Foundation Studies Program (Fast Track) - Arts (X0G:1) (0100809) + Diploma of Arts - Ancient Languages (A1A) (0100746)

Program Description Foundation Studies Program (Fast Track) - Arts (X0G:1) (0100809): The Foundation Studies program is a direct academic pathway to first-year undergraduate degree study, or an equivalent. The program acts as a bridging course for international students who wish to study a university undergraduate degree course but who don’t yet meet academic requirements and/or have the English language skills for tertiary study.

To successfully complete the program, students must achieve a 50% pass in all units, including English.

Upon successful completion of the course, graduates can enter one of the University of Tasmania’s undergraduate degree courses.

Diploma of Arts - Ancient Languages (A1A): The Diploma of Arts provides students with opportunities to interpret human culture and behaviour from different perspectives and periods. Their studies will explore today’s big questions. They will learn how to support the social and economic development of the human race and/or to be immersed in creativity, performance and innovation.

This award is designed to allow students to choose their path: it can be the first year of Bachelor of Arts study, or they may enroll in this degree to pursue their passion and undertake one of the majors in the Bachelor of Arts. The Diploma of Arts gives them the flexibility to choose from a wide range of subjects with over twenty named majors and minors, they can select subjects to build their knowledge, and electives to enhance skills.

By studying Latin and Greek, students will find an exciting new home in the languages that shaped the fundamentals of western thought in the sciences, philosophy, medicine, and literature. Beautiful and fascinating in their right, these ancient languages provide them with a deeper understanding of modern culture, specialist technical terminologies and many modern languages through their roots in Latin and Greek. Each week students will experience the intense satisfaction of building their brain into a stronger, better, more agile resource. Understanding the precious cultural resources bound up in even 'dead' languages also exposes them to the politics of vulnerable Indigenous languages, such as the returned and reconstructed island language of Tasmania, palawa kani.

This is a unique course recognised as the most dynamic (and best off-campus) ancient languages course in Australasia. This program’s introductory units begin with Latin and are designed for students with no experience in ancient or modern languages. These units pay attention to fundamental principles of grammar, informing general understanding of language structure, and guide students through skillfully adapted texts allowing direct access to ancient thought. Intermediate units continue to develop grammatical skills while gradually incorporating original texts. At advanced level they will read ancient texts in their original language, and begin Ancient Greek in accelerated form. The Ancient Languages Major integrates closely with Ancient Civilisations and connects with several majors in the Humanities, Social Sciences and Legal Studies. Learning Ancient Greek and Latin and reading their centuries of literature are among the great intellectual adventures, and employers recognise the analytical and creative skills such training develops.