Bachelor of Arts

The Bachelor of Arts (BA) is an undergraduate degree comprising 24 units taken over 3 years of full-time study (or part-time equivalent).

In your first year as a BA student, you can select from units across a range of disciplines - including creative writing, geography, history, legal studies, linguistics, literature, marketing, management, not-for-profit management, politics, philosophy and economics, sociology and various languages. Before the end of your first year, you will be able to nominate a major in which to specialise - you will need to complete 8 units from that major (10 units for language majors).

Alongside your major, you will also take core units in research skills. This works towards a major project in your final year in which you will research a real-world organisation, diagnose issues and present solutions.

You can enrich your major with a second major (or a minor) in another discipline from the humanities and social sciences. Alternatively, you may decide to broaden your studies by selecting general electives from faculties such as business or mathematics, physical sciences and life sciences.

All undergraduate students also take one core unit per year from the School of Christian Studies.

A Bachelor Degree qualifies individuals who apply a broad and coherent body of knowledge in a range of contexts to undertake professional work and as a pathway for further learning.

Upon completing the Bachelor of Arts, you will be able to:

• Demonstrate your understanding of a broad and coherent body of knowledge, with an emphasis on the underlying principles and concepts of one or more disciplines within the humanities and social sciences.
• Exercise your cognitive skills successfully to critically analyse, synthesise and consolidate information, concepts and theories from multi-disciplinary perspectives.
• Critically evaluate the scholarship and professional practice of one or more disciplines within the humanities and social sciences in the light of contemporary research, workplace practice, and perspectives grounded in Christian scholarship.
• Communicate your understanding of current knowledge and professional practice of one or more disciplines to others through structured assignments and presentations in a variety of learning contexts.
• Demonstrate your intellectual independence through creative intellectual contributions to the study and/or practice of one or more disciplines within the humanities and social sciences.
• Apply research-based knowledge, skills and concepts from one or more disciplines within the humanities and social sciences to analyse problems and propose creative solutions across a diverse range of scenarios.
• Demonstrate your capacity to seek knowledge and truth with persistence, independence, rigour, and integrity.
• Evaluate the relevance of Christian faith and practice to the pursuit of knowledge in the humanities and social sciences.
• Model self-discipline, servant leadership and respect for the dignity of individuals and groups in various settings.

Each unit you take in the Bachelor of Arts program will contribute towards the fulfilment of these broader learning outcomes.

The Bachelor of Arts (BA) comprises 24 units of study (or subjects). Each unit represents 3 credit points. To fulfil the requirements of the BA award, you will need to complete a minimum of 72 credit points.

As a Sheridan BA student, you will take core units common to all BA students in all three years of your study. There are three types of common core units:

• Core Arts units (2 units) - these include units in creative thinking, and in critical thinking and ethics.
• Core Research units (3 units) - these include units on academic skills, research methods, and a research project. Each of these units is taken by students from all undergraduate courses at Sheridan.
• Core Christian Studies units (3 units) - these include units on the Christian faith, the Bible and understanding worldviews. Like the Research units, each of these units is taken by students from all undergraduate courses at Sheridan.

You may choose from one of the following fields of study for your major:

• Chinese Studies
• Creative Writing
• Economics
• Geography
• History
• Linguistics
• Politics, Philosophy & Ethics

You will do a minimum of eight units specific to that discipline (ten for language majors), including a minimum of at least four Level-300 units.

You may also nominate a double major. Adding a second major will usually require taking additional units and will extend the length of your Bachelor degree by one or more semesters.

In addition to your major, you can construct a minor within your BA degree. A minor comprises four 200/300-level units in a humanities or social sciences discipline that is not your major, and provides you with a second specialisation.

Find out more about Minors in the Bachelor of Arts

Alternatively, you may choose to broaden your studies by taking general electives either from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences or from another school at Sheridan, provided you meet the necessary prerequisites for those units.

A list of all units is available on the last page of Sheridan's brochure