Wednesday 20 July 2022: Approximately 40 high school students from across NSW attended a special residential Winter School held at the University of Wollongong (UOW) this month, designed to enable them to experience in a small way, the type of study a Western Civilisation degree at the university offers.
The program was led by the inaugural Head of UOW’s School of Liberal Arts, Senior Professor Daniel D. Hutto, along with teachers of the BA in Western Civilisation degree program, Dr Sophie Frazer, Dr Elena Walsh, and Dr Julian Lamb.
It was attended by Ramsay Centre Academic Director Professor Diana Glenn, as well as current UOW BA in Western Civilisation degree students.
Sessions included ‘An Introduction to Western civilisation’, ‘Making Frankenstein’, ‘Making Morality’ and ‘Interior Selves, Narrative Selves and Extended Selves.’
UOW’s BA in Western Civilisation is billed as a ‘course for the intellectually fearless’ designed to ‘help students discover the enduring insights of the greatest thinkers, poets, and artists of Western civilisation’ and ‘become part of a conversation about ideas that have changed the world as we know it.’
Addressing the high school students, Shanti Pillai, a current Ramsay Scholar studying UOW’s BA in Western Civilisation degree, said the degree inspired her to attend university.
“If not for the existence of this unique and inspiring degree I probably would not have attended university. No other degree presented such a special and engaging course that excited both my academic and creative endeavours. It offered a distinct, carefully formed, and articulate cobblestone path of great western works. It’s a path that permanently alters the direction of an individual’s life. So many different works such as literature, art and architecture form that path in an ever-expanding conversation.“
Thanks to a partnership agreement between the Ramsay Centre and UOW, around thirty high-achieving students are supported each year to complete UOW’s Bachelor of Arts in Western Civilisation degree, through scholarships of up to $30,000 p.a. The scholars are taught in small class groups and receiving academic mentoring. There have been three cohorts of UOW Ramsay Scholars since the establishment of UOW’s School of Liberal Arts in 2019.
For more information on UOW’s Bachelor of Western Civilisation degree go to: https://www.uow.edu.au/the-arts-social-sciences-humanities/schools-entities/liberal-arts/courses-study-options/
Media contact: Sarah Switzer 0407 816 098/ sarah.switzer@ramsaycentre.org
For more information on the centre please visit our website: www.ramsaycentre.org