Honours

The following information gives you the basics on how to enter and complete honours. These guidelines will differ from discipline to discipline. Students should contact the honours coordinator for each discipline to confirm these variations. For contact details and discipline specific information, see the relevant discipline links.

Reasons for undertaking honours

When considering undertaking honours, you may want to know the potential benefits associated with an undergraduate honours degree.

In some of the more specialised careers open to the Business School's graduates, employers may be looking for a level of specialisation that is not provided in a three-year pass award course. Similarly, if students want to qualify for specialist postgraduate research study, a pass award course is not normally sufficient. For all graduates, a four-year honours award course considerably enhances the quality of a qualification and singles students out to an employer as having exceptional ability.

Honours award courses are available in most of the subject areas in the respective degrees. Honours may involve extra work at second and third year level in the chosen subject area and, in all cases, an additional year of study spent entirely on that subject area.

Normally students will not make any decisions about honours courses until the end of their first year of study in the Business School. In order to enter and remain in an honours stream, students must perform at a credit level or better in the chosen subject area. A bare pass level of performance in a first year subject will not be sufficient to secure entry into honours courses.

Preparation for Final Honours Year

Students must complete the honours preparation or pre-requisite units of study to be eligible for Final Honours Year. These units are listed in the discipline honours web site and in the Handbook. Typically, pre-honours prerequisite units begin in the second year of an undergraduate degree and continue into the third year. However, not all disciplines offer pre-honours prerequisite units. Pre-honours prerequisite units can often count towards a major or extended major in the field of study. Students must complete a major in the area they intend to study their Final Honours Year. Students must check the particular discipline as to whether pre-honours prerequisite units can count towards a major or extended major.

A minimum weighted average mark (WAM) of 65% is required across senior units taken within an undergraduate degree and a minimum of 70% in subjects completed in the subject area of the discipline of intended honours study (pre-honours units or pass stream units). Contact the discipline honours coordinator for queries in relation to any variation from these requirements.

External students

Students from institutions external to the University of Sydney and from faculties outside that of The Business School are encouraged to apply to the Final Honours Year. However, it is the decision of individual disciplines to accept students from other institutions who have not undertaken relevant disciplinary preparatory units.

External applicants should apply before the deadline of the last working day in November and applications received before that date will immediately be referred on to the discipline concerned.

Applications for Final Honours Year

The closing date for applications for Final Honours Year is the last working day in November. You can apply using the:

• Final Honours Year application form for continuing University of Sydney students
• Online Honours Year application form for non-University of Sydney students.

The Final Honours Year (the 4th year) involves a combination of coursework and a thesis. This year provides knowledge and training for candidates in research methods as well as experience in planning, performing and writing up research under the guidance of a supervisor. Generally, students will be provided with examiner guidelines and details relating to the thesis proposal, writing and supervision upon entry into the Final Honours Year. Students should check the discipline web page for these details.

Final Honours Year with another faculty

Business School students who plan to undertake their honours year with another faculty eg with Science, Arts etc need to submit an application to the Student Information Office, plus they will need confirmation from their supervisor or year coordinator in the other faculty that they have been accepted into the honours program. Once this confirmation is received at the Student Information Office, information regarding enrolment procedures will be forwarded to the student(s).

Joint and double honours

Joint and double honours programs are generally encouraged across disciplines but at the discretion of each discipline.

Joint honours can be completed within one year and generally involves the student completing half the appropriate coursework within two discipline areas while completing the thesis in one discipline area. To ensure that the proposed program does require involvement from two disciplines, students wishing to undertake joint honours will be asked to put forward a convincing case as to why their honours course cannot be undertaken in one discipline. Discussion between disciplines should determine arrangements for a student's completion of joint honours.

Double honours involves completing all the honours work in two subjects and thus normally takes an extra year. Students will be expected to inform both disciplines or faculties of their enrolment in two programs for double honours.

Discipline honours information

Students should refer to the individual discipline's honours webpages below for coordinator contact details and a detailed overview of the honours course in the particular discipline area.

• Accounting
• Business Analytics
• Business Information Systems
• Business Law
• Finance
• International Business
• Marketing
• Work and Organisational Studies

Scholarships

• Business School Scholarships for Current Students
  A comprehensive list of scholarships offered by the Business School for current students, including several honours scholarships.


• Business School Scholarships and Prizes
• University of Sydney Honours Scholarships

Student/supervisor protocols

The Business School has developed student/supervisor protocols which outline the expectations that a student and supervisor can reasonably have of each other, during the honours year. Please refer to the Administration Manual for Students' Honours and Honours Preparation page for details on this.

Where problems arise with presentation of seminar papers, the student should notify the member of staff responsible for the option as soon as possible.

Administrative procedures

Business School policy relating to the Final Honours Year is available on the Administration Manual for Students' Honours and Honours Preparation page.

Procedure for honours thesis ethics proposals

The Committee will not be meeting again until Semester 1, 2012. Please visit this webpage at the beginning of next year for a list of application submission dates.

The procedure for Honours thesis ethics proposals to be considered by the Business School Honours Ethics Committee is as follows:

1. Students are expected to fill out the standard ethics clearance form You must ensure you use the correct form for Humanities and Sciences Research Involving Humans.


2. Student projects that involve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and/or involve meeting individuals in their places of residence for interviews etc. are not covered by this scheme. These proposals must still go to the University Ethics Committee .


3. The Business School Committee may still forward some difficult ethics submissions to the University Ethics Committee for consideration. It is for this reason that the Business School's submission dates come before the main University dates.


4. An original application, including attachments (unstapled) plus ten (10) copies, including attachments (stapled) are submitted to the Business School Research Manger, Rebecca Connell (Room N229, Storie Dixon Building, H10) by 4pm on the dates of submission. No late submissions will be accepted.


5. The submissions must be typewritten or word-processed. Handwritten applications will not be accepted.


6. Before being submitted, applications are required to be authorised by the relevant Chair of Discipline. If the Chair is the supervisor, the application must be signed off by the Pro-Dean.