Overview

The School of Mathematics and Statistics (MathsStats) offers a number of Honours streams including in Physical Oceanography. The Honours year introduces students to the investigative and research aspects of knowledge and consists of advanced lecture courses, an Honours thesis and seminar participation. We offer expert supervision across a wide range … For more content click the Read More button below. Students who enrol in the Physical Oceanography Honours Stream are expected to have completed a mathematics major in an undergraduate science or other mathematically focused program. Students who have completed degrees in other cognate disciplines and who are completing a project within the usual concerns of physical oceanography may also apply for entry to this stream. Honours in Physical Oceanography can be completed full-time or part-time. Most students commence their enrolment in term 1  but entry in term 3 is available subject to resources. Students should check the MathStats Honours webpages for application procedures and enrolment deadlines.  Entry Requirements So that students have sufficient background to attempt the courses in the honours year, students must discuss their selection of Level III courses with the Applied Mathematics Honours Coordinator or another academic adviser. To enter honours in applied mathematics, students must have Completed a mathematics major in the Science or Advanced Science program or a physical oceanography major in the Science program, including at least 30 units of credit in Level III mathematics or which at least 18uoc must in in level III applied mathematics, orCompleted Stage 3 of the applied mathematics plan in the Advanced Mathematics degree orCompleted Stage 3 of the advanced physical oceanography major in Advanced Science orCompleted a suitable mathematics or statistics degree at another university. In addition, students will normally be required to have: An average above 70 in their level III mathematics courses andAn average above 70 in level III applied mathematics courses. The level III applied mathematics courses at UNSW are those courses numbered from MATH3010 to MATH3399 inclusive. With the permission of the Head of School (or nominee), a student may be allowed into Physical Oceanography Honours without having satisfied the specific departmental requirements, and instead have shown some evidence of the ability to undertake independent study.

Available in Program(s)
Single degree program(s) in which this specialisation is available:

Bachelor of Advanced Science (Honours) - BAdvSci(Hons)3962 - Advanced Science (Honours)
Bachelor of Science (Honours) - BSc(Hons)4500 - Science (Honours)

Specialisation Structure

Students must complete 48 UOC.

Core Courses30 Units of Credit:
Thesis Courses18 Units of Credit:

Enrolment Disclaimer

Please note that this Handbook is a comprehensive catalogue of our offerings and includes courses that can be taken to satisfy program requirements irrespective as to their availability for a particular year. Availability of courses is best checked using filters on this site or on the class timetable site.

You are responsible for ensuring that you enrol in courses according to your program requirements and by following the advice of your Program Authority. myUNSW enrolment checks that you have met enrolment requirements such as pre-requisites for individual courses but not that you are enrolling in courses that will count towards your program requirements.

Additional Information

The thesis component of Physical Oceanography honours requires a student to undertake an 18uoc thesis by enrolling in the course MATH4001 (Mathematics and Statistics Honours Thesis) in each of three successive terms. These courses form one thesis/project. Students (full or part-time) can complete the honours thesis  in any three consecutive terms of their honours enrolment.

Students will also be required to participate in the weekly honours seminar, which will be timetabled as a joint class in the thesis courses. This seminar is intended to allow students to practise their final honours seminar presentation, listen to presentations of other honours students and engage in other honours training activities. Students should also attend any appropriate seminars in their thesis area.  

The thesis will be assessed by at least two academic staff. The supervisor or supervisors of the thesis is expected to submit a report, but will not be a marker for the thesis. Students are required to give a short seminar on their thesis and this will account for 10% of the final mark for the thesis, the remaining 90% coming from the written thesis report.

The 30uoc coursework component of Physical Oceanography honours will consist of five 6uoc lecture courses at honours/postgraduate level (typically MATH5xxx courses).  The suite of courses must be approved by the Head of School or nominee and taken with the advice of the honours thesis supervisor. A student may be permitted to take one or, exceptionally, at most two, courses from outside the School of MathsStats, for example at the AMSI summer school, at another institution or at another UNSW academic unit.

The marks for the thesis and other honours courses will be combined to give a weighted average mark forming a final honours mark which will be rounded up and used to decide the grade of honours the student will be awarded as follows:

  • Honours class 1 -- final mark of 85 or over
  • Honours class 2, Division 1 -- final mark from 75 to 84
  • Honours class 2, Division 2 -- final mark from 65 to 74
  • Honours class 3 -- final mark from 50 to 64

Pathways

Students who successfully complete Mathematics or Statistics Honours are qualified to continue further in their research careers by applying to undertake postgraduate studies by PhD or Masters. Students with successful honours are qualified to enrol in a PhD program at UNSW. Students achieving a high Honours Grade (Class 1 or 2.1) may apply for an Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) PhD scholarship to support such studies. Further information can be obtained from MathsStats postgraduate studies webpages:

http://www.maths.unsw.edu.au/futurestudents/postgraduate-coursework
http://www.maths.unsw.edu.au/futurestudents/postgraduate-research

Graduates of a mathematics, physical oceanography or statistics honours plan are also well qualified to find employment in many sectors. Past honours graduates have found employment in areas such as banking, computing, education, finance, government, medical research and meteorology. The Australian Mathematical Society (http://www.austms.org.au/HomePage) and Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute (http://www.amsi.org.au/) maintain up-to-date information on career prospects in mathematics and statistics.

Pre-2019 Handbook Editions

Access past handbook editions (2018 and prior)
Pre-2019 Handbook Editions