Bachelor of Liberal Studies (International)

There’s plenty of freedom of choice in what to study in a Bachelor of Liberal Studies (International) degree, but there are also a number of requirements that you will have to follow. These requirements are listed here and explained in detail below.

Let's go through what each of these requirements mean in turn.

What are credit points?

• Students doing a Bachelor of Liberal Studies (International) degree study in a range of subject areas. These include required Maths/Stats and Communication subjects, as well as other subject areas of their choice in Arts and Science (such as Philosophy, History, Biology, and Psychology).
• A semester-length component in a particular subject area is called a ‘unit of study’.
• Each unit of study is worth a certain number of ‘credit points’, depending on the level at which it is taught and the amount of work required. From 2006, most units of study will be worth 6 ‘credit points’ each.

How do I get 192 credit points?

• Most people studying full time take four years to complete a Bachelor of Liberal Studies (International) degree.
• Full-time students usually earn their 192 credit points by taking units of study worth a total of 48 credit points per year (usually 24 credit points per semester) over the four years of their degree, that is:
  48 credit points x 4 years = 192 credit points!

What are junior credit points?

• You start your degree by taking ‘junior’ units of study. They form a foundation for more advanced ‘intermediate’ and ‘senior’ units. Junior units of study are worth 3 or 6 junior credit points each, most commonly 6. They are sometimes referred to as 1000 level units because their unit of study codes all have the form 1XXX, e.g. JPNS1111, ASNS1001, GEOG1002, etc.

What junior units do I have to do to satisfy the requirements?

• For Requirement 2, the communication and analytical skills unit, you can choose:
  * ‘University English’ (ENGL1000) OR
  * ‘Language and Image’ (ENGL1005) OR
  * ‘Structure of Language' (LNGS1001)
• For Requirement 3, the Mathematics and Statistics unit, provided you have the appropriate assumed knowledge you can choose any junior unit from
  * Mathematical Statistics (STAT1XXX) OR
  * Mathematics (MATH1XXX).
• For Requirement 4, you can take 2 x 6 credit point junior units in any language other than English from Part A of the table of units of study.

What other junior units of study should I do in my first year?

• Most full-time students take units of study worth 48 junior credit points in their first year (generally 24 credit points in each semester). It is important to remember that 48 credit points is also the maximum number allowed in first year.
• To make up these 48 credit points in your first year, most students take four 6 credit point junior units in each semester. Of course, you need to include:
• the requirements listed above;
• any prerequisites you may need for your Arts ( Part A) and Science intermediate / senior requirements (see below). You’ll need to check the Faculty of Arts and Science Handbooks in print or online, the online Table of Units of Study or the Unit of Study Database , to find out if there are any prerequisites for intermediate / senior units in the subjects you plan to study.

Here is an example of how you might put together 48 junior credit points in your first year:

• The pattern of units you choose may differ from that given in the example above (e.g. if you are taking some 3 credit point junior units). If you’re aiming to complete your degree over four years, just remember to make sure your units of study add up to 48 credit points over the year, and that you have the correct core and prerequisite units.

Can I do more than 48 junior credit points?

• Yes, you can take up to 72 junior credit points in your Bachelor of Liberal Studies (International) degree. You can take the remaining 24 junior credit points in later years if you want to. But, it is okay if you choose to stay with just the 48 credit points that you’ve already got, and add extra ‘intermediate’ or ‘senior’ credit points instead.

Can I do less than 48 junior credit points?

• This will only be possible if the Arts and Science majors you plan to take do not have any specific junior prerequisites. But … for two reasons, it’s not a good idea to skimp on junior credit points!!
• Firstly, remember that junior credit points form a foundation for further study. In some cases this is a necessary foundation for more advanced study in a particular subject area. In all cases, junior units provide an opportunity to work at developing the skills and ways of thinking that you will need for more advanced learning at the tertiary level.
• Secondly, junior units of study offer you the chance to sample a range of subject areas and gain a variety of learning experiences, even in subjects that you may not go on to specialize in.

What are senior and intermediate credit points?

• 'Senior’ and ‘intermediate’ units of study build on the foundation of learning established by junior units of study in a particular subject area.
• In the Faculty of Arts, units of study are classified simply as either ‘junior’ or ‘senior’. From 2006, senior units in the Faculty of Arts are worth 6 senior credit points each. Senior units in Arts are sometimes called 2000 and 3000 level units because their unit of study codes all have the form 2XXX or 3XXX, e.g. INMS2601, LNGS2605, ARBC3601, etc.
• In the Faculty of Science, units of study are classified as ‘junior’, ‘intermediate’, or ‘senior’. From 2005/2006, intermediate units will be worth 6 credit points and have 2XXX codes, and senior units will be worth 6 credit points, with 3XXX codes.

How would I get 120 senior and intermediate credit points?

• Most full time students in the Bachelor of Liberal Studies (International) program will start to take intermediate and senior units of study in their second year, after having put the appropriate foundation of junior units in place in the first year. At this stage many students narrow down the range of subject areas in which they are studying.
• You can get the credit points required to complete your degree over your second, third, and fourth years by choosing subjects that add up to 24 credit points in each semester. (24 credit points x 6 semesters = 144 credit points; these 144 credit points plus the 48 credit points earned in Year 1 = 192 credit points!)
• If all of the 144 credit points you take over the second, third, and fourth years are from intermediate or senior units, then you’ll have more than the required 120 intermediate or senior credit points. If you prefer, you could choose instead to stay with just 120 intermediate or senior credit points, and make up the additional 24 credit points needed for your degree with extra junior units of study. It’s your choice!

Could I do more than 24 credit points per semester?

• You might want to take more than 24 credit points in one semester – perhaps to make up for a unit of study that you have failed or to try to get through your degree more quickly.
• You are permitted to do up to (but no more than) 30 credit points per semester in your second, third, and fourth years. However, be aware that 30 credit points in a single semester is a very heavy load. It’s unlikely that you’ll be able to do your best in each unit you take (and very unlikely that you’ll have a life while you do it!)

What intermediate/senior units of study should I do?

• It’s a good idea to first put in place the intermediate / senior units that are required, and then consider your other choices. Let’s look at the remaining requirements.

What's a major in a Faculty of Arts subject area?

• To earn a major in a subject area (from Part A) in the Faculty of Arts, students will complete 36 senior credit points in THAT subject area. Remember that senior units of study in Arts have 2XXX or 3XXX codes. Of course you may need to have the appropriate junior (1XXX) prerequisites in place before you can do these senior units of study.

What is Part A in the Arts Table of Units of Study?

• ‘ Part A’ refers to the units of study that are listed in the Faculty of Arts Undergraduate Handbook, ‘Table of Units of Study: Part A’. These all come from subject areas taught within the Faculty of Arts. You must have at least one Arts ( Part A) major to complete your Bachelor of Liberal Studies degree.

What's a major in the Faculty of Science?

• In most subject areas in the Faculty of Science, you get a ‘major’ when you’ve done 24 senior credit points in THAT subject area. Remember that senior units of study in Science have 3XXX codes.
• 24 senior credit points might sound like less than what’s involved in an Arts major, but remember that, in Science, you need to have not only the appropriate junior (1XXX) prerequisites but also the appropriate intermediate (2XXX) prerequisites in place, before you can do these senior (3XXX) units of study.
• There are some subject areas in the Faculty of Science that have slightly different requirements for a major. Please check the Science Faculty Handbook, in print or online, to make sure of the requirements in the subject(s) in which you intend to major.

• Recall Requirement 4: 12 junior credit points in a language other than English? This forms the prerequisite for Requirement 8: 16 senior credit points in a language other than English. Given that all senior units will be worth six credit points from 2006, then taking three senior units more than satisfies this requirement (3 x 6 = 18 credit points). Together with the two junior units you have taken, you’ll earn a total of 30 credit points in language units of study.
• Please note: The number of senior credit points required for the language component of this degree

Can I turn my language major into my Arts (Part A) major?

• Yes, you can! If you do a further 18 senior credit points in your chosen language other than English, you’ll have a total of 36 senior credit points, which constitutes a major in Arts.
• If you wish to, you can use this to simultaneously satisfy both the Arts major requirement and the language requirement. Alternatively, you could do a language major in addition to another Arts (Part A) major.

• You must include the equivalent of 24 credit points from units of study taken over a minimum of one semester while enrolled as an exchange student at an overseas university which has an exchange agreement with the University of Sydney.
• To qualify to participate in an exchange program, you need to have completed at least the equivalent of two semesters of full-time study (normally a minimum of 48 credit points completed towards the Bachelor of Liberal Studies).

• In order to qualify to participate in your exchange program, the University also requires you to maintain an average mark of 75 or greater over all the units of study you complete before you study overseas as an exchange student.

Bachelor of Liberal Studies (International) - Degree Overview