Studying in Australia: The Study Abroad Student's Guide to Success

More documents

Recommendations

Info

2. First Appearances:interpreting socialvalues in AustralianeducationIn order to help you interact successfully withyour teachers and fellow students, let’s exploreAustralian culture. Defining a culture is not easy,especially for a multicultural society like Australia.A long history of immigration, together withglobal trends in education, mean that Australianuniversities have staff and students with a largevariety of cultural backgrounds.This reflects the general makeup of Australiansociety which has a large percentage of peopleborn overseas or recently arrived.The following observations are designed to helpyou understand the assumptions that Australiansmake about society and culture which affect theirbehaviour.There are also some tips for workingcollaboratively with Australian students, as well asfor dealing with the homesickness and cultureshock that may occur during the earlypart of your stay.I think it’s neat studying withAustralian students. It’s mixedcultures.Charlotte, UKThe value of appearingequal yet independentAustralian society presents many contradictions.Like all societies, there are social distinctionsbased on income, profession, and the areawhere someone lives. Nevertheless, there is awidely-held belief that Australians like to thinkof themselves as all being on the same level.This has a strong influence on many aspects ofAustralian life. For example, even in competitivesports, most winners will make a point of praisingthe efforts of the losing team. Specifically, while itis all right to be different, it’s not acceptable to actas if you are different – particularly if this meansacting as if you are ‘better’ or ‘superior’ (albeitunintentionally).In Australia, someone acting like this is likely tobecome a victim of the Tall Poppy Syndrome(where a person who has achieved excellence ordistinction in a particular field is ‘cut down’ to thesame level as everyone else).Demonstrating personal independence (especiallyagainst the odds) is highly valued in Australiansociety and examples in the media of the AussieBattler (someone working bravely to overcomehardship) are popular. This can also be seenacross gender lines, where women and men areequally encouraged to be independent from anearly age and it is reflected in the desire of mostyoung Australians to travel and ‘see the world’.This levelling idea also exists in higher education,and can clearly be found in the notion of‘independent learning’ where students are seen asbeing just as responsible as their teachers for theirlearning and subsequent progress in a course.8 http://services.unimelb.edu.au/academicskills
Attitudes to authority andrulesNotions of independence and egalitarianismare also found in Australian attitudes towardsauthority and rules. Traditionally, the Australianattitude towards authority is to level out thedistinction between boss and workers throughhumour (especially irony and sarcasm), use offirst names or nicknames and ribbing (teasingpeople). When superiors are treated as ‘mates’,it can appear to visitors that there are no clearboundaries between the leaders and those beingled. In later year tutorials at university, particularlyin the Humanities, it is common to rotate theleadership of the tutorial, with a different studentbeing allocated a different topic to present eachweek with minimal supervision.Another example of the lack of a firm dividebetween staff and students is the practice ofaddressing academic staff by their first names.However, be aware that this common usage of firstnames is not a blanket rule (a rule that everyonefollows) and you need to consider context andrelationship before you use first names witheveryone you meet. You may also find that staffare reluctant to emphasise the use of titles (suchas Doctor or Professor) even though they do valuethe degrees these titles represent.While Australian society has just as many rulesas other societies, traditionally they have beenI don’t think Australian studentsare as competitive as we are inthe States. People were willingto help me out, answer anyquestions I had, proof readessays, study together, that sortof thing. It was really nice.Brigid, USArelatively low key (as rules are a reminder ofauthority and go against the ideal of a levelsociety). However, this situation, together with amore laid-back approach to life, appears to bechanging – at least in Australian cities. Somecritics have observed that Australia is in dangerof becoming a Nanny State (a place where thegovernment makes all the decisions for peoplethat they previously made for themselves). Atuniversity, the absence of rules can still presentitself in the lack of overt supervision of yourprogress in a program of study or your attendanceand behaviour at subject lectures. Again, this tiesinto notions of being an ‘independent learner’.Studying in Australia: The Study Abroad Student’s Guide to Success9
Page 1 and 2: Study in AustraliaThe Study Abroad
Page 3 and 4: Studying in Australia:The Study Abr
Page 5 and 6: 1. Studying in Australia:what to ex
Page 7 and 8: Back home in all my classesyou’re
Page 9 and 10: The marking system was a bitdifficu
Page 11: Getting help and gettinginvolvedStu
Page 15 and 16: A good place to meet Australian stu
Page 17 and 18: Succeeding in study in any situatio
Page 19 and 20: In America, we have much longercont
Page 21 and 22: Motivation: how to stayenthusiastic
Page 23 and 24: 4. Tips to maximise yourstudy succe
Page 25 and 26: • To create a basis for your writ
Page 27 and 28: SpeakingThere are two main academic
Page 29 and 30: WritingIt is common for subject ass
Page 31 and 32: Research resourcesThere are many re
Page 33 and 34: Australian academic writingstyleThe
Page 35 and 36: Writing with support: using sources
Page 37 and 38: Exam preparation essentialsLike mos
Page 39 and 40: Using your memoryIt’s important t
Page 41: 6. Heading HomeWhen your exams and

Studying in Australia: The Study Abroad Student's Guide to Success

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?