News Archive
New degrees mean more research at Avondale
17 March 2010
Brenton Stacey
Public relations officer
Avondale College now offers a Master of Arts by research after receiving approval from the New South Wales Department of Education and Training.
The external panel reviewing the course made several commendations and no recommendations, reports Associate Professor Daniel Reynaud, the dean of the Faculty of Arts. He says the panel described the course--its accessibility and flexibility, particularly the inclusion of artistic practice as research--as exciting and the submission as well-balanced and composed. "The course reflects our faculty members' range of interests and offers our students entry into postgraduate research from an undergraduate degree."
The course is available in any of the disciplines--communication, English, geography, history, international development studies, music, visual arts and visual communication--in the Faculty of Arts. It is accredited for the maximum five years and offers a student entry into postgraduate research without the student having to complete an undergraduate honours degree, provided the student's grades in their undergraduate degree are good. A student can also choose to complete the course by writing only a thesis or by writing a thesis and practicing as an artist or as a professional.
Three students have already received approval to study. One is studying music criticism in Australia, another the integration of classical and jazz pedagogy in clarinet and another aspects of the Seventh-day Adventist Church's ministry to indigenous people in Australia.
Avondale now also offers a Bachelor of Theology (Honours). The course, accredited for the maximum five years, offers a student entry into a PhD without the student having to complete a master's degree by research. It is also the first honours degree offered outside of education and nursing. Two students have already received approval to study.
The Master of Arts (Research) and the Bachelor of Theology (Honours) fill gaps in the course offerings at Avondale, says vice-president (administration and research) Dr Vivienne Watts. "We now provide a seamless suite of courses in these disciplines that take students from a bachelor's to a PhD."
The courses will also help Avondale in its quest to achieve university status. One of the criteria is the number of students studying by research. The minimum is 2.7 per cent of the number of equivalent full-time study load students; Avondale has about 2 per cent. "But a student in a master's degree by research counts as much as a student in a PhD," says Vivienne. "We're building to a critical mass."
Avondale now offers master's degrees by research in arts, education, nursing and theology and PhD degrees in education, health, history and theology.
Caption: The new Master of Arts at Avondale means the college now offers master's degrees by research in four faculties: arts; education; nursing; and theology. It also continues to offer master's degrees--such as the Master of Ministry, from which these students are graduating--by coursework.
Credit: D & V Photography
Back to the News Archive
