Graduate Profile for the
Bachelor of Social Sciences (BSocSc)

2006

Preamble

The papers offered by the University of Waikato towards the Bachelor of Social Sciences (BSocSc) have been designed to achieve the mastery of content, acquisition of skills and development of attributes. Learning experiences are incorporated into the programme to bring about these desired outcomes, and assessment is designed to ensure that students have the opportunity to demonstrate their achievement.

The University has developed strong relationships and networks with communities and businesses to ensure that its programmes and qualifications are relevant and responsive to our students’ needs as well as their needs. The University is also responsive to a range of social and economic goals which have been identified as priorities by Government. The generic capabilities developed by our graduates are of critical importance, as are specialist knowledge and skills. This graduate profile includes an outline of its links with other education sector groups, community groups, industry and employers who have an interest in the capabilities of graduates of this qualification, who contribute to programme planning and development and who also, in many cases, provide workplace experience opportunities.

The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences seeks in all its qualifications to familiarise students with central bodies of knowledge in the subject areas of Arts and Social Sciences, to encourage the development of the ability to analyse such knowledge critically, to provide the skills needed to articulate their knowledge and positions and to contribute to the extension of knowledge by research.

The BSocSc is a three-year programme of study of the various ways in which human beings interact in society. It entails the detailed study of a Social Science subject as well as the acquisition of skills in corresponding research methodologies.

Mastery of Content

Bachelor of Social Sciences graduates have advanced knowledge in at least one of the following Social Sciences subjects:

Asian Studies
Anthropology
Economics
Education Studies
Geography
History
Human Development
Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management
Labour Studies
Linguistics
Māori and Pacific Development
Philosophy
Political Science
Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE)
Psychology
Public Policy
Resources and Environmental Planning (REP)
Social Policy
Sociology
Tikanga Māori
Tourism Studies
Women’s and Gender Studies

• They also develop breadth of knowledge through study of a supporting subject or subjects. The supporting subjects include those listed above (with the exception of Cognitive Science, PPE and REP) together with Art History, Classical Studies, English for Academic Purposes, New Zealand Studies, Pacific Studies, Population Studies/Demography, Social Science Research, Te Tiriti O Waitangi and Women’s and Gender Studies.
• They also have knowledge of social sciences methodology.
• Because of the flexibility of the BSocSc degree programme, graduates may have taken up to eight papers outside the Social Sciences subjects or have completed a double major in an Social Sciences subject and another outside the Social Sciences subjects.
• Graduates will have knowledge of the main methods of enquiry in their subject(s) of choice.
• Graduates will have knowledge of the different approaches to solving problems and the techniques applicable to research in their area(s) of study.

Acquisition of Skills

Bachelor of Social Sciences graduates will have critical thinking skills, oral and communication skills, self-directed learning skills and more specific skills relevant to their subject(s) of choice. These skills will include:

• the ability to engage critically with information presented in a range of media and styles.
• the ability to analyse and evaluate information and the ability to formulate reasoned arguments leading to rational conclusions.
• the ability to solve problems by synthesizing and critically assessing information and applying it appropriately.
• the ability to apply a high level of communication skills in English and/or Māori.
• a familiarity with the appropriate conventions for formal academic communication in the Social Sciences disciplines.
• the ability to structure their communication clearly and to express sophisticated and subtle concepts and arguments in an articulate manner and in a variety of forms to specialist and non-specialist audiences .
• the ability to access information from a range of media (including electronic media) and evaluate its relevance to a situation or topic.
• the ability to utilise their learning skills to provide them with the means of continuing learning throughout life.
• the ability to be self-directed in their approach and to plan their work to meet time and other constraints.
• the ability to apply underlying concepts and principles outside the context in which they were first studied, including, where appropriate, the application of those principles in an employment context.
• ability to apply the methods and techniques that they have learned.
• ability to evaluate methodologies and develop critiques of them and, where appropriate, to propose new hypotheses.
• the ability to evaluate critically current scholarship in the discipline.
• the ability to conceptualise, design and implement a project and to adjust the project in the light of unforeseen problems.

Development of Attributes

Bachelor of Social Sciences graduates will have:

• intellectual judgement, flexibility and adaptability due developed by their exposure to rival perspectives, approaches, and theories, and their experience of grappling with open-ended questions.
• an ability to judge and assess, and to integrate knowledge. These attributes equip them to confront a wide variety of unanticipated tasks and situations (in employment and elsewhere).
• a significant understanding of people and of the conditions, circumstances, structures and dynamics of, and affecting, social interaction.
• an ability to understand the nature of the range of interactions which take place around them.
• the capacity for cross-cultural communication.
• the capacity for working cooperatively with diverse groups and individuals and contributing effectively to collective projects.
• an ability to determine criteria for evaluating their own and others’ performance in relation to a task.
• an awareness and understanding of ethical issues that relate to their area of study and its application.
• an international, bicultural and multicultural perspective and understanding fostering tolerance and respect.

Graduate Pathways in Further Education

Bachelor of Social Sciences graduates are equipped to proceed onto a wide range of qualifications, including the following offered by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences:

Bachelor of Social Sciences with Honours
Bachelor of Arts with Honours
Graduate Diploma in Arts
Graduate Diploma in Social Sciences
Graduate Diploma in Applied Ethics
Graduate Diploma in Religious Studies
Graduate Diploma in Screen and Media Studies
Graduate Diploma in Social Science Research
Postgraduate Diploma in International Relations and Security Studies
Postgraduate Diploma in Psychology (Clinical)
Postgraduate Diploma in Psychology (Community)
Postgraduate Diploma in Public Policy
Postgraduate Diploma in Resources and Environmental Planning
Postgraduate Diploma in Second Language Teaching
Master of Social Sciences
Master of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy

Or the following qualifications offered by the School of M āori and Pacific Development:

Bachelor of Arts with Honours
Bachelor of Social Sciences with Honours
Postgraduate Diploma in M āori and Pacific Development
Master of Arts
Master of Māori and Pacific Development
Master of Social Sciences
Master of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy

Community and Workplace Prospects

Many of the subjects studied by Bachelor of Social Sciences graduates equip graduates for specific careers. For instance, Psychology graduates might become clinical or community psychologists, counsellors, social services managers or social workers. Resources and Environmental Planning graduates might become coastal resource officers or environmental planners, managers or consultants. Sociology and Social Policy graduates might become policy officers or analysts in Government departments (such as Foreign Affairs and Trade, The Treasury, Te Puni Kokiri, Labour, Immigration) or become social policy analysts.

Further examples of possible workplace prospects include the following: communications coordinator, community health administrator, demographer, economist (at the NZIER, Reserve Bank, OEDC or IMF), educator (at all levels), hazards and emergency management officer, human resource advisor, industrial relations advocate, international marketing manager, journalist, public relations consultant, research executive, tourism consultant, transport network developer, union organiser, urban and regional planner, a nthropologist, careers adviser, community youth worker, employment relations analyst, Māori health development officer, public relations co-ordinator, refugee officer, social development director and women’s health project officer.

However, more generally the breadth of the overall skills and attributes Bachelor of Social Sciences graduates have acquired through their studies provide them with the critical analysis skills and the understanding to make a positive, relevant and innovative contribution to the social and economic development, the labour market and community of New Zealand.

Networks into Other Sectors

There are subject areas within the Bachelor of Social Sciences and departments and individual staff members that have networks and relationships with a diverse range of business, community and other relevant sectors, the support and input of which are invaluable to the disciplines. These include, for instance, networks and relationships with the wider education sector, particularly with secondary schools, linguistic and cultural groups, iwi bodies (i.e. Marae committees), community development organisations, tribal authorities, embassies and government or business organisations, historical organisations, international organisations, and industrial and professional groups or organisations. These networks are dynamic and range from local and regional networks to links with national and international bodies. Geography, for instance, has links with regional government and was instrumental in the development of the GIS. Population Studies/Demography has networks with local, national and international bodies. M ā ori have close national and international links with organisations such as Te Taura Whiri te reo M ā ori, the Ministry of Education, and Asian South Pacific Bureau of Adult Education (ASPBAE).

These networks and relationships contribute to the learning of the students and to the ongoing development of the programmes given the breadth of experience, relevance and access to the community brings home to the students that what they are studying is a society of which we are part. These also ensure the students are informed by and about the wider society and world of which we are a part through research related teaching.

More generalised links and networks exist as many subject areas provide consultancy services using their expertise to the greater community.

Workplace or other sector experience opportunities are provided through these networks and relationships, particularly in the case of Geography, Psychology, Resources and Environmental Planning and Tourism Studies.