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 |
| Faculty | Faculty of Health |
| Campus | |
| Online | Yes |
| Duration | 4 years full-time or part-time equivalent |
| Course Map - enrolment planning tool | This course map is for new students commencing from Trimester 1 2025. Course maps for commencement in previous years are available on the Course Maps webpage or please contact a Student Adviser in Student Central. |
| CRICOS course code | 035503K Burwood (Melbourne), Waurn Ponds (Geelong) |
| Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) recognition | The award conferred upon completion is recognised in the Australian Qualifications Framework at Level 7 |
Note - Online is not available to international students. | |
Course sub-headings
- Course overview
- Indicative student workload
- Career opportunities
- Mandatory student checks
- Pathways
- Course Learning Outcomes
- Course rules
- Majors
- Course structure
- Work experience
- 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. With over 45 major options, you will develop specialist knowledge in your chosen disciplines and learn how to apply critical, creative and strategic thinking to solve real-world issues.
Explore meaningful ideas that matter to you with your arts studies. Get the critical thinking, communication and leadership skills needed to address current and emerging global challenges in a rapidly changing world. Along with your research, analysis and problem-solving skills you will be highly employable in many areas and prepared for a successful career in the largest and fastest-growing employment sector in Australia, with over half a million new jobs projected in the health care and social assistance sector by 2033.*
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):
- strategic advertising
- criminology
- disability and inclusion
- education
- family, society and health
- food studies
- health, nature and sustainability
- health promotion
- indigenous studies
- international relations
- sport journalism
- media and communication
- physical activity and health
- politics and policy studies
- public health
- sociology
- sport and society.
Do you have a desire to make a difference in the world or want to make an impact in your community? Then the Global Challenges minor may be for you. You will learn how to approach, understand and respond to the large challenges that face us today. Advance your creativity and critical thinking whilst taking your communications skills to the next level. You will become a future leader ready to problem solve the challenges you face.
The Employability units provides real life experience during your course to develop the kinds of skills you will need in the workplace and demonstrating how to translate the skills you learn in your course into a successful career. Customisable to suit your interests, you can focus on leaderships skills, developing your entrepreneurial mindset or how to craft persuasive communications. It will give you an insight into how different organisations work, provide networking opportunities and real industry engagement that are tailored to your individual career aspirations.
Further opportunities to pursue work-integrated learning experiences and industry practicums are available throughout the course, including the Health Practicum offered in the health promotion major, giving you the option to complete 120 hours of work experience in a health-related organisation.
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 may also have the opportunity to experience different cultures by taking your studies abroad. Various in-country and authentic virtual global experiences can be undertaken as part of your studies. Gain a global perspective that will give you an international outlook and a competitive edge.
Discover our health and community services courses.
*2023 Employment Projections – for the ten years to 2033, Australian Government, Jobs and Skills Australia.
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
Are you ready to blend creativity and empathy to make a positive impact and fortify your future health career with a solid grounding in the arts? Gain the skills to bridge gaps between art, culture, and well being. Your career opportunities from this degree will vary depending on the majors you have selected. You will be curating your future career from day one and graduating with a variety of career paths that you could pursue.
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
- criminology, sociology and policy
- culture and creative arts
- education
- government and NGO’s
- language and international relations
- media, writing and communication
- international relations and politics.
Your majors can 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.
At Deakin, you will feel supported as you shape your future career, whether you want to work in a specific sector or industry, an emerging job of the future or even create a dream career that might not yet exist – a world of opportunity awaits.
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 and other postgraduate coursework programs in a wide range of areas including public health, health economics, public health nutrition.
Alternative exits
Bachelor of Health Sciences (H300)
Course Learning Outcomes
See course entry for Bachelor of Health Sciences (H300) or Bachelor of Arts (A310)
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
- an arts major (8 credit points)
- the remaining credit points can be used to undertake one of the following:
- 1 minor (4 credit points)
- the Employability units or electives chosen from the Bachelor of Arts
- a combination of the above
- 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
- Environmental Health - Major only
- Exercise Science
- Family, Society and Health
- Food Studies
- Health, Nature and Sustainability
- Health Promotion
- Health and Sustainability- For continuing students only
- Medical Biotechnology
- Nutrition
- Physical Activity and Health
- Public Health
- Psychology for Allied Health (previously titled: Psychology for Professional Development)
- Psychological Science- Major only
Arts Majors - Major and minor sequence available unless stated otherwise
- Animation - Minor only
- Anthropology
- Arabic
- Chinese
- Criminology
- Design thinking - Minor only
- English-Children's Literature
- English Creative Writing
- English-Literature
- Education
- Film and television studies
- Gender and Sexuality Studies
- Global challenges - Minor only
- History
- Indigenous Studies
- Indonesian
- International Relations
- Media and Communication
- Media Studies
- Middle East Studies
- Performing Arts
- Philosophy
- Politics and Policy studies
- Public Relations studies
- Religious Studies
- Social Media
- Sociology
- Sport and Society - Minor only
- Sport Journalism
- Spanish
- Strategic Advertising
- Visual Arts and Photography
- Visual Communication Design
- Web Design - Minor only
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.
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 A310 Bachelor of Arts;
- Remaining credit point(s) may be used to undertake a Bachelor of Arts minor sequence or 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) |
| 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 |
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
Course duration may be affected by delays in completing course requirements, such as failing of units or accessing or completing placements.
Further information
Student Central can help you with course planning, choosing the right units and explaining course rules and requirements.
- Contact Student Central
Research and research-related study
The degree includes two core units that offer research-related study, HBS108 Health Information and Data and HSH219 Population Health: A Research Perspective.
HBS108 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 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.