Benchmarking the Australian Bachelor of Arts A summary of trends across the Australian Bachelor of Arts degree programs September 2012 Further enquiries about this report should be addressed to: Deanne Gannaway Manager: Evaluation Unit Teaching and Educational Development Institute (TEDI) University of Queensland St Lucia QLD 4072 Tel: 07 3365 6728 Fax: 07 3365 1966 [email protected] This document was commissioned by the Australasian Council of Deans of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (DASSH): <www.dassh.edu.au>. This document should be cited as: Gannaway, D and Sheppard, K. (2012) Benchmarking the Australian Bachelor of Arts: A Summary of trends across the Australian Bachelor of Arts Degree Programs. Teaching & Educational Development Institute (TEDI), University of Queensland. TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................................................................. 3 Table of Tables .................................................................................................................................................... 5 Table of Figures .................................................................................................................................................. 5 Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................................................... 6 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................ 7 Summary of key findings .................................................................................................................................... 7 PART 1: PROJECT APPROACH ............................................................................................................................... 12 1. Project Aims and Definitions ........................................................................................................................ 12 2. Project Approach .......................................................................................................................................... 13 2.1 Data sources ........................................................................................................................................... 13 2.2 Data analysis ........................................................................................................................................... 14 3. Project outcomes .......................................................................................................................................... 14 3.1 Summary of trends across the Australian Bachelor of Arts Programs .................................................... 14 3.2 Summary of BA programs report ............................................................................................................ 14 3.3 Data sets ................................................................................................................................................. 14 PART 2: PROJECT FINDINGS .................................................................................................................................. 15 1. Addressing Challenges .................................................................................................................................. 15 1.1 Linking Arts to future employment prospects ........................................................................................ 15 1.2 Attracting students with high entry scores ............................................................................................ 15 1.3 BA offerings in regional areas ................................................................................................................. 20 2. Program Structure ........................................................................................................................................ 21 2.1 Incremental study ................................................................................................................................... 22 2.2 Capstones and core units ....................................................................................................................... 22 3. Program Content .......................................................................................................................................... 23 3.1 Majors offered in the BA ........................................................................................................................ 23 3.2 Requirements for breadth ...................................................................................................................... 25 3.3 Work integrated learning ....................................................................................................................... 26 4. Program Purpose .......................................................................................................................................... 27 4.1 Program descriptions ............................................................................................................................. 27 4.2 Professions based ................................................................................................................................... 27 4.3 Graduate attributes ................................................................................................................................ 27 5. Program management .................................................................................................................................. 29 6. Program Uptake ............................................................................................................................................ 31 3 6.1 Student Numbers ................................................................................................................................... 31 6.2 Dual degrees ........................................................................................................................................... 35 6.3 Completions ............................................................................................................................................ 36 6.4 ATAR scores ............................................................................................................................................ 38 6.5 Honours .................................................................................................................................................. 39 7. Program Outcomes ....................................................................................................................................... 40 7.1 Salaries ................................................................................................................................................... 41 7.2 Satisfaction ............................................................................................................................................. 42 7.3 Job types ................................................................................................................................................. 44 7.4 Further study .......................................................................................................................................... 45 8. Future Challenges ......................................................................................................................................... 46 8.1 The BA is a hidden degree ...................................................................................................................... 46 8.2. Spiral of change ..................................................................................................................................... 46 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................................................... 47 APPENDICES .......................................................................................................................................................... 48 Appendix 1: Data Reduction Framework .............................................................................................................. 48 Appendix 2: Glossary and Acronyms .................................................................................................................... 50 Appendix 3: Summary of changes 2012/2013 ...................................................................................................... 52 4 Table of Tables Table 1: Single degree Arts-related programs available in 2006 and 2010 against student enrolment .............. 16 Table 2: Number of Required Core Units available, 2008 and 2012, by year level .............................................. 22 Table 3: Number of level 2 and level 3 core units in 2012 offered by provider ................................................... 23 Table 4: Number of majors in BA degrees by provider in 2008 and 2012 ............................................................ 24 Table 5: Top ten majors offered in 2008 and 2012 .............................................................................................. 25 Table 6: Top five discipline areas available in Australia in 2008 and 2012 by number of