Introduction to Italian Studies

Italian-Australian relations have been built on a broad foundation of activities ranging from the cooperation in business, cultural, geo-political, industrial areas to trade and tourism, not to mention the long-established personal links between Italy and Australia based on the significant Italian minority in Australia consisting of 10% of the total Australian population.

Italy has been for many centuries of paramount importance in forging the European entity of Western civilisation. It is also regarded, both internationally and within the European Union group, as a leading industrial, technological and economic nation. Of the EU group, Italy is one of Australia 's major trading partners.

At Swinburne University of Technology, Italian is offered as a Bachelor of Arts major in the Faculty of Business and Enterprise . Italian can be studied at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. At the undergraduate level, advanced units may be undertaken by students who have achieved a pass result in year 12 VCE Italian, and also by students who have no prior knowledge of the Italian language in the Beginner stream. Italian as a major study of a Bachelor of Arts degree, may be combined with Arts, Business or Engineering subjects such as Literature, Marketing, Civil Engineering, etc. On the successful completion of an Arts Honours degree, or in combination with a Business Honours degree, or equivalent, students may continue study at the postgraduate level by undertaking the degree of Masters of Arts or Doctor of Philosophy (by research and thesis).

Courses in Italian also consist of a double degree Bachelor of Business/ Bachelor of Arts (Italian), Bachelor of Business (International Business)/ Bachelor of Arts (Italian) and a double degree Bachelor of Engineering/Bachelor of Arts (with a major in Italian).

Italian is offered and studied as a LOTE (Language other than English) at all levels in Victoria . It is among the top ten languages taught in Australian primary and secondary schools and the Victorian School of Languages. There is an ongoing demand for qualified teachers of Italian both at the primary and secondary level in Australia.