Honours is a fourth year of undergraduate study (possibly taken in the fifth year for double degree students) which, on passing the course, provides you with a "degree with Honours".
The Honours course provides the opportunity to further enhance the knowledge and skills you have gained in your undergraduate degree, and pursue research in an academic field of your choosing - you will develop the ability to work independently, under the guidance of experts in the field.
Honours can also improve your employment prospects and, if desired, provide a stepping stone to further research leading to an MSc or a PhD.
Please note:
We encourage students from outside of Monash to apply for Honours at Monash.
It is possible to enrol in Honours prior to finishing a double degree at Monash.
Honours studies in Physics or Astrophysics may be undertaken full-time or part-time.
There are mid-year intakes as well as intakes at the start of each academic year.
You will need to submit an application to the School of Physics & Astronomy (in relation to your choice of coursework sub-units, and research project) as well as an application to the Science Faculty for acceptance into the Honours course.
Studying Honours in the School of Physics & Astronomy allows you to strengthen your experimental, numerical, computational, analytical and problem solving skills. The School can guide you in pursuing your own research in astrophysics (computational or observational) or physics (theoretical or experimental).
As an Honours student in the School you will be allocated a desk and a computer, and have access to all the School's facilities, including: photocopiers, scanners, imaging services, computer services, research laboratories, and excellent technical support including the services of the Monash Facility for Instrumentation and Technology Development which can provide a range of support in electronics and mechanical applications.
Below is an interview with a student who recently studied Honours in the School of Physics & Astronomy.
The Honours year involves both a coursework unit (PHS4200 or ASP4200) and a research project unit (PHS4100 or ASP4100) as detailed in the “Coursework” and “Project” sections of this booklet.
Part-time study for Honours in Physics involves the units PHS4110 and PHS4120 (in place of PHS4100), and PHS4210 and PHS4220 (in place of PHS4200) - they only differ in the time taken to complete the course. Similar units (just with ASP instead of PHS) exist for Astrophysics.
Whether you enrol in Honours in Physics (PHS4100 & PHS4200) or Honours in Astrophysics (ASP4100 & ASP4200) will depend on the academic field of the research project you choose. Your potential Honours project supervisor will provide advice in regards to this.
Your final mark is an average of your coursework and research project. Your overall mark for Honours will appear on your transcript under PHSHONS or ASPHONS along with one of the standard Monash grade indicators as detailed in the Honours section of this page.
If you wish to study Honours with the School of Physics & Astronomy then please read through the rest of the information in this Honours section of our School website - these pages contain further details of the structure of the Honours courses in Physics and Astrophysics, as well as scholarship opportunities.
