Studying in Australia

Teaching style in Australia

Australian teaching style can be quite different to what you are used to in your home country. Australia promotes practical learning and encourages you to think creatively. Australian teaching style also promotes healthy debates and praises students who develop their own thoughts and then stand up for what they believe in.

Class participation in certain courses can be a major part of your assessment.


University Lectures

Lectures at universities are conducted for up to 200 students from different courses in your area of study. The learning and discussions from the lectures is then carried on to tutorials which are conducted for a much smaller group of students (approximately 20). The idea behind tutorials is to go through in detail the topics that are discussed during lectures. There is more active communication during tutorials and you are encouraged to resolve any query you have on the topic.

Thus, the lectures and the tutorials go hand in hand in providing you a good understanding of the topic.   

At some educational institutes, class sizes are smaller than universities and the lectures and tutorials are generally combined.


Assessment

Your overall performance for a segment is generally based on your performance in various assessments. These assessments will vary from course to course but are generally conducted throughout the semester or term rather than only at the end. These assessments can either be written or practical and can also depend on your participation in class discussions and other group activities.

The main benefits of this assessment structure are that firstly, it doesn’t depend on your performance on a particular day but rather grades your performance on an ongoing basis and secondly that it doesn’t assess you only for a type of exam, but rather spreads the assessment among various written exams, practical tests, group discussions etc.

The grades that will be awarded to students for their performance will be generally A, B, C etc for schools and High Distinction, Distinction, Pass etc for universities.


Plagiarism

Plagiarism is submitting someone else’s work as your own.

Australia and Australian education institutes takes plagiarism very seriously and if a student is caught plagiarism, he/she may be penalized. The penalty can also include a fail grade on the unit which can then have a severe effect on your student visa.

Being harsh on plagiarism doesn’t mean that Australian education institutes doesn’t promote using other’s work and learning from it. If a student wishes to use someone else’s work, they must reference it properly to the original source. Through proper references, any student can use anyone else’s work and can either add his/her opinion in favour of it or even argue against it. Through this approach, your examiner would be able to identify and assess the opinion you are trying to form in your work by making references to something that has already been found by someone else.


Universities’ obligations and your rights as a student

Every education institute offering courses to international students must provide some course-related information to the potential students. This information, among other things, must include details on course content and duration, course fee, the qualification it leads to, English language requirements, assessment methods, resources and facilities available etc. This information must be provided before the confirmation of enrolment is given to the potential student.

As a student, you are entitled to receive the level of education that was promised to you during your enrolment. Every education institute in Australia, whether privately owned or by the government, is responsible for providing you a high quality education and an infrastructure that meets Australian national standards. This level of quality is monitored especially for international students who may not have much background knowledge on the university before they enroll in the course. The legislative framework that monitors this quality is the Education Services for Overseas Students (ESOS). ESOS is a platform through which the Australian Government protects the rights of international students and ensures that the institutes offering educational courses to them are providing a high quality education service.

ESOS also looks at the marketing material from all the educational institutes and takes action if it feels that the material is misleading. This includes statements such as “every international student will have access to a personal computer 24 hours a day” when in reality the institute is only offering shared computers to international students.

If you have any issues with your education institute or if you find that you have been mislead by the university, you should contact ESOS. If ESOS finds that the institute has defaulted, the university will be penalized and you will be compensated either by way of fee refund or by being enrolled in a similar course at a similar university. ESOS and you can also discuss other options that are available in such situations.

You can find more information on this framework by contacting international office of the education institute you are enrolled in.


Support services for International students

All education institutes must also support international students in adjusting to the different lifestyle and study structure in Australia. Generally, on arrival, international students are provided information on orientation, further study and accommodation.

There is also an international office in the institute that manages issues faced by international students. This office can provide assistance in various matters ranging from finding the right accommodation to issues students face while studying in a different structure.

Many international students who contact the international office in their institutes find the services really useful. It gives the students confidence that if they face difficulty in settling down in Australia or finding a job, the international office will take every possible step to help them out.

International offices also provide counseling service to students who wish to speak to someone about the problems they are facing being in a new country.
 

Students with disabilities

If you require some special medical assistance during your stay in Australia, such as hearing aids, voice recognition software etc, you should contact your education institute at least several weeks before your arrival is due. The institutes would offer services to all students who need special assistance but may require few weeks’ notice to make proper arrangements.