International Affairs

International Affairs is an interdisciplinary Major offered in the Bachelor of Arts and is coordinated by the School of Humanities and Social Science.

The focus of the Major is to provide students with a strong understanding of all aspects of international affairs, including foreign policy, international relations, Australia's place in the world, particularly in the context of policy making, religion, ethnicity and nationalism. Related themes and electives cover diplomacy, strategic and defence studies, foreign languages, trade negotiations, terrorism, area studies, international organisation and globalisation.

Career Opportunities

This is an expanding area especially in public policy. Recruiting occurs in various government departments, in particular the Intelligence community, Defence and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Positions attained through the government and/or through the private sector will often lead you overseas. Some of our successful recent graduates have found work as diplomats, defence intelligence analysts and other areas of public policy. It is an advantage for graduates to speak more than one language, have some travel experience, and to have been members of university clubs within this field.

Honours and Postgraduate Study

Examples of postgraduate programs that may be undertaken in this field at the University of Newcastle include the Graduate Certificate or Master of Social Change and Development. Many of our students go onto postgraduate research and the University has produced a number of PhDs in topics such as Australian-Indonesian relations, Australia and the Anglo-American Alliance, Defence, Intelligence and International Law. There are, in addition, many Honours and Masters theses that have been researched at the University.

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