The_highwayman
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Is there anybody out there who has done, or is hoping to do this course? Or am i the only one?
BDevelopment Studies? (1 Viewer)
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Emily.
Pro-VSU
talk to em_516
It's good to see a person interested in development studies. Em_516 and I have completed our first year of it and I personally really enjoyed it. Any idea on what major (s) you would like to do?
I particularly liked human geography and as a result I’m doing a double major of urban and regional development and environmental sustainability. It's quite easy to do a double major due to the flexibility of the program. In your first year, which is all prescribed, you draw studies from 4 disciplines; economics, sociology and anthropology, environmental management and human geography. These are incidentally the 4 majors that you can pick from in your 2nd year. It also provides an overall perspective on the development issue. When we look at development problems we typically look at it from these four perspectives. Quite commonly economics and environmental concerns are in conflict with each other, while social impacts always have to be considered. An excellent developer is able to find a solution that covers all the concerns of these perspectives. As you can imagine this can be quite challenging.
I personally didn’t enjoy studying macroeconomics and microeconomics, yet a basic understanding of economics does help in this type of work. In the new program you find that macroeconomics is no longer compulsory, so if you’re really worried about it you can skip it. Be aware however that if you wish to do honours you must do macro.
The best thing about this degree is that it covers all levels of development. You learn skills that can be applied to both local and international situations, so you will find that once you graduate it’s relatively easy to gain employment.
In the last few years we've had students become town planners and others have gone into social impact assessment work, as well as environmental consultancy work. If you’re thinking of going into government, there are plenty of departments that you can apply for, such as planning and infrastructure, heritage and sustainability and Ausaid, which is highly competitive yet extremely rewarding. I’m personally hoping to enter the Ausaid graduate program, yet that will be very difficult. If this falls through, a town planning position at some council sounds pretty good.
If you have any specific questions then don’t hesitate to ask. I'll be more than happy to help.
I particularly liked human geography and as a result I’m doing a double major of urban and regional development and environmental sustainability. It's quite easy to do a double major due to the flexibility of the program. In your first year, which is all prescribed, you draw studies from 4 disciplines; economics, sociology and anthropology, environmental management and human geography. These are incidentally the 4 majors that you can pick from in your 2nd year. It also provides an overall perspective on the development issue. When we look at development problems we typically look at it from these four perspectives. Quite commonly economics and environmental concerns are in conflict with each other, while social impacts always have to be considered. An excellent developer is able to find a solution that covers all the concerns of these perspectives. As you can imagine this can be quite challenging.
I personally didn’t enjoy studying macroeconomics and microeconomics, yet a basic understanding of economics does help in this type of work. In the new program you find that macroeconomics is no longer compulsory, so if you’re really worried about it you can skip it. Be aware however that if you wish to do honours you must do macro.
The best thing about this degree is that it covers all levels of development. You learn skills that can be applied to both local and international situations, so you will find that once you graduate it’s relatively easy to gain employment.
In the last few years we've had students become town planners and others have gone into social impact assessment work, as well as environmental consultancy work. If you’re thinking of going into government, there are plenty of departments that you can apply for, such as planning and infrastructure, heritage and sustainability and Ausaid, which is highly competitive yet extremely rewarding. I’m personally hoping to enter the Ausaid graduate program, yet that will be very difficult. If this falls through, a town planning position at some council sounds pretty good.
If you have any specific questions then don’t hesitate to ask. I'll be more than happy to help.
The_highwayman
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I was hoping to Do Urban and Regional Development (so that i can become a town planner) but i had no idea you could do more than one! Lol, i probably should have researched this more...Craig said:
Well, i dont think i'm looking forward to macro, however, i would like to keep the option of honours open (assuming i do well enough)
Well it's good to see that the course allows for diversity amongst its graduates.
1. What is Ausaid? (i know i could google it but anyway)
2. How exactly does one undertake a double major? i'm new to all this stuff so, if u could explain that, it would be very much appreciated.
3. Is the program difficult to grasp if i havent done economics or society and culture in yr 12? I did do geography and did well at it hence me choosing this particular degree.
Thanks! it's good to know i'm not alone. I had the impression that the course wasnt that popular for some unknown reason...
1) Ausaid is the official government agency that has the job of designing and implementing Australians aid program. Let’s give an example of Ausaid at work, using a hypothetical example. The government decides it wants to give a certain amount of money to a particular country. Lets say for this example that country is east Timor. The government pledges about 2 million dollars to the development of the country. Ausaid has the job of figuring out where this money should be spent. They figure out the aspects of Timor that are in the greatest need of development and provide a program of development to the Australian government. The government always adopts this program. They really never change it, as Ausaid are regarded as the specialists in this matter. Quite typically, the foreign government has to follow the guidelines set out in the program; otherwise you can find situations in which corruption and misallocation arise. You'll learn about this in geog1030, but just simply think of local elites.
2) Alright double major time. I'm assuming you have a general idea of the development studies course outline. As you can see 1st year is mostly all prescribed. You have to do 60 units out the 80 they list there, with the option to do 20 units in electives. Be aware that if you wish to do honours, you have to do all of those 8 courses they list (two socas, two econs, two geogs, 1 envs and 1emgt). In your second year you'll notice that the amount of core courses is much lower. This is the time in which you start your major. You'll notice that with certain majors (predominately urban and regional development, cultures and citizenships and environmental sustainability) they have the same courses listed at the 2000 level. In this degree, you can double count courses towards your major. You have to do 30 units of core courses in 2nd year. I’m personally doing poli2050, poli2020 and geog2130. That means I satisfy the core course requirements. In my major I’m doing envs2010, geog2080 and socs2400. If you look down to the environmental sustainability major, you'll notice envs2010, geog2080 are listed. Remember however that you cannot count core courses towards your major. That’s why I haven’t listed the other courses that I'm doing that are listed in the environmental sustainability major. However since I can double count envs2010 and geog2080, that means I'm doing both an urban and regional major and an environmental sustainability major and still managing to complete my program in 3 years! If I carefully select my units in 3rd year and ensuring that I complete 40 units of 3rd year courses listed in each major, which I can easily do due to the amount of electives I still have, I’ll easily get a double major. To do this just learn your course outline, find the courses that you can double count, and enrol in them!
3) In all honesty your hsc studies won’t play much of a role. I personally did economics, yet didn’t do any geography (amusing since I’m doing urban and regional development) and society and culture. 1st year soca courses are really boring and basically are common sense. As said previously, I didn’t do geography and managed to get a distinction in geog1030 and a high distinction in geog1020, with a mark of 93. People who've done those courses might have a slight advantage, yet it doesn’t mean your not going to grasp the concepts. If you do your readings you’re almost guaranteed a high distinction.
Development studies isn’t really well known. Currently in my year, we have about 20 students studying it. If you do this degree you will continually see blank faces when you say ‘I do development studies’. Most people I know didn’t even know it existed until I told them that’s what I studied. What you have to understand is that this degree has only been around for 5 years now. In its first year it had only 4 students. This means that the degree is still relatively unknown and it is still being continually changed around. I’ve only been studying it for a year, yet I’ve already seen major changes to its structure and the type of courses offered. Until the end of last year, no aboriginal courses existed in this program. It is certainly growing though. Excluding this years cut off of 74, the development studies uai requirement was increasing exponentially. It started at 65 in its opening year and last years cut-off was almost at 80. If the degree can manage to avoid the universities culling of degrees, then you can see that this degree will certainly grow in time.
Well I think I’ve gone on for long enough. Hope this makes some sense.
2) Alright double major time. I'm assuming you have a general idea of the development studies course outline. As you can see 1st year is mostly all prescribed. You have to do 60 units out the 80 they list there, with the option to do 20 units in electives. Be aware that if you wish to do honours, you have to do all of those 8 courses they list (two socas, two econs, two geogs, 1 envs and 1emgt). In your second year you'll notice that the amount of core courses is much lower. This is the time in which you start your major. You'll notice that with certain majors (predominately urban and regional development, cultures and citizenships and environmental sustainability) they have the same courses listed at the 2000 level. In this degree, you can double count courses towards your major. You have to do 30 units of core courses in 2nd year. I’m personally doing poli2050, poli2020 and geog2130. That means I satisfy the core course requirements. In my major I’m doing envs2010, geog2080 and socs2400. If you look down to the environmental sustainability major, you'll notice envs2010, geog2080 are listed. Remember however that you cannot count core courses towards your major. That’s why I haven’t listed the other courses that I'm doing that are listed in the environmental sustainability major. However since I can double count envs2010 and geog2080, that means I'm doing both an urban and regional major and an environmental sustainability major and still managing to complete my program in 3 years! If I carefully select my units in 3rd year and ensuring that I complete 40 units of 3rd year courses listed in each major, which I can easily do due to the amount of electives I still have, I’ll easily get a double major. To do this just learn your course outline, find the courses that you can double count, and enrol in them!
3) In all honesty your hsc studies won’t play much of a role. I personally did economics, yet didn’t do any geography (amusing since I’m doing urban and regional development) and society and culture. 1st year soca courses are really boring and basically are common sense. As said previously, I didn’t do geography and managed to get a distinction in geog1030 and a high distinction in geog1020, with a mark of 93. People who've done those courses might have a slight advantage, yet it doesn’t mean your not going to grasp the concepts. If you do your readings you’re almost guaranteed a high distinction.
Development studies isn’t really well known. Currently in my year, we have about 20 students studying it. If you do this degree you will continually see blank faces when you say ‘I do development studies’. Most people I know didn’t even know it existed until I told them that’s what I studied. What you have to understand is that this degree has only been around for 5 years now. In its first year it had only 4 students. This means that the degree is still relatively unknown and it is still being continually changed around. I’ve only been studying it for a year, yet I’ve already seen major changes to its structure and the type of courses offered. Until the end of last year, no aboriginal courses existed in this program. It is certainly growing though. Excluding this years cut off of 74, the development studies uai requirement was increasing exponentially. It started at 65 in its opening year and last years cut-off was almost at 80. If the degree can manage to avoid the universities culling of degrees, then you can see that this degree will certainly grow in time.
Well I think I’ve gone on for long enough. Hope this makes some sense.
The_highwayman
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Thanks. That is a great help. I'm gunna go do some research now...
*runs off to study course outline*
*runs off to study course outline*
You might want to check out this website
http://www.ayad.com.au/public/home.aspx
http://www.ayad.com.au/public/home.aspx
holy crap craig, way to write an essay..
@ highwayman -
@ highwayman -
yeh..macro sucks ass, but it is a good idea to keep honours available to yourself..who knows what you'll be thinking in 3 years timeThe_highwayman said:
i never did economics at school, and while micro and macro are horrible courses (at least for someone who has almost zero interest in economics), they are passable (although really go for it in macro..i know passing was very close for a lot of people in my degree last year haha)..i did society and culture, but not geography..but i know they both have their similarities so i don't think you should have any issues..i also did earth and environmental science in year 11 and 12 which helped me a fair bit as some of the things we learnt i had already come across at school..my friend did both geography and ees in school and said they were verrrrrry simliar..so i think you'll be fine..but anyway, as craig said, do the work and you're all goodThe_highwayman said:
yeh, you're right hehe..last year, the no. of dev studies students began at 25 which quickly dropped to about 16..and you'll learn to dread people asking what you do at uni, don't worryThe_highwayman said:
The_highwayman
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OMG! DEVELOPMENT STUDIES PICNIC! YEAH!
Em_516, craig, r u gunna be there?!
Em_516, craig, r u gunna be there?!
The_highwayman
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LOL
I went to the wrong tute room today...and didnt realise until it was more than half over...
how embarrasment.
I went to the wrong tute room today...and didnt realise until it was more than half over...
how embarrasment.
ButterflyFish
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these are probably stupid questions... but what kind of jobs do you get after your finished uni, what kind of uai do you think it will be, can you do dual degrees and how long does the course take?
1) For more detail, look at the posts in this thread. There are heaps of job opportunities, such as town planning, environmental consultancy, social impact assessment, urban design, development officer etc. You might even be lucky and get work overseas
2) You can't really guess what the uai requirement will be for 2006. It’s reliant on to many unpredictable factors. The highest it’s ever been is 79, yet it now stands at 74.
3) You can’t do generic combined degrees anymore. If you want to do another degree you'll have to do it once you complete development studies, which means you’ll be at university for at least 6 years.
4) The degree takes 3 years, plus another year if you wish to do honours.
2) You can't really guess what the uai requirement will be for 2006. It’s reliant on to many unpredictable factors. The highest it’s ever been is 79, yet it now stands at 74.
3) You can’t do generic combined degrees anymore. If you want to do another degree you'll have to do it once you complete development studies, which means you’ll be at university for at least 6 years.
4) The degree takes 3 years, plus another year if you wish to do honours.
The_highwayman
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"environmental values and ethics". damn compulsory courses.em_516 said:
Does Development studies stay this bad? or does it get better?
oh damn haha, i thought you'd gone into the wrong subject altogether..would've been funnier
and yes, envs sucks ass..who's your tutor? i hated mine, and i hated the presentation and agh..and it gets better i spose, depending on what you like
and yes, envs sucks ass..who's your tutor? i hated mine, and i hated the presentation and agh..and it gets better i spose, depending on what you like
The_highwayman
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did u go to the picnic today? I met craig, but didnt make myself known.
I've applied to transfer to architecture. I hated everything i was doing in devstuds and, while i'll admit i didnt give it much time, i am much more enthused about architecture. If i dont get in, i'll drop out and re-apply next year.
I've applied to transfer to architecture. I hated everything i was doing in devstuds and, while i'll admit i didnt give it much time, i am much more enthused about architecture. If i dont get in, i'll drop out and re-apply next year.
hahahaha, i had a feeling something like that would happen
i DID go, and then walked straight back out..my friend didn't think she'd be allowed to get away with eating for free and although i told her she could, we went to the gt bar instead anyway
agreed, i don't think you've given it much chance, but fair enough, your decision
i DID go, and then walked straight back out..my friend didn't think she'd be allowed to get away with eating for free and although i told her she could, we went to the gt bar instead anyway
agreed, i don't think you've given it much chance, but fair enough, your decision