Australia study abroad programs - Page 3

marny1 · 02-08-2007, 08:57 AM

OMG- This is going to be my 1,000 posting. What better place to put it - in a discussion about Australia. Sunny beaches- beautiful countryside- and all good things.

Anyway (after I said I wasn't going to check it out anymore) I found a pretty good website. www.australearn.org It's a non profit organization- but it does hook you up to a bunch of schools in Australia and does give good info about the campuses etc. So it may be pretty helpful in obtaining info on the individual schools.
As my d is a SUNY student, she may have to go on a SUNY sponsored program, but checking their study abroad website, I believe they have programs at almost all the Australian schools.
Thanks Sid, Cheers, Jenskate and others for all the info--
Marny
Senior Member CC

stargirl · 02-08-2007, 07:12 PM

Australearn's pretty good; my sister went to University of Melbourne through them.

In order to be different, though, I'm heading off to the University of Auckland through IES (ok, other reasons too!). Plane leaves Monday, I can't wait.

sid19 · 02-11-2007, 01:33 AM

Good luck star girl! NZ is supposed to be beautiful

marny1 · 09-09-2007, 08:58 AM

Seven months later and a bit closer to getting Serious about Study Abroad Program, so I Figure it's time to bump this back up--

Anyone know anything about Bond University?? It's on the Gold Coast about an hour from Brisbane. It is one of the few schools in Australia in which the semesters coincide with ours. It seems most schools go to late June or July and that might make it difficult for d to get a summer job or Internship. They also have a Sports Management Program- so this school looks promising for my kid.

Just curious if anyone had personal info about Bond U-

Thanks-

smokeylarue · 09-19-2007, 11:59 PM

Anyone know how good the economics/business classes are in USNW and/or Univ of Melbourne, because I'm considering studying abroad there next fall and econ is my major. Also I've heard the system of lecture is different there. How often do lectures meet, in America its 2 to 3 times, I heard in Australia its just one long one per week?

sid19 · 09-20-2007, 09:59 PM

UNSW is highly respected for its business and economics. Both UNSW and UMelbourne are top uni's within Australia. I know Umel is highly respected for its ARTS (humanities), but i think it is well respected in general, so economics would definitely not be of a poor standard.

When trying to work out which university would be better to attend i would suggest instead focusing on what kind of experience you would like to have while abroad. At unsw you would be able to live at coogee beach and be quite close to the city of Sydney (well you can choose where you live, but many students choose to live at coogee while abroad). I hear melbourne has a lovely campus (at least one part of the campus is sandstone) and melbourne itself is also a great city. However, Sydney and Melbourne have quite different vibes. This is the best summary i can think of off the top of my head.

Sydney: Warmer and in general has less rain. More beaches. A beautiful harbour and quite a busy metropolitan city.

Melbourne: Cooler and prone to having "4 seasons in one day". Does have beaches but is more well known for its cultural activities (lots of art galleries and sporting events), cafe culture (although sydney does have cafe's too)

The best comparison i can think of would be San Francisco (as Sydney) and Boston (as Melbourne). Others may wish to disagree.

At UNSW economics classes are usually a two hour lecture (or 1.5 hours) and a one hour tutorial (or 1.5 hours if lecture was only 1.5). A lecture may have a few 100 students but the tutorial usually has about 20. It does vary class to class and school to school. You could look up the UNSW handbook and if you click the timetable link at each class description it should tell you times. Alternatively if you dont want descriptions try a page called class utilisation which lists times for this year that may give you an idea of what it will be like in the future. I am guessing Melbourne would be similar.

I go to UNSW so feel free to ask any questions (i tried not to be biased, I swear)

marny1 · 09-21-2007, 10:55 AM

Hi Sid- glad you're back as you were quite helpful to me.
ok- I think wemade alot of progress in determining a school for my kid. An overriding factor may be the "semester calendar" as d wants to be around in early summer so she can get summer job or internship.
so we found 2 schools that follow USA semesters (semester ends late April/May) and both school have her major/ sport management.

Bond U on Gold Coast (south of surfers Paradise) &
International College of Management in Sydney

can you tell me about Gold Coast area? My initial impression is that it might like going to school inflorida as opposed to a city- but any insider info would be appreciated.
Thanks
marny

this is for next year- so we have plenty of time to make a decision!!

marny1 · 09-21-2007, 11:51 AM

I was just re-reading some of the old comments- syd I think you already gave me some info on gold coast such as-- some could find it tacky while others find it wonderful. As my d would also consider her experience in Australia as a 5 month diversion from winter in upstate NY, I think she would see it as a wonderful experience.

I'll suggest to my d to go to the travel books and web sites to determine what works better for her-
but all info re: Gold Coast would be appreciated.
5 months in Sydney or on the Gold Coast---
we should all have these hard decisions to make!

smokeylarue · 09-21-2007, 01:30 PM

Thanks a lot sid, great info.

cheers · 09-22-2007, 10:56 PM

I've been to the Gold Coast a few times.

It is Florida with better surf--about 30 years ago.

The Sydney course sounds like a polytech course. Inquire about the percentage of international students enrolled.

Australia is sports mad--and invests millions in it's sport development. Not sure the alignment of semesters is worth jumping out of a good university program....

marny1 · 09-23-2007, 09:23 AM

cheers- the sport management programs at the Australian schools seem pretty comparable. (May not be able to say that about other majors.)
With all things being equal- and knowing that there are really good summer sport internship possibilities near our home in NY, we are giving first preference to schools that follow USA semesters.

My understanding is that the "winter" semester in Australia usually ends late June, which means my kid may not get back home until July 1- For her, this late date return would probably prevent her from getting good solid work experience during the summer, which is real important for her desired goals.

Let's be real, for SOME fields of study- it's all actual life experience not just the academic degree that's going to set a student apart from others.
I think sport management, may fall into that category.

Gold Coast- sound like Florida 30 years ago- that sounds ok. May not have the cultural atmosphere of a city like Sydney- but that is going to have to be a decision my kid makes.

I will admit- Bond seems to be more like a "regular" type college campus - whereas International School of Management is geared towards certain majors only- Tourism-Sport Management-Retail etc). My gut feeling is that my kid may feel more comfortable and get more of a real college experience at Bond.

I'm just obtaining info from the school's website- going to present it to my kid- Let her talk to her advisors at school- and let her make the decision. But thanks for all the info.

cheers · 09-24-2007, 01:25 AM

She's not going to travel after the semester? She could probably work in Australia for a bit and then travel on those funds.

Having had two boys go to six different programs abroad, I can promise you that she will want to travel that rather than jet home--unless the internship is a major winner that is already in the bag. Also, I fear that in trying to control for all factors, you may be severely limiting the academic upside--and maybe the connections upside as well.

The downside to a Polytech is the peer group will not be unviersity educated--and may be slightly anti-intellectual. Since Australian unviersities have premier sports management programs, you'd have to wonder about the talent going to the polytech programs.

Food for thought....

marny1 · 09-24-2007, 08:32 AM

cheers- older d just returned from study abroad in Italy. Much of her travelling was done on week-ends and semester breaks. Many of the European study abroad programs specifically did not have classes on Friday which allows kids to travel throughout the semester- also there seems to be alot of travel companies that are geared towards "Americans in Europe" with a whole slew of "packaged" trips on week-ends and the semester break. Also cheap airlines (Ryan air).
My d and most of her study abroad co-horts had their fill of travel opportunities by the end of the semester and seemed ready to come home.

I am assuming (maybe incorrectly) that there will be much travel time also on week-ends and holiday break. (again- I am assuming there is a semester break or an Easter week holiday- though I will check the semester calendar more closely. I know Bond mentioned that they had a student travel bureau on campus which would help arrange trips during the semester.

Both schools I mentioned are university settings. International School of Management is part of Mcquarie U. As my older d is a student at Cornell and they too have a Hotel School, I rather doubt anyone would equate the Cornell Hotel school as a "Polytech" with an anti-intellectual environment. So I am not equating the environments of these schools as anti-intellectual.

As I said, we are NY based. My d already had one internship with a Major League Team. There are lots of summer major league sports including baseball, WNBA and a host of sporting event venues in the NY area.

As there are at least 2 solid university settings to choose from, I don't see a downside. At this stage, my guess is that her college will have the most input in deciding which program fits their criteria. But d has at least some schools to give serious consideration too. Her school has a program at Griffith which is near Brisbane. I didn't see much of a difference in any of the programs based on class offerings.
so at this stage as we have gathered some basic info on different programs- the only ones in control is my d, her campus advisor, and the Australian University.

cheers · 09-26-2007, 12:54 AM

That is a major internship, LOL.

You've made up your mind already so there is little point in my cautions but ...

You are right, MacQuaire is a fine institution. I question the link to your D's program because here is a list of MacQuarie's depts and divisions--no Intl School of Management listed. http://www.mq.edu.au/divisions/ . Here is the list of the business degrees offered by MacQuarie http://efs.clients.squiz.net/bus/und...grees_on_offer
Again, no sports management degree.

Your Ds school was founded in 1996 by the Australian hospitality industry in association with the Australian Archdioscese. It offers 'diplomas' which are usually offered at Polytechs. It offers a retail 'diploma'. I sincerely doubt it has an intellectual atmosphere. I suspect it is one of several dozen 'management' schools set up to entice overseas students to Sydney, primarily Chinese, Korean and Japanese students. Enticing overseas students with similar programs is a huge, multi-billion dollar business in Australasia.

Cornell, OTOH, is happy to list their hotel school in their list of depts and schools. http://www.cornell.edu/academics/colleges.cfm.

marny1 · 09-26-2007, 08:19 AM

Thanks for the research Cheers- but if you use the International College of Management website, you see that there is the connection to Macquarie and that the bachelor degrees are conferred by both schools. That's not an issue for us, as d will only be going for a semester and her degree will be from her "home school" anyway. Seems like ICMS also has a few master degree programs in business.
It's just coincidental- that ICMS is beginning a Sport Management major this semester. When I became aware of the school a few months back, we thought d could do courses in Event Management and business as her undergrad school requires her to take a bunch of business courses too.
but they just started a Sport Management division- so that will increase the amount of classes to choice from.
If it were my life, I'd go to ICM on Manley Beach- but I have a feeling my d may feel more comfortable at Bond.
Again- Thanks for the info and sharing your concerns.