Bachelor of Arts (Photography) (Honours)

This honours degree will provide you with the advanced knowledge and skills to effectively adapt to various ways of thinking and making photographic images. You will be guided through personalised mentorship and individual supervision, as you are introduced to practice-led research and research methodologies. Through intensive studio-based research and workshop practice, you will develop creative autonomy and a critical and ethical understanding of photography that will allow you to make significant cultural contributions.
The Bachelor of Arts (Photography) (Honours) is designed for students who have successfully completed a three-year degree in photography, and who wish to undertake a further year of study to focus exclusively on an individual project.
The degree will also appeal to commercial photographers, photographers with commissioned practices (such as advertising, editorial or fashion photographers), photojournalists, socially engaged practitioners, artists, designers and other creative industry professionals seeking a more advanced studio practice in photography.
RMIT has many close links with photographic and aligned creative industries which take a variety of forms. Academics are professional photographers, photo-journalists, artists, editors, writers and curators maintaining strong linkages within national and global photographic practice and the community. External industry experts and speakers are regularly engaged to speak to students through a number of forums, and international study tours are available. RMIT holds existing and longstanding partnerships and connections with the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), the Centre for Contemporary Photography, the Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP), regional galleries and many other photographic institutions.

Career
Honours graduates will have more expansive employment opportunities within the enterprise formation and employment portfolio areas due to increased skills and time for self-directed and autonomous study. Graduates gain skills in creative thinking and problem solving that are valued by employers in a range of sectors. Specifically, graduates from this degree will be more competitive in those careers and markets where higher qualifications are desired, such as museums, galleries, government institutes, education, community organisations and private sector organisations.
Photography as an industry is constantly changing to meet global shifts in image culture, and the more traditional role of the ‘professional photographer’ has diversified to incorporate not only competition from related disciplines, but a broadening demand for discipline expertise and more complex understandings of the power of images in culture. This is evident in social media platforms, the speed of global image distribution and the extensive knowledge required to respond with sensitivity to vulnerable communities around the world.

You must have successfully completed an Australian bachelor degree (or equivalent overseas qualification) in a relevant photographic discipline with a minimum GPA of 2.0 (out of 4.0).


IELTS (Academic): minimum overall band of 6.5 (with no individual band below 6.0)
TOEFL (Internet Based Test - IBT): minimum overall score of 79 (with minimum of 13 in Reading, 12 in Listening, 18 in Speaking and 21 in Writing)