Message from the Dean

Welcome to the School of Humanities and Communication Arts at the Western Sydney University.

We are highly ranked in the Arts and Humanities: rated top 200-250 by the Time Higher Education subject rankings, 329th in the QS Subject rankings, 146th in the CWTS Leiden rankings, and 114th in the Best Global Universities subject ranking.

Our teaching enjoys a 92% approval rating in Student Feedback on Unit evaluations.

The School offers undergraduate, postgraduate and research programs, in the broad disciplinary fields of: arts, communication, creative industries, design (visual communication), humanities, interpreting and translation, languages, music, and creative music therapy. Innovative subjects focus on contemporary debates, perspectives, methods and technologies. To support these disciplines, the School manages a broad technical infrastructure. The School is located on the Bankstown, Parramatta and Penrith campuses.

The School attaches priority to developing strategies that enhance the relationship between teaching and research. We particularly pride ourselves on a commitment to developing graduates in areas where local needs are significant and growing rapidly. The School has a growing student mobility program, including study tours in 2019 to China, Japan, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, Kruger National Park in South Africa, and Timor-Leste.

The School’s research includes the Writing and Society Research Centre, the Digital Humanities Research Group, and the Philosophy@Western Sydney research initiative; and has strong links with the Australia-China Institute for Arts and Culture, Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, the Institute for Culture and Society, the MARCS Brain, Behaviour and Development Institute, and the Translational Health Research Institute.  We also partner with Jinan University (Guangzhou) in China to draw on the experiences of Western Sydney's multicultural community to create the Bilingualism Research Lab located on our Parramatta South campus.

Professor Peter Hutchings

Dean, School of Humanities and Communication Arts

DeanHCA@westernsydney.edu.au