Bachelor of Sport Development

Health Promotion extends beyond raising awareness of healthcare issues. It also involves developing and implementing strategies for communities, individuals and policy makers to support good health and wellbeing. Health Promotion graduates help address health inequities in communities, link individuals and communities with healthcare, and assist individuals and communities to follow healthy behaviours, working across sectors and engaging collaboratively with communities to do so. Health promotion projects are as diverse as injury prevention, skin cancer prevention, HIV/AIDS awareness and community development. Health promotion professionals work in diverse settings including healthcare, workplace and educational facilities, community, local, state and federal government, private industry and not-for profit organisations.   

The major combines studies of health politics and planning, health promotion practice and public health with a comprehensive foundation in the health sciences to develop the professional competencies important for ethical and safe practice. Students will develop the skills required to work in multidisciplinary teams. Evidence-based practice is one of the most important trends in healthcare today and a strong feature of the program. This Major will be identified on the Student’s Academic Transcript following completion of the course. 

Public health is the science of disease prevention, prolonging life and improving health for individuals and their communities. This work is achieved by promoting healthy lifestyles, researching disease prevention, conducting population health assessment and measurement, improving environmental health, engaging the community and detecting, preventing and responding to infectious diseases. Public health professionals are required to assess and respond to emerging public health issues and work in a variety of settings, including national and state health departments, community organisations and the global health sector.   

The Public Health major builds a student’s knowledge of the biological, social, cultural, economic and physical factors that underpin the health of a population and how to promote health for all. Students will also develop and use skills in epidemiology and biostatistics, surveillance and prevention, and public health policy. This Major will be identified on the Student’s Academic Transcript following completion of the course. 

The Sport Management major is designed for people who seek careers in Australian and international Sport management. Specialist subjects provide students with a capacity to understand and function within the increasingly dedicated context in which sport is played, organised and managed. Students who complete this major will be equipped with the skills and knowledge to manage sport experiences pertaining to globalisation and emerging contemporary issues in sport. Graduates find career employment at all levels of government as well as within the private sector for both commercial and non-commercial organisations. Positions include project management of facilities and events, management and coordination of leisure, sport and civic event departments, sport marketing, player management and sport public relations, elite sport development, sport and leisure programming. 

The Peace and Development Studies major is concerned with methods for promoting peace, human rights and sustainability. It involves a critical analysis of inequalities of power and opportunity that lead to international and local conflict, social dislocation and environmental degradation. Students will examine the structural causes of racist and gendered violence, environmental crises, forced migration, poverty, resource conflict, and inter-generational inequity. The inter-related network of solutions includes empowerment and self-determination, sustainable living, constructive development, peacemaking and peace building. These require understanding of the theories and method for identifying, measuring and resolving conflict and environmental degradation. The assumptions and failings of traditional development practice are critically assessed. Students will engage social theory within an interdisciplinary and applied framework, at local, national and international levels. The major is comprised of three fields: 1) structural inequality, social justice and human rights; 2) development and sustainability; 3) peace and humanitarian responses/actions.

Sustainable development balances the need for development with the need to respect cultures, society, community and the environment. Students will examine processes of development and the mechanisms to ensure that development is socially and environmentally sustainable.