Australian Higher Education

[Eltern]

Hello any and all Aussie readers! I'm thinking of studying abroad in Australia for a semester, but I'm having trouble deciphering your higher education lingo. In the United States, generally:

There are two semesters, Fall and Spring. We take summers off.
We take 15-17 credit hours each semester.
A single class is worth 2-3 credit hours.
We do this for four years.

I know that you guys generally go 3 years, and you express classes in terms of "units." Do you take any terms off? How many units do you generally take a term?

My mad Googling powers are failing me in figuring this out.

Thanks for the help!

 

[maransreth]

It does depend on which university you are attending and what course you are doing in regard to the points and all that.

Uni starts either end of February/beginning of March. That is the start of semester 1, which goes to roughly June. Then there is between 2 or 3 weeks off until the start of semester 2. Please note there is about 1 week off, for Easter during semester 1. Semester 1 is about 12 to 14 weeks long, depending on which uni you attend.

Semester 2 starts mid to late July and goes through to about November. So usually about 15 weeks or so. Again only 1 week off around the middle of the semester. Note that it goes until November due to the exam timetable. So this means there is about 3 months off for summer vacation from the end of one semester, to the beginning of the next.

Some course allow a person to start half-way through the year (that is normally semester 2), everything is just delayed by 1 semester.

If you do a course full time, it is either 3 or 4 years depending on the course. Part-time study takes twice as long. Depending on the course will determin how many subjects you do each semester but usually it is 4 or 5, depending on the credit points.

For example, I am currently doing a Bachelor of Business. All subjects are 12 credit point subjects. I attend 3 hours (some subjects have been 4) at uni for lectures and tutorials, and the difference (in this case 9, is thereotically how many hours outside of uni you need to make sure you get a good mark). However I have heard of friends at another uni where their subjects were only 3 or 4 credit points in total, and it did not correspond to anything about the hours done in a course or week.

My course full-time, would be 48 credit points per semester, but my last degree, where classes were 5 or 10 credit points, was 40/semester.

It really does depend on the university where you wish to go and what the course it. Determine the course, find the unis that offer it, and see what the actual courses have to offer. Usually there will be someone you can email, who can give you some of the information if it is not available online.

One thing you want to note, is that as you will be an overseas student, I believe (AND I might be wrong) you have to pay the education fees (we call them HECS - Higher Education Contribution Scheme) upfront. But I might be wrong about that.

 

[Eltern]

Thanks Maransreth! I'm actually thinking of going to ANU, and I finally found a page where they lay out the basics for study abroad folk (Their website is a big, slow, barely navigable headache). They do 24 "units" per semester, and a class tends to be 6 units. They also break the two semesters into "teaching sessions." I don't know if this has any impact on classes, or if it's just a way to distinguish between the two halves of the semester that are split by the little break.

I had been wondering during what months of the year you went to school. Thanks for the help!

So what's the better time of year to come down and study? The Feb-June term or the July-Oct term? I'm mainly talking weather, here

 

[maransreth]

Which ANU campus? And are you used to warm weather? That will mainly determine whether you want mostly warm/hot weather and a bit of cool/cold, or some cool/cold and then ending with warm/hot.

The difference between just warm or hot and cool or cold will depend on where you will end up. Also if you wish to do any travel before or after the study.

I think the 1st semester isnt as long and usually has more public holidays (important for assignments!), than the 2nd semester.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

Unless you have to go there for a specific course of study, avoid ANU in Canberra at all costs.

I'm sure it's a lovely school, but Canberra is SO GODDAMN BORING, oh God.

 

[Eltern]

Well I was going to go to ANU...in Canberra since it's supposed to be a -very- good school. Ranked 16th in the world or something, and study biology and political science.

I was thinking of backpacking around Australia before or after the semester, since the Australian terms don't quite match up with American terms, leaving a lot of free time. And I dig warm weather, it's better than cold weather

So why's Canberra so boring?

 

[maransreth]

It's the capital of Australia, so where all our federal politicians reside. Very conservative place, but halfway between Sydney and Melbourne.

 

[Imruphel]

(snip) So why's Canberra so boring?

Good question, but it is. Perhaps its background explains why?

Canberra is located halfway between Melbourne and Sydney as a way of resolving an argument between these two cities as to which city would be the capital... neither, so let's build one halfway. It's even stranger when you consider that I'm not joking.

It's largely populated by public servants (bless 'em...) so, as you can imagine, it's not going to be one of the world's most exciting cities.