic and social, take place. To find your way, both in the geographic and the scholarly sense, chairs of departments, heads of schools and other academic staff, as well as school administrative staff are a mine of information. Staff in the Faculty Office are equally ready to assist you. The University Counselling Service is also available to help you with any difficulties which might arise in coping with the demands of university life.

I encourage you to consider spending time overseas as part of your degree. We have a wide range of exchange agreements with overseas institutions which allow you to study abroad while enrolled here. This is an opportunity to broaden your horizons even further. Studying Arts, either as your main degree from which you enter your career, or as foundation for other professional degrees, or studying one of the more specialised three and four-year degrees taught in the Faculty, offers a unique opportunity to participate in and contribute to the generation of knowledge in the humanities and social sciences and to shape Australia's future.

Professor Stephen Garton
Dean of Arts