This four-year program is designed to challenge students with an interest in critical thinking, research and innovation. The development of depth of understanding and practical skills in a discipline is a key part of the program, however, the degree also focuses on instilling a culture of research and enquiry through early induction into the research ethos and access to research groups and facilities. In their fourth year students undertake an honours year which involves a supervised research project and in some cases, advanced Level coursework. Outstanding Honours students may continue their studies in a higher research degree.

This program has been designed to:

Single Mode

When completing the Bachelor of Science (Advanced) as a single degree, students must complete a minimum of 192 units of credit (UoC). This 192 units of credit is comprised of the following:

Dual Degree Mode

When completing the Bachelor of Science (Advanced) as part of a dual degree with another UNSW undergraduate degree program, students must complete a minimum of 144 units of credit comprised of an approved Bachelor of Science (Advanced) major, SCIF1121/1131, Honours, and science elective courses as shown below:

Academic rules relating to the Bachelor of Science (Advanced) are as follows:

   1.  Students in the single degree program must complete a minimum of 192 units of credit.

   2.  Students must complete at least one approved Bachelor of Science (Advanced) major, and this must be declared before enrolling in Level II courses.

Students do not need to declare a major in their first year as they are encouraged to try a variety of Level 1 Science courses to enable them to select an appropriate major before commencing Level II courses. Information on how to declare a major can be found on the Science Student Centre website.

   3.   Approved majors in the Bachelor of Science (Advanced) program are:

 

* Students interested in completing a Bioinformatics, Biotechnology or Neuroscience major should read the important information at the bottom of this page under 'Bioinformatics, Biotechnology and Neuroscience Majors'.

   4.   SCIF1121 Advanced Science: Professional Perspective and Practice (6 units of credit) or SCIF1131 Science: Technological and Professional Perspectives (6 units of credit) must be completed in first year.

Students taking the Vision Science major should take VISN1101 Seeing the World: Perspectives from Vision Science instead of SCIF1121 or SCIF1131.

   5.  An Honours Year of 48 units of credit must be completed. For information regarding the admission requirements and application process for honours, please see the information below under 'Honours'.

   6.   In addition to the courses required for a student's chosen major, SCIF1121/1131, and honours, students must take 'science' courses so that the major plus SCIF1121/1131, plus Honours year plus 'science' courses total 156 units of credit.

Majors in the Bachelor of Science (Advanced) range from 66 units of credit to 96 units of credit. Honours is 48 units of credit and SCIF1121/1131 is 6 units of credit, therefore students will need to take 6 to 36 units of credit of additional 'science' courses depending on the major chosen. Some of these additional science courses may need to be at Level I or Level III depending on whether a major meets rules 7 and 8 below. Where a student chooses to complete a double major, this requirement may be met through completion of the requirements for the two majors.

'Science' courses are courses offered by the following Schools. The course prefixes that are associated with each School are in bold below:

Table 1: Definition of 'Science' courses

   7.  Students must complete at least 24 units of credit of 'science' Level I courses.
Most majors in the Bachelor of Science (Advanced) already satisfy this requirement, for example, the Molecular and Cell Biology major requires BIOT1011, BABS1201, CHEM1011, CHEM1021, MATH1031 and MATH1041. This is a total of 36 units of credit of 'science' Level I courses, therefore, no more Level I science courses are required. Where a major does not include at least 24 units of credit of science Level I courses, students will need to choose additional Level I science courses to bring the total to 24 units of credit. For example, Psychology requires PSYC1001, PSYC1011 and PSYC1111, therefore, students will need to choose an additional 12 units of credit of science Level I courses. These science Level I courses also count towards the 156 units of credit requirement at rule number 6.

   8.  A minimum of 30 units of credit of Level III 'science' courses must be completed.

Advanced Science majors usually contain 18 - 30 units of credit of Level III courses. Therefore students may be required to take an additional 12 units of credit of Level III courses which must be 'science' courses such that a total of 30 units of credit at Level III is completed. These additional Level III courses should be completed in a student's major area of study, or a complementary area that will be beneficial for a student's chosen Honours area. Students completing a double major will usually meet this requirement through completion of Level III courses for the second major. These additional Level III science courses count towards the 156 units of credit requirement at rule number 6 above.

   9.   When offered in a particular major, students must take higher versions of courses. Any variation to this must be approved by the Associate Dean (Undergraduate Programs) or nominee.

This rule usually only applies to courses at Level II and III in a major (or in some cases Level I courses considered to be core for the major). It does not apply to fundamental knowledge building Level I courses in a major. Not all Bachelor of Science (Advanced) majors have advanced Level courses, but where a major does, Advanced Science students must take the higher Level courses. Please refer to the Advanced Science major entries in this Handbook which indicate where higher courses must be taken.

   10.   12 units of credit of general education must be taken and these may be taken at any stage in a student's program.

Students must follow the UNSW rules for general education. Any course defined as a 'science' course in Table 1 cannot be taken as general education, including any GENS courses. Any exceptions to these rules must be approved by the Associate Dean (Undergraduate Programs) or nominee.

   11.   A maximum of 72 units of credit of Level I courses can be taken, including any GEN*#### course or mainstream Level I course taken to fulfil the 12 UOC general education requirement.

   12.   No student may commence Level II courses until 30 units of credit of Level I courses have been successfully completed.

   13.   Students may only commence Level III courses upon successful completion of 72 units of credit.

   14.   Progression to stages 2, 3, and 4 is subject to academic performance. Students will be required to attain a weighted average mark (WAM) of 70 in each semester. Where students do not maintain this minimum Level of academic performance, they will be transferred to the Bachelor of Science program.

When a student undertakes a Bachelor of Science (Advanced) degree as part of a dual degree, the program rules are as follows (for further information, please see the single degree program rules above):

   1.  Students must complete a minimum of 144 units of credit;

   2.  Students must complete at least one approved Bachelor of Science (Advanced) major, and this must be declared before enrolling in Level II courses;

   3.  SCIF1121 Advanced Science: Professional Perspective and Practice (6 units of credit) or SCIF1131 Science: Technological and Professional Perspectives (6 units of credit) must be completed in first year.

Students taking the Vision Science major should take VISN1101 Seeing the World: Perspectives from Vision Science instead of SCIF1121 or SCIF1131.

Students taking program 3762 Bachelor of Science (Advanced)/Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) must take ENGG100 Introduction to Engineering Design and Innovation instead of SCIF1121 or SCIF1131.

   4.  An Honours Year of 48 units of credit must be completed. For information regarding the admission requirements and application process for honours, please see the information under 'Honours';

   5.  In addition to the courses required for a student's chosen major, SCIF1121/1131, and honours, students must take 'science' courses so that the major plus SCIF1121/1131, plus Honours year plus 'science' courses total 144 units of credit;

   6.  Students must complete at least 24 units of credit of 'science' Level I courses;

   7.   A minimum of 30 units of credit of Level III ‘science’ courses must be completed;

   8.  When offered in a particular Advanced Science major, students must take higher versions of courses. Any variation to this must be approved by the Associate Dean (Undergraduate Programs) or nominee;

   9.  No student may commence Level II courses until 30 units of credit of Level I courses have been successfully completed.

   10.  Students may commence Level III courses upon successful completion of 72 units of credit.

   11.  Progression to stages 2, 3, and 4 is subject to academic performance. Students will be required to attain a weighted average mark (WAM) of 70 in each semester. Where students do not maintain this minimum Level of academic performance, they will be transferred to the Bachelor of Science program.

Students wishing to complete a double major in the Bachelor of Science (Advanced) as part of a dual degree at UNSW, should be aware that it may be difficult to complete two majors within 144 units of credit. Therefore when a dual degree student would like to undertake a double major, they should be aware that it may involve extra time and cost to complete, and may have visa implications for international students.

Students must complete a 48 UoC honours sequence at Stage 4. Progression to stage 4 is subject to academic performance, and requires completion of a total of 144 UoC and all the requirements of the first three years of the program, including Level I/III, major, and general education requirements. Students are expected to have attained an overall WAM of 70 or higher to be eligible to continue to Honours. Admission is subject to appropriate research and supervision resources being available and quotas may be imposed for entry in any year, in which case admission will be determined on academic merit. Students should seek the guidance of the appropriate School at an early stage of study to ensure that the study stream being followed is best suited to lead to the stage 4 Honours. Applications for admission into Honours should be made with the relevant School. Students who are ineligible to progress to Honours, will be required to transfer to the Bachelor of Science program (3970) and graduate with the Bachelor of Science award at pass Level. Students should be aware that not all 3972 majors are available in program 3970, meaning that graduation in 3970 may occur in a less specialized major.

Students completing Stage 4 Honours will be considered for the award of Honours according to the following scale (based on performance in stage 4 or over the entire program according to the rules of the relevant Honours program):

Honours Class 1: mark or weighted average of 85 or greater;

Honours Class 2 Division 1: mark or weighted average from 75 to 84;

Honours Class 2 Division 2: mark or weighted average from 65 to 74;

Honours Class 3 or Pass: mark or weighted average below 65.

Students enrolled in the Advanced Science program who wish to take out the Bachelor of Science award at pass Level without proceeding to Honours, are required to transfer to the Science program (3970). Applications to transfer should be lodged with the Science Student Centre no later than the census date for the semester in which the student expects to satisfy requirements. Students applying after that date may not be able to graduate in the next round of ceremonies. Students should be aware that not all 3972 majors are available in program 3970, meaning that graduation in 3970 may occur in a less specialised major.

See the Single Degree and Dual Degree Program Rules above.

For information regarding fees for UNSW programs, please refer to the following website:  https://my.unsw.edu.au/student/fees/FeesMainPage.html

In addition to choosing science courses, and general education courses as per the academic rules above, students have up to 24 units of credit of free electives in the single degree program, when not undertaking a double major. These free electives can be taken from any Faculty at UNSW subject to the rule that no more than 72 units of credit of Level I courses (or GEN*#### courses) can be taken throughout the degree program.

Therefore students may choose to undertake further science courses, or may explore subject areas from outside of science. For students interested in developing their research skills, the following courses are recommended:

When students choose to undertake a double major, elective courses are utilised to undertake courses for the second major. While some majors are in cognate areas and have some overlap which will enable the two majors and Honours to be completed in less than 192 units of credit, other major combinations may require a student to do more than the minimum 192 units of credit for the degree. This will result in additional cost and time to complete the degree requirements for the student and may have visa implications for international students.

The Science Talented Students' Program (TSP) introduces high performing students - entering the Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Science (Advanced) - to the Faculty of Science and helps them develop specific skills during their degree. The program offers these students exposure to research within the Faculty and provides a degree that is flexible and tailored to suit students’ needs and talents.

Invitation to participate in the TSP is made by the Dean of Science on the basis of superior secondary education performance (ATAR or equivalent), all incoming students are assessed for eligibility including non high school leavers. High performing current UNSW Science students, in the BSc or BSc (Advanced), will be invited to join at the end of their first year. Contact the Science Student Centre for details.

The Bioinformatics, Biotechnology and Neuroscience majors are large majors and students may not be able to take these majors as part of a dual degree within the minimum units of credit.
The Bioinformatics major, for example, is 96 units of credit and contains 24 units of credit at Level III. To satisfy all the program rules above, students will need to take this 96 units of credit, plus SCIF1121/1131 for 6 units of credit, plus 48 units of credit for Honours, plus an additional 6 units of credit of ‘science’ Level III courses. This totals 156 units of credit, which is more than the minimum stated above.

Taking one of the above mentioned majors in a dual degree may involve extra time and costs to complete the degree requirements and may have visa implications for international students.

The Faculty of Science has created Undergraduate Program Guides to help students choose courses based on the requirements of their chosen major/s. The documents should be used as a guide only and in conjunction with the program rules outlined above.

To access the Program Guide for your major, visit www.science.unsw.edu.au/current-students/undergraduate-program-guides.