Anyone up for Asian Studies and International Relations at UWS? (1 Viewer)

[Babay]

Just curious... anyone else interested in this course?
Or is there anyone here who's actually doing it at the moment??
I'm hoping to do it in 2009

 

[DTFM]

I'm currently doing it in a Bachelor of Arts (though I may switch to business or law). I believe they are going to be offering it in the new Bachelor of International Studies degree as well. Anything specific you want to know about it?

 

[Babay]

I'm currently doing it in a Bachelor of Arts (though I may switch to business or law). I believe they are going to be offering it in the new Bachelor of International Studies degree as well. Anything specific you want to know about it?

yes! yes! so many questions! sorry if its too much to ask, i'll appreciate any answers given --here they go:

1. what subjects/units are involved?

2. why did you pick it? and why have you decided to change courses?

3. what careers do most students get out of this course?

4. what are the good/bad things of the course?

thank you in advance for any answers, hope to hear from you soon

 

[Supaman92]

Add to that:
-Will you have the opportunity to do a semester in an asian country? (or is that only ANU?)

-How much is the workload?

I'm considering doing International studies at whatever uni's that offer it in 2010, it seems really interesting

 

[DTFM]

1. what subjects/units are involved?

The only required subject for the major in the first year is Asia in the World, which is essentially an introduction to both Asian Studies and International Relations. If you are planning to do it through Arts you will also have to do the four core Arts units (Australia and the World, Media and Visual Cultures, Contemporary Society and Texts and Traditions). You can also (and should also, I think it is actually required in the new Bachelor of International Studies degree) do a sub-major in an Asian language; UWS offers Mandarin, Japanese, and Arabic. You will also have plenty of room for electives, so you can learn more than one language if you want.

Second and third year units range from general international relations to country-specific topics.

2. why did you pick it? and why have you decided to change courses?

I was hoping to go for graduate position at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and I thought that Asian Studies and International Relations was a rather appropriate and interesting major. I decided to change courses because in the fairly likely case I didn't get that job I would be left with a degree which is not really as flexible as I would like, and most of the people working at DFAT did Law or Political Science so it wasn't really necessary to do International Relations for that career.

3. what careers do most students get out of this course?

I can't really answer that as I don't think the Asian Studies and International Relations major has been offered by UWS long enough for anyone to graduate. However, it is considered to be a suitable degree for finding work within the government, NGOs, education, tourism industry, business, etc..

4. what are the good/bad things of the course?

Good:

You get to learn a language or two.
It is very interesting if you are into that kind of thing.
Lots of room to study completely unrelated subjects.
Not really difficult (at least during the first year).

Bad:

It is a surprisingly unpopular major, so, at least in the first year, most of the students are just doing it as an easy elective, and they tend to be rather apathetic during tutorials.
Ambiguous career prospects.

-Will you have the opportunity to do a semester in an asian country? (or is that only ANU?)

Yes, in fact if you score a UAI over 90 and get into the Bachelor of International Studies they give you a scholarship to study overseas.

-How much is the workload?

About the same as any other Arts subject. For each unit your assessments will pretty much be an essay (first year subjects vary between around 1200-2500 words, most often 1500 from my experience), another written work, class participation (which can take the form of an oral presentation, quizes, participating in class discussion, etc), and an exam. The reading is fairly light, I usually get it done on the hour long train trip to the university.

I hope I answered everything all right, if you have any other questions just ask.

 

[Babay]

wow thanks for taking the time to answer all those q's, DTFM. really helped out. if i come up with any more i'll turn back to this thread. thanks again

 

[Supaman92]

thank youu, +1 to the post above