First, the semester distribution
The term of most Australian universities, like China, is divided into two semesters, spring semester and autumn semester. Being located in the southern hemisphere, spring and autumn are opposite to China. The spring semester began in July of that year and ended in 65438+early February. The autumn semester begins at the end of February and ends at the end of June. After the end of the spring semester, it is summer vacation, usually three months. Some schools offer summer courses, so that students can choose one course in the summer vacation, which is designated by the school, which is different from the usual free course selection. After the fall semester, there is a winter vacation, which lasts for 2 weeks. Usually the time of each semester is arranged in this way. From the beginning of the semester to the end of the ninth week, it is the first part, then rest for two weeks, then have classes until the end of 13 weeks, then review for one week, and then take exams for two weeks. All the courses that need to be tested are scheduled to be tested in these two weeks. All the time together, the length of the whole semester is about 18 weeks. Every year, the school may make some adjustments to the semester, but the changes are basically small.
Second, the curriculum.
1. Credit system
The credit system is fully implemented here. You can graduate as long as you complete the credits. For example, it takes 48 credits to complete a one-year master's degree. According to the calculation of 6 credits for a course, you can graduate as long as you take 8 courses. According to the normal requirement of 24 credits per semester, you only need to take 4 courses per semester. Every school will be different about how to complete the 48 credits required for one year's study. Some schools allow you to finish half a year's courses, and then you can graduate, but some schools stipulate that you can't take more than five courses per semester, because the school thinks that you can't finish more than five courses per semester. According to the school, the study time of a course is about 12 hours a week, including in-class and out-of-class, so choosing four courses means studying 48 hours a week, so don't think it's easy to study here. For international students, there must be no less than three courses per semester, which is the restriction of international students' immigration, and the school will also cooperate with the supervision. Usually freshmen are told that they should take no less than three courses each semester when they first enter school.
Choose a course
Generally speaking, the course selection here is relatively free, and you can choose freely from more than a dozen courses offered by the college every semester. There is a lot of knowledge about choosing courses, which varies according to your major. Some majors, such as marketing, have some core courses that must be taken. Some courses require you to have a certain foundation, such as mastering a certain skill or taking some other courses before, so those freshmen can't choose. Different departments offer different courses, and different majors can choose different courses. Some specialized courses have a wide choice, while others have a narrow choice. There is a detailed introduction of each major and course on the school website, which is very detailed, including the teaching purpose, class time, teachers and required teaching materials of each course. , can be used as a good reference for course selection. In the first week of freshmen's enrollment, each department usually holds a course selection consultation meeting to guide students of different majors on how to choose appropriate courses. Students can also change, cancel or add the selected courses within a period of time after selecting courses, which gives them greater freedom.
Third, new students enter school.
The week before the start of each semester is the orientation week for freshmen. Freshmen orientation week has the following contents:
1. School tourism
On the first day of school, the school will organize freshmen to visit the school, mainly to introduce the facilities and related functions in the school. This process takes about 1 hour. You just have to follow the people.
Enroll in school
On your first day at school, you will be told that the entrance time of freshmen in your department is different. For example, freshmen of computer science department register on Tuesday, and freshmen of art department register on Thursday. As long as you arrive on time, you can complete the enrollment. The whole enrollment registration process is like this:
First of all, take your admission notice and COE to the reception desk for freshmen, and the staff will give you a worksheet with your name, student number and other information on it. Then different departments are divided into different classrooms, and the vice presidents of each department give welcome speeches, introduce some schools, and then there will be a consultation meeting on course selection. This is the agenda for this morning.
Online registration
The official student registration is in the afternoon. The computer application level of Australian universities is very high, and many learning-related services can be realized on the computer network, such as course selection, course withdrawal and course time change. Other relevant information of students, such as test scores, test arrangements, payment, etc., can also be found online. The school has set up an internet mailbox for every student, and students, teachers and students communicate through email. Various learning materials are also put on the internet for students to download and use.
When freshmen register online for the first time, the school will arrange staff to give a demonstration of online registration, and these staff will provide services to students at any time. Students will be photographed as student cards before registration. If you are an international student from a non-English-speaking country, the staff will also ask you if you need to bring a dictionary when you take the exam. The school allows foreign students to bring printed dictionaries when taking exams, but it is absolutely forbidden to bring electronic dictionaries.
Online registration includes several contents, such as inputting students' basic information, such as home address, especially in Australia, and communication methods; Course selection is an important part of registration. Students should choose the courses they want to take this semester. At the end of the registration process, the system will automatically generate your email address and tell you your email user name and password. This user name and password is also the user name and password you need to enter when surfing the Internet at school. It is very important that you can use it to surf the Internet at school. The user name and password cannot take effect immediately, and students can use them after 24 hours. The whole registration process system has been arranged, you just need to follow the screen prompts step by step. The whole online registration will be over in about half an hour.
After online registration is completed, students can get their student ID cards. The student card is also a library card. With the student card, you can enjoy the discount by bus, but not by train. At the same time, you can also get a medical card, which can be used when you see a doctor in Australia, and you can enjoy a certain degree of discount. After receiving these cards, the registration of new students is over.
4. Various welcome activities
The school has arranged some welcome activities for freshmen, including tea parties organized by the school and welcome activities arranged by various departments.
This week's orientation is mainly to arrange new students' registration, course selection and other activities, and the formal course officially begins in the first week of the semester.
Fourth, class.
1. Class arrangement
Students have arranged all the schedules when choosing courses. What courses do you choose? Just follow the schedule to fix the classroom. Studying here is all on your own. You need to check all the course arrangements, time and place on the internet yourself. If there is any change, the teacher will also inform you by email, so it is a good habit to check the email regularly. The course here includes two parts: large class and small class.
2. Large classes
The big class is similar to the big class in China. It's called a lecture, which is mainly held in some big classrooms with teachers giving lectures. The teaching facilities in Australian universities are good. There are all kinds of modern teaching facilities in the big classroom, including PC, MAC, projector and solid slide projector. Teachers use computers to play slides in class, and sometimes they also use other teaching methods such as video and audio. The big class here doesn't need to take notes. Teachers will put all their notes online, and students can read them freely. Large classes mainly teach theory, and there are many abstract things. The teacher will give some examples to strengthen understanding. Generally, the large class time is around 1 hour, and all students who choose this course participate. Most courses have only one large class every week.
3. Small classes
Corresponding to the big class is the small class. Generally, in addition to the large class, each course has a corresponding small class. There are two forms of small classes: experiment and tutoring, with about 20 to 30 students in each class. The experimental class is mainly computer or experiment, and some technical classes are generally arranged. If you study management courses, you need to take corresponding discussion classes. The content of the class is generally to discuss a topic related to the course in groups, and the teacher will ask questions for the students to answer. Some teachers in the small class are students, and the class time is about 2 hours.
Small classes also have two important functions: roll call and handing in homework. Because the Australian Immigration Bureau requires 80% attendance for international students studying in Australia, and the number of large classes is too large to be named, attendance statistics are all done in small classes. Teachers usually call the roll at the beginning of class. All kinds of homework assigned by the teacher are also handed in in small classes, and the teacher also announces the results in small classes.
do homework
Like China, Australian students have to finish a lot of homework, and most of the homework is directly related to the course results. The homework here began in the second week of school, and then continued until the end of the semester. The assignments arranged for each course are related to the characteristics of the course. For example, technical courses generally focus on programming or writing test reports, while management courses focus on writing special papers. Every assignment has a final deadline. If it is overdue, the teacher has the right to deduct points or even record it as 0, so it is very important to hand in homework on time. If it is an assignment to write a paper, the teacher will generally ask you to hand in the printed version, and the electronic version will not be accepted unless specifically requested. When handing in your homework, you should use the uniform cover of the school to bind it. After the teacher signs for it, he will give you a receipt to show that he has received your homework. Generally, the results will be known in two weeks. Because the scores of general course assignments are above 50%, the completion of good homework has a great influence on course performance.