Bachelor of Arts (Honours)

The Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree exemplifies the ANU commitment to research-led education.

Building on the Bachelor of Arts, which is the most diverse, most flexible, and most popular degree at the Australian National University, it gives you high-level preparation for professional life or a higher degree by research through the development of an advanced knowledge of the research principles and methods and theoretical concepts of your discipline, and through the design and implementation of a research project, typically a thesis of up to 20,000 words, that develops new understandings or that provides solutions to complex problems.

An Honours Specialisation is available for all majors in the BA, and any two Honours Specialisations available in the BA for which both sets of admissions criteria have been met are available for combination as Combined Honours.

Program Requirements

The Bachelor of Arts Honours requires completion of 48 units, which must consist of:

48 units from completion of one of the following Honours specialisations:

Anthropology

Archaeology

Art History and Theory

Asia-Pacific Studies

Australian Indigenous Studies

Biological Anthropology

Classical Studies

Contemporary Europe

Criminology

Development Studies

Digital Humanities

Economics

English

Environmental Studies

Gender, Sexuality, and Culture

History

International Relations

Language Studies

Mathematics

Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies

Music

Philosophy

Political Science

Psychology

Security Studies

Sociology

For all Honours Specialisations, and for Combined Honours, HONS4100 Final Honours Grade will be used to calculate the Class of Honours and the Mark. It will be calculated using the formula: S (mark x units) / S units, giving NCN and WN a nominal mark of zero.

FURTHER INFORMATION

The following Bachelor of Arts (Honours) specialisation(s) are available, subject to meeting the entry requirements, to each Bachelor of Arts major.

BA Major

Honours Specialisation(s)

Disciplines and Fields

Ancient History

Classical Studies, Biological Anthropology

Anthropology

Anthropology, Asia-Pacific Studies, Australian Indigenous Studies, Environmental Studies

Archaeology

Archaeology, Biological Anthropology

Art History

Art History and Theory

Art History and Theory

Art History and Theory

Art Theory

Art History and Theory

Australian Indigenous Studies

Australian Indigenous Studies, Biological Anthropology

Biological Anthropology

Biological Anthropology

Criminology

Criminology

Development Studies

Development Studies, Australian Indigenous Studies

Digital Humanities

Digital Humanities

Economic Studies

Economics

English

English

Environmental Studies

Environmental Studies

Gender, Sexuality and Culture

Gender, Sexuality and Culture

Geography

Environmental Studies

Global Security

Security Studies

History

History

Human Evolutionary Biology

Biological Anthropology

Human Rights

Political Science, International Relations

International Communication

Language Studies

International Relations

International Relations

Linguistics

Language Studies, Asia-Pacific Studies

Mathematics

Mathematics

Music

Music

Music Technology

Music

Peace and Conflict Studies

Security Studies

Philosophy

Philosophy

Political Science

Political Science

Psychology

Psychology, Biological Anthropology

Screen Studies

English

Sociology

Sociology

Technology Networks and Society

Sociology

War Studies

Security Studies

Languages

Ancient Greek

Classical Studies, Language Studies

Arabic

Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Language Studies

Chinese Language

Asia-Pacific Studies, Language Studies

French Language and Culture

Language Studies

German Language and Culture

Language Studies

Hindi Language

Asia-Pacific Studies, Language Studies

Indonesian Language

Asia-Pacific Studies, Language Studies

Italian Language and Culture

Language Studies

Japanese Language

Asia-Pacific Studies, Language Studies

Korean Language

Asia-Pacific Studies, Language Studies

Latin

Classical Studies, Language Studies

Persian

Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Language Studies

Sanskrit Language

Specialisations

• Anthropology Honours
• Archaeology Honours
• Art History and Theory Honours
• Asia-Pacific Studies Honours
• Australian Indigenous Studies Honours
• Biological Anthropology Honours
• Classical Studies Honours
• Contemporary Europe Honours
• Criminology Honours
• Development Studies Honours
• Digital Humanities Honours
• Economics Honours
• English Honours
• Environmental Studies Honours
• Gender, Sexuality and Culture Honours
• History Honours
• International Relations
• Language Studies Honours
• Mathematics Honours
• Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies Honours
• Music Honours
• Philosophy Honours
• Political Science
• Psychology Honours
• Sociology Honours

Elective Study

Once you have met the program requirements of your degree, you may have enough electives to complete an additional elective major, minor or specialisation.

Admission Requirements

A Bachelor of Arts degree from the ANU, or equivalent from another institution

A weighted average mark equivalent to an ANU 70 per cent calculated from the 36 units (i.e. 0.75 EFTSL) of courses in the major cognate to the honours specialisation, excluding 1000-level courses (i.e. introductory undergraduate courses), with the highest marks

Written approval of an identified supervisor for the thesis

And the satisfaction of any admission requirements listed in the relevant honours specialisation

The National Register of higher education providers is an authoritative source of information that will help you confirm your institution of choice is registered to deliver higher education in Australia.

The Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching (QILT) website is HERE. Based on surveys done by thousands of students across Australia you can find out about universities that interest you, doing side-by-side comparisons.

Adjustment Factors

ANU offers rank adjustments for a number of adjustment factors, including for high achievement in nationally strategic senior secondary subjects and for recognition of difficult circumstances that students face in their studies. Rank adjustments are applied to Bachelor degree applicants with an ATAR at or above 70. Points are awarded in accordance with the approved schedules, and no more than 15 points (maximum 5 subject/performance-based adjustments, maximum 10 equity-based adjustments and maximum 5 Elite Athlete adjustments) will be awarded. Please note that Adjustment Factors vary and do not apply to a select few programs, please visit the ANU Adjustment Factors website for further information.

Scholarships

ANU offers a wide range of scholarships to students to assist with the cost of their studies.

Eligibility to apply for ANU scholarships varies depending on the specifics of the scholarship and can be categorised by the type of student you are. Specific scholarship application process information is included in the relevant scholarship listing.

For further information see the Scholarships website.

1. pose a significant research question relating to their discipline;
2. investigate this question creatively, critically, ethically, and independently, including through sophisticated use of appropriate theory and methodology as appropriate to the discipline, and place these investigations in the context of the relevant intellectual tradition; and
3. communicate their research and its findings through an appropriate medium.