Bachelor of Health Sciences/Bachelor of Arts
2025 Deakin University Handbook
| Year | 2025 course information |
|---|---|
| Award granted | Bachelor of Health Sciences / Bachelor of Arts |
| Deakin course code | D391 |
| Course version | 4 |
| Faculty | Faculty of Health |
| Course Information | For students who commenced in 2022 |
| Campus | Campus on offer for students who commenced prior to 2023 |
| Duration | 4 years full-time or part-time equivalent |
| CRICOS code | 035503K Burwood (Melbourne) |
| Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) recognition | The award conferred upon completion is recognised in the Australian Qualifications Framework at Level 7 |
Offered to continuing students only. The final intake for this course version was Trimester 3 2022 Students should contact a Student Adviser in Student Central for course,course map and enrolment information. | |
Course sub-headings
- Course overview
- Indicative student workload
- Career opportunities
- Mandatory student checks
- Pathways
- Articulated courses
- Course learning outcomes
- Course rules
- Majors
- Course structure
- Work experience
- Third party arrangements
- Research and research-related study
- Fees and charges
Course overview
Build a degree tailored to your interests with a Bachelor of Health Sciences/Bachelor of Arts. This flexible and diverse degree will equip you with a unique skill set that will unlock wide-ranging career opportunities and give you a competitive edge in the job market. You will develop specialist knowledge in your chosen disciplines and learn how to apply critical, creative and strategic thinking to solve real-world issues.
Your studies in the arts will arm you with transferable skills in communication, research, analysis and problem-solving, making you highly employable in many areas. You will also gain a solid grounding in multiple fields of health sciences, preparing you for a successful career in the largest and fastest-growing employment sector in Australia.
Are you looking to develop a cross-disciplinary skill set that empowers you to design your own future?
This combined degree gives you the freedom to choose majors based on your interests to connect and expand your career prospects. You will study equal parts health sciences and arts, ensuring you graduate with a well-developed skill set in both disciplines.
Build a solid foundation in health while developing your skills across a range of arts, communications, humanities and social science disciplines. Create original course combinations by choosing majors including (but not limited to):
- advertising
- criminology
- disability and inclusion
- education
- family, society and health
- food studies
- health, nature and sustainability
- health promotion
- international studies
- journalism
- media
- physical activity and health
- politics and policy studies
- public health
- sociology
- sport and society.
Opportunities to pursue work-integrated learning experiences and industry practicums are available throughout the course, including the Health Science Practicum offered in third year, giving you the option to complete a 120-hour practice education placement.
You will gain invaluable experience by immersing yourself in your chosen field – whether it’s helping to design public relations campaigns for major food companies or working at grassroots level in the community through health education programs.
You will also have the opportunity to experience different cultures by taking your studies abroad. You could find yourself visiting the International Institute of Health Sciences in Sri Lanka or studying politics and policy in Norway. Gain a global perspective that will give you an international outlook and a competitive edge.
Indicative student workload
As a student in the Faculty of Health you can expect to participate in a range of teaching activities each week. This could include lectures, seminars, practicals and online interaction. You can refer to the individual unit details in the course structure for more information. You will also need to study and complete assessment tasks in your own time.
Career opportunities
Your career outcomes will depend on the majors you complete with this degree.
Studying health sciences could lead you into careers in areas such as:
- community health
- counselling
- disability and inclusion
- environmental health
- health education
- health promotion
- nutrition
- regional health service planning
- sports development.
An arts degree provides you with solid transferable skills that can be applied across diverse industries and careers. Depending on your majors, you could find yourself in fields such as:
- advertising and marketing
- business
- education
- ethnic affairs
- government
- international relations
- media
- politics and policy
- public relations.
Your majors could also help you pursue careers where your degrees overlap. Careers such as health media, food writing, international relations and public relations for health and food organisations all require the skills acquired from both health science and arts degrees.
Mandatory student checks
Any unit which contains work integrated learning, a community placement or interaction with the community may require a police check, working with children check or other check. Please refer to the relevant unit guide.
Pathways
This course provides a pathway to higher degree by research courses (if students undertake an additional Honours year) and other postgraduate coursework programs.
Alternative exits
Bachelor of Health Sciences (H300)
Articulated courses
Course learning outcomes
See course entry for Bachelor of Health Sciences (H300) or Bachelor of Arts (A300)
Course rules
To complete the Bachelor of Health Sciences/Bachelor of Arts students must pass 32 credit points and meet the following course rules to be eligible to graduate:
- DAI001 Academic Integrity and Respect at Deakin (0-credit-point compulsory unit) in their first study period
- 16 credit points from the Bachelor of Health Sciences
- 6 credit points of core units
- 1 health major (6 credit points)
- 1 health minor (4 credit points)
- 16 credit points from the Bachelor of Arts
- 2 arts majors (8 credit points)
- OR
- 1 arts major (8 credit points)
- 1 minor (4 credit points)
- 4 credit points as described under A300 Bachelor of Arts
- a minimum of 4 credit points of Art coded level 3 units
- course requirements for both the Bachelor of Health Sciences and Bachelor of Arts must be satisfied
Students are required to meet the University's academic progress and conduct requirements. See the enrolment codes and terminology to help make sense of the University’s vocabulary.
Majors
Health Majors - Major and minor sequence available unless stated otherwise
- Disability and Inclusion (previously titled: People, Society and Disability) - Major and Minor
- Environmental Health - Major
- Exercise Science - Major and Minor
- Family, Society and Health - Major and Minor
- Food Studies - Major and Minor
- Health and Sustainability - Major and Minor- For continuing students only
- Health, Nature and Sustainability - Major and Minor
- Health Promotion - Major and Minor
- Medical Biotechnology - Major and Minor
- Nutrition - Major and Minor
- Physical Activity and Health - Major and Minor
- Psychology for Allied Health (previously titled: Psychology for Professional Development- Major and Minor
- Public Health-Major and Minor
Arts Majors - Major and minor sequence available unless stated otherwise
- Advertising - Minor only
- Anthropology
- Arabic
- Chinese
- Criminology
- Dance - Minor only
- Design - Minor only
- Digital Media *
- Drama - Minor only
- English-Children's Literature
- English Creative Writing
- English-Literature
- Education
- Film and television studies Minor only
- Gender and Sexuality Studies
- History
- Indigenous Studies Minor only
- Indonesian
- International Relations
- Journalism
- Media Studies
- Middle East Studies
- Philosophy
- Photography - Minor only
- Politics and Policy studies
- Professional Experience and Practice - Minor only
- Religious Studies
- Social Media
- Sociology
- Sport and Society - Minor only
- Spanish
- Visual Arts
Course structure
Core units
The course structure includes 16 credit points from each of the two component courses. The 16-unit maximum size of the component degrees of combined courses does not permit students in D391 to complete two major sequences within the Health Sciences degree. For this reason, they are restricted to a major sequence and a minor sequence.
The sixteen credit points within the Health Sciences component of the combined course are made up of:
- The six core units of the Bachelor of Health Sciences;
- A major sequence of six credit points consisting of the specified units at Levels 1, 2 and 3
- A minor sequence of four credit points, consisting of at least one unit at Level 1 and no more than one unit at Level 3 (subject to pre-requisite requirements) from the set of approved minor sequences.
Students cannot select a minor in Environmental Health, or Psychological Science, due to difficulties of sequencing and in maintaining curriculum logic.
The sixteen credit points within the Arts and Education component of the combined course are made up of:
- A major sequence of 8 credit points as described under course A300 Bachelor of Arts;
- Remaining credit point(s) may be used to undertake a Bachelor of Arts minor sequence and to take additional elective unit chosen from the Bachelor of Arts.
- A minimum of 4 credit points at level 3 of Arts coded units.
Level 1 - Trimester 1
| DAI001 | Academic Integrity and Respect at Deakin '(0 credit points)' replaces HAI010* |
| HBS107 | Understanding Health |
Level 1 - Trimester 2
| HBS108 | Health Information and Data |
Level 2 - Trimester 1
| HSH211 | Australian Health Care System |
Level 2 - Trimester 2
| HSH219 | Population Health: A Research Perspective |
Level 3 - Trimester 1
| HSH323 | Program Planning, Management and Evaluation |
Level 3 - Trimester 2
| HSH324 | Integrated Learning for Practice |
* HAI010 Academic Integrity (no longer available for enrolment, replacement unit DAI001)
Work experience
Work Integrated Learning
A core unit at third-year level, based on inter-professional learning (IPL), provides students the opportunity to draw together their cross-disciplinary learning to demonstrate the knowledge and the skills they have acquired throughout the course and apply them to real-world issues. HSH324 Integrated Learning for Practice involves interdisciplinary teams working to develop responses to real-world problems for presentation to a professional audience.
Course duration
You may be able to study available units in the optional third trimester to fast-track your degree, however your course duration may be extended if there are delays in meeting course requirements, such as completing a placement.
Further information
Student Central can help you with course planning, choosing the right units and explaining course rules and requirements.
- Contact Student Central
Third party arrangements
Nature of third party arrangements
Deakin College offers a subset of first year subjects of the degree as part of the Diploma of Health Sciences. Students who complete the program with a WAM (Weighted Average Mark) of at least 50, can gain entry into H300 Bachelor of Health Sciences, with credit for core and other units already completed, enabling them to enter at second year level of the degree.
Quality assurance arrangements
The units offered by Deakin College are those offered as part of H300. Quality assurance is as for the rest of H300.
Research and research-related study
The degree includes two core units that offer research-related study, HBS108 and HSH219. HBS108 ‘Health Information and Data’ provides the basic skills necessary to be consumers and providers of health research information. The unit comprises nine topics, covering: measuring health and disease in populations, introduction to qualitative research, study design, obtaining online health information, evaluating popular health claims, introduction to quantitative research, evidence-based practice including critical appraisal. HSH219 ‘Population Health: A Research Perspective’ aims to introduce students to the principles and practices of research in public health and health promotion with a focus on current population health issues using qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches. The unit covers topics such as the development and expression of research aims, questions and hypotheses; the application of appropriate research methods specific to research questions; and the different ways of collecting data in various research settings. In addition, the capstone unit in the final year, HSH324, Integrated Learning for Practice may provide some students with further opportunities to conduct research activities dependent on the nature of projects offered by employers/organisations. Finally, a range of units across the majors incorporate smaller applied research tasks, such as health needs analyses of specific groups, service profiles, social issues research etc.
Fees and charges
Fees and charges vary depending on the type of fee place you hold, your course, your commencement year, the units you choose to study, and their study discipline or your study load.
Tuition fees increase at the beginning of each calendar year and all fees quoted are in Australian dollars ($AUD). Tuition fees do not include textbooks, computer equipment or software, other equipment or costs such as mandatory checks, travel and stationery.
For further information regarding tuition fees, other fees and charges, invoice due dates, withdrawal dates, payment methods visit our Current students website.