Honours students

Honours in the School of Mathematical Sciences is a flexible one-year program to be taken in one of the disciplines of Applied Mathematics, Pure Mathematics and Statistics, or jointly between two of these disciplines. The program consists of both lectured subjects and a project assessed by a written thesis and seminar presentation.

Being an Honours student is quite different from being an undergraduate. Honours students will begin to develop research skills and take on more responsibility for managing their studies and independent learning. Typically we have 10–15 Honours students each year. Each student is allocated their own desk in shared offices within the School and additional privileges including access to the staff common room and computing facilities.


Benefits of further study

For students intending to join the workforce, completing an honours degree greatly increases your employability, your starting and continuing salaries, and job mobility. Recent honours graduates of ours are working with the Defence Sciences and Technology Organisation (DSTO), Australian Bureau of Statistics, pharmaceutical companies, traffic and transport consultants, the Commonwealth Bank, the Adelaide City Council, computer software companies and many other employers.

The Honours program is also an attractive option for potential teachers. A number of our recent Honours graduates have gone on to complete a Graduate Diplomas of Education which, together with the mathematical science training from the Honours program, is an excellent pathway to a career in education.

The Honours program is particularly important for students who wish to continue on to do research in any area of mathematics and statistics. An Honours degree is usually a prerequisite for admittance into a PhD program. Our Honours graduates have been accepted for PhD programs at major universities around the world.

As well as broadening your career prospects, Honours will allow you to study some of the most recent advances in mathematics, at levels only touched upon by undergraduate study. You will learn mathematical techniques for the new millennium, and hence the start of the pathways into modern mathematics and statistics and their applications: finance, information technology, information security, telecommunications, pharmaceutical trials, bioinformatics, fluid mechanics, quantum and relativistic physics, medical imaging and more.


Enrollment information

The basic prerequisites for undertaking Honours studies in Mathematical Sciences are at least 12 units from Level III Applied Mathematics, Pure Mathematics and Statistics courses at credit standard or better. For Honours in a single discipline there may be specific prerequisites which the Heads of Discipline or Honours Coordinator can explain. Students with other backgrounds of third year subjects may be accepted at the discretion of the Head of School.

If you are interested in doing Honours please complete an application form, and submit it to the School of Mathematical Sciences Office (Level 6, Innova 21). Students at the University of Adelaide who have satisfied the entry requirements for Honours will automatically receive an invitation to apply for Honours.

 

Honours courses

The School offers several courses at Honours level. Students may also take some Level III courses and Honours subjects from outside the School, for example in Computer Science and Physics and Mathematical Physics. Joint Honours degrees with some Disciplines outside the School are possible.


Honours projects

A main part of your Honours program is the completion of an Honours project. This is a wonderful opportunity to focus on an area which is of direct interest to you, and study it intensively. The Honours project culminates in a written thesis, and seminar presentation. During the one-year project, you will work closely with a project supervisor, who will also advise you on the best choice of courses relevant to your area of interest. A list of potential supervisors, and descriptions of available projects, appears below:

Projects choices are not restricted to those listed. If you already have a particular project in mind, discuss this with members of staff whose interests match your own.


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Further information


Honours students


Honours graduates