Why Study Human Biology?

WHY STUDY HUMAN BIOLOGY?

Human Biology I (ANHB1101) and Human Biology II (ANHB1102) give you a sound understanding of the human condition - our structure, development, genetics and evolution.

It provides you with:

• A strong foundation for the study of Human Science, complementing other first year units offered by:

Anthropology
Archaeology
Human Movement
Geography
Linguistics
Psychology

• A broad introduction to Biomedical Science, including basic cell and molecular biology
  
• The prerequisites for further studies in all Biomedical Science areas in the subsequent years of your degree.

Anatomy & Human Biology
Biochemistry
Microbiology
Molecular Biology
Pathology
Physiology
Pharmacology

(Some 2nd year Biomedical Science units also require Chemistry as a prerequisite)

Human Biology, like many basic sciences does not have a single "profession" directly associated with it. Our graduates go in many different directions: lab technicians, teachers, public servants; one of our graduates manages Scitech. No one profession accounts for more than about 15% of all our graduates. If there is a profession, it is as a scientist.

Many of our students do double degrees - BSc/BLL, BSc/BEng etc or combine Human Biology with other disciplines (eg psychology, anthropology, human movement, microbiology, and biochemistry). If you take a postgraduate degree (eg PhD) then you can become a research scientist (eg curator in a museum, scientist in CSIRO, university academic doing research and teaching, etc).

Human Biology graduates, and indeed all the other science and arts graduates get a solid grounding in how to think, together with a lot of generic skills. Literacy, numeracy, written and oral communication, time management, and computing skills make Human Biology graduates very flexible and effective at a wide range of occupations. Employers like these graduates because, while sometimes they want people with very specific skills, they often want employees who are flexible.

Job prospects for BSc graduates are very good - often better than for some specialist degrees. Some employers are not really too interested in the actual units you take, but simply want to know that you have been successful as a university student, from which they predict that they can adapt you to their needs!