Bachelor of Biological Sciences

Course code/s: Melbourne (SBBIS)

Course structure

The course is of three years full-time or equivalent part-time duration and requires the completion of 360 credit points. Students must complete subjects with a total value of at least 120 credit points in each of the first, second and third years of study, with a minimum of 60, 60 and 60 credit points in the first, second and third years respectively from subjects offered by the Biological Science departments (Biochemistry, Botany, Genetics, Microbiology and Zoology).

First year (120 credit points)

The first year consists of:

60 credit points of biology (see core subjects below)
at least 15 credit points of chemistry (see core subjects below) and
45 credit points of elective subjects (see recommended subject list below), including at least one 15 credit point subject from the Faculty of Science, Technology and Engineering.

Teaching period	Subject name	Subject code	Credit Points
TE-SEM-1	Animal Evolution and Diversity	BIO1AD	15
TE-SEM-1	Organisation and Function of Cells and Organisms	BIO1OF	15
TE-SEM-2	Genetics, Human Biology and Evolution	BIO1GEN	15
TE-SEM-2	Plant Science	BIO1PS	15
TE-SEM-1 / TE-SEM-2	Choose a first year level subject from the Faculty of Science, Technology and Engineering		15
TE-SEM-1 / TE-SEM-2	Choose two first year level subjects		30
	Choose one first-semester chemistry subject. Students who have passed VCE Chemistry, Units 3 and 4 or equivalent, must choose CHE1GEN.
TE-SEM-1	Basic Chemistry	CHE1BAS	15
TE-SEM-1	General Principles of Chemistry	CHE1GEN	15

Recommended subjects

Please note: some subject combinations are not possible because of timetable clashes. Other subjects have prerequisite requirements; these requirements are listed in the full subject descriptions on the Web Database (see www.latrobe.edu.au/udb_public) and should be checked carefully. All subjects are worth 15 credit points.

Teaching period	Subject name	Subject code	Credit Points
TE-SEM-1	Calculus and Number Systems	MAT1CNS	15
TE-SEM-1	Culture and Globalisation: An Introduction to Anthropology	ANT1CAG	15
TE-SEM-1	Discovering Archaeology	ARC1DAR	15
TE-SEM-1	Discrete Mathematics	MAT1DM	15
TE-SEM-1	Great Philosophical Ideas	PHI1GPI	15
TE-SEM-1	Information Technology Fundamentals	CSE1ITF	15
TE-SEM-1	Object-Oriented Programming Fundamentals	CSE1OOF	15
TE-SEM-1	Introductory Electronics	ELE1IEL	15
TE-SEM-1	Physics for Life Sciences A	PHY1LSA	15
TE-SEM-1	Principles of Physics A²	PHY1SCA	15
TE-SEM-1	Processes that Shape the Earth	GEO1PRO	15
TE-SEM-1	Experimental Foundations of Psychological Science	PSY1EFP	15
TE-SEM-1	Self and Community: Introduction to Sociology	SOC1SAC	15
TE-SEM-1	Data Based Critical Thinking	STA1DCT	15
TE-SEM-2	Applications of Chemistry¹	CHE1APL	15
TE-SEM-2	Astronomy and Space: The Infinite Frontier	PHY1AST	15
TE-SEM-2	Australia and Beyond: Introduction to Sociology	SOC1AAB	15
TE-SEM-2	Basic Electronic Circuits	ELE1CCT	15
TE-SEM-2	Biology and Philosophy	PHI1BAP	15
TE-SEM-2	Calculus and Linear Algebra	MAT1CLA	15
TE-SEM-2	Dawn of Humanity	ARC1DOH	15
TE-SEM-2	Earth Structure, Resources and History of Life	GEO1ERS	15
TE-SEM-2	Our Global Village: Introduction to Anthropology	ANT1FET	15
TE-SEM-2	Intermediate Object-Oriented Programming	CSE1IOO	15
TE-SEM-2	Mathematical Applications in Biology	MAT1MAB	15
TE-SEM-2	Philosophical Problems	PHI1PPR	15
TE-SEM-2	Physics for Life Sciences B	PHY1LSB	15
TE-SEM-2	Principles of Physics B²	PHY1SCB	15
TE-SEM-2	Clinical Foundations of Psychological Science	PSY1CFP	15
TE-SEM-2	Statistical Science	STA1SS	15
TE-SEM-2	Statistics for Life Sciences	STA1LS	15
TE-SEM-2	Statistics for Psychology	STA1PSY	15
TE-SEM-2	The Archaeology of Ancient Civilisations	ARC1AAC	15

Key: 1 In order to proceed to second year biochemistry or soil science, students must take CHE1BAS.

2 Linked subjects, normally taken in the one academic year.

Second year (120 credit points)

The second year consists of:

60 credit points of biology (from the core subjects listed below) and
30 credit points from other subjects or further biology subjects (see list of recommended subjects below).
30 credit points from any subjects offered by the university for which pre-requisities have been met.

Teaching period	Subject name	Subject code	Credit Points
	Students must choose subjects to the value of 60 credit points from the list below. Unless a clearly defined three-year program of study has been organised, it is highly recommended that students complete a full year of study in at least two biological science disciplines in order to ensure flexibility of subject choice at the third year level.
TE-SEM-1	Australian Fauna and Ecology	ZOO2FE	15
TE-SEM-1	Introduction to Biochemistry and Molecular Biology	BCH2IBM	15
TE-SEM-1	Molecular and Human Genetics	GEN2MHG	15
TE-SEM-1	Introductory Microbiology	MIC2MI	15
TE-SEM-1	Inner Life of Plants	BOT2ILP	15
TE-SEM-1	Practice of Science	BIO2POS	15
TE-SEM-2	Animal Physiology	ZOO2AP	15
TE-SEM-2	Plant Diversity and Ecology	BOT2PDE	15
TE-SEM-2	Metabolic Biochemistry and Cell Biology	BCH2MBC	15
TE-SEM-2	Ecological Genetics and Evolution	GEN2EGE	15
TE-SEM-2	Medical and Veterinary Microbiology	MIC2MMV	15
	30 credit points of second year level subjects selected from Science, Technology and Engineering. This includes subjects from the above core subjects list.
	30 credit points of second year level subjects selected from any department in the university.

Key:

1 Incompatible with PHI1BAP

2 Incompatible with STA1LS

Third year (120 credit points)

The third year consists of:

60 credit points of biology chosen from subjects offered by departments in the biological sciences (see core subjects below) and
60 credit points from other subjects or additional biology subjects, if no more than 60 credit points are taken from any one biological science discipline area. All subjects are worth 30 credit points.

Teaching period	Subject name	Subject code	Credit Points
	Students must choose subjects to the value of 60 credit points from the list below
TE-SEM-1	Advanced Medical and Veterinary Microbiology	MIC3AMM	30
TE-SEM-1	Advanced Topics in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology	BCH3BMA	30
TE-SEM-1	Field and Environmental Botany	BOT3FEB	30
TE-SEM-1	Human and Molecular Genetics	GEN3HMG	30
TE-SEM-1	Zoology A	ZOO3EPA	30
TE-SEM-2	Ecological and Evolutionary Genetics	GEN3EEG	30
TE-SEM-2	Ecology, Systematics and Evolution	BOT3ESE	30
TE-SEM-2	Advanced Microbiology	MIC3AM	30
TE-SEM-2	Advanced Topics in Biochemistry and Cell Biology	BCH3BMB	30
TE-SEM-2	Plant Biotechnology	BOT3PB	30
TE-SEM-2	Zoology B	ZOO3EPB	30
TE-SEM-1 / TE-SEM-2	Choose additional third year level subjects		60

Programs of study

Most students in biological sciences choose two major areas of study from the five subject areas available. For those who wish to tailor their courses in particular directions, the following table is designed to assist students planning their course of study at second and third year levels. Listed below are programs of study available with suitable combinations of subjects from the Biological Science Departments. Honours courses relevant to these programs are available in each of the five Biology Departments. Some subjects at second and third year levels have prerequisites. Subjects with one prerequisite are marked 1 and subjects with more than one prerequisite are marked 2. You should carefully check prerequisites when planning your course of study.

Ecology

To study in the area of ecology, students enrol in:

Second year	Third year
Teaching period I Choose four of:	Teaching period II Choose four of:	Teaching period I	Teaching period II Choose two of:
ZOO2FE	GEN2EGE¹	BOT3FEB¹	BOT3ESE¹
BOT2MILP²	BOT2PDE¹	ZOO3EPA¹	ZOO3EPB¹
MIC2IMI¹	MIC2MMV²		GEN3EEG¹
BIO2POS	ZOO2AP²
WCB2IC

Human biology

To study in the area of human biology, students enrol in:

Second year	Third year
Teaching period I	Teaching period II Choose four of:	Teaching period I Choose two of:	Teaching period II Choose two of:
BCH2IMB²	BCH2MBC²	BCH3BMA²	BCH3BMB²
GEN2MHG¹	GEN2EGE¹	GEN3HMG²	GEN3EEG¹
MIC2MI¹	MIC2MMV²	MIC3AMM²	MIC3AM²
BIO2POS	ZOO2AP¹	ZOO3EPA¹	ZOO3EPB¹

Note: Third year zoology components are chosen from the physiology stream.

Cell and molecular biology

To study in the area of cell and molecular biology, students enrol in:

Second year	Third year
Teaching period I Choose four of:	Teaching period II Choose four of:	Teaching period I Choose two of:	Teaching period II Choose two of:
BCH2IMB²	BCH2MBC²	BCH3BMA²	BCH3BMB²
BOT2ILP²	GEN2EGE¹	GEN3HMG¹	BOT3PB¹
GEN2MHG¹	MIC2MMV¹	MIC3AMM²	MIC3AM²
MIC2IMI¹	ZOO2AP	ZOO3EPA¹	ZOO3EPB¹
BIO2POS

Note: Third year Zoology components are chosen from the physiology stream.

Honours

Honours degree students are selected based on their performance in the final year of the pass degree course. Students must obtain a minimum average of 60% across all of their third year subjects and obtain at least 65% in subjects germane to the Honours discipline to the value of 60 credit points. Some departments may set higher entrance standards than these. An Honours year may be taken in any of the departments contributing to the pass degree course for which they have the appropriate prerequisites.

Please note: Some of these subjects may not be offered in the current year. For a full description of subjects, including the subject name, subject code, credit points, campus/location, teaching period and availability, subject coordinator, class requirements, assessment, prerequisites and readings, please click on the appropriate Subject Code or refer to the Subject Database at www.latrobe.edu.au/udb_public.

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