Back to School

 This is the first week back to school at uni. 

They've even decorated for the occasion.

After having campus to ourselves for two and a half months, faculty and staff now have to welcome the children (I mean students), the heart of university life, back to campus. After experiencing a bit of Australian uni life, here's just a few differences I've noticed, attempting to not pass judgement :) Not better, not worse, just different.

Entrance requirements. Physiotherapy is the cream of the crop. While as a kinesiology major, everyone joked that it was the easy major that jocks took (which is not true!), only the top 90% of applicants (based on high school exams) are let in. That would be like saying you can only get into physio if you' score in the top 90th percentile on the SATs. If you have any doubt, check out this awesome video the 2013 graduates made. Seriously. You also get to see what I'm surrounded by.

College life. What college life? Most students live at home, there are very few residential dormitories. But the American college life filters into Australians perceptions. In writing an application, I made reference to the honor society, Delta Omega. Leon instantly had images of frat parties, keggers, and girls gone wild. Obviously I had to clarify that. But hey, bars here have college nights to serve as a substitute for basement washing machine drumming, jungle juice and pole dancing parties. And there is a tavern on campus...

Cost. Aussies receive Commonwealth government subsidies to help with (or cover) tuition. And if you get a loan, you don't pay it back until you have a job. and the rate you pay it back at depends on how much you're earning. No deadlines. Genius! Fees are increasing. What are they complaining about?!

Uniforms. I get that clinical professionals need to look professional. The clinical students here have to look professional ALL the time, that means wearing a uniform to classes. Now Curtin's colors are black and gold, so of course the physio uniforms are blue...? There has been a lot of heated debate on changing the uniforms lately in the staff meetings. Honestly I think it's the only topic in the school staff meetings that anyone comments on, and not just comments but passionately argues. The decision was to revisit the discussion at a later date. They changed the required pants from dark blue to black. But still, they have to wear the Smurf shirts.

Board of Examiners. I always thought that if you fail a course, you fail a course. Not here! Turns out after exams, all the lecturers get together to discuss all the borderline and flunking cases. If you failed a unit and your lecturer likes you, they can argue for you to take make-up exams. If they don't like you, well, oh well.

Honours.  A bachelor's degree is 3 years. (Why doesn't everyone come here?!) If you're smart or in the right place at the right time, you can do a fourth Honours year. This gets you an Honours degree that allows you to enter straight into a PhD program, assuming you did well (Honours 1 or Honours 2a which has to do with grades but don't ask me what exactly).
Beyond basic uni, there is the land of Postgrads. It's different too.

Hub. This isn't really an Australian thing, but it's a new thing Curtin is trying which I find interesting. The Faculty of Health Sciences ran out of space for its PhD students. So it decided to get space basically off campus in Tech Park, to put ALL the PhD students together. There's a real need to build a network of PhD students everywhere (even in the US), but it's compounded when students are here part-time and don't have to take classes together. I think it's a great way to bond, vent, and otherwise complain about professors. It's also a great place to play Cards Against Humanity. But it also means that your advisor doesn't just walk by to tell you about the new grant application or the interesting journal article they read. Then again they don't walk by so they don't know if you're there...

Phd. Having recently completed my PhD, and making friends with super, awesome cool PhD students here (because hey, I fit in more with them than faculty), I've been to quick to pick up on some basic differences. It's three years. There's no coursework. You can apply for and receive government funding so they get a stipend to just do research. No assistantship. No teaching. No classes. What do they do? Of course many students do work for their advisors on research projects or teach to make some money (not all students get scholarships). And they follow the English phd system. No comprehensive exams (because no classes). No oral dissertation defense. Instead, they have to send out their dissertation to external, expert reviewers in the field who decide if you pass or fail (you do get to make revisions). But regardless of the process you go through, we all end up with the same degree. And students everywhere celebrate those big milestones just the same (like handing in a thesis accompanied by a mass support army on a Finding Nemo shaped USB because you need something more definitive than sending it in an email)

Yay Ashley, you're absolutely glowing with relief after handing in your thesis!!! 
And I am hiding behind a bush. It was a nice bush.

I know I still have lots to learn, especially when I get to teach. But for now, back to school back to school to prove to Dad I'm not a fool...