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[Rice Paddy Daddy]

Can anyone here offer me any insight from either personal experience or word of mouth regarding the education department at univ. of melbourne?

I'm interested in their M.A. / Ed.D / Ph.d programs in TESOL/Applied Linguistics.

Also, does the school have student housing that is conveniently located near the school and shopping?

Thanks.

[sojourner]

RPD,

I, myself, haven't studied at the University of Melbourne, but I know that it has a very good name in Australian academic circles - on the same level as Sydney Uni, ANU, and UQ.

To be admitted to any doctorate programme, I'd imagine that Melb.Uni. would expect candidates to have r'd very high grades in their Honours or Masters courses. In previous postings, you have mentioned that you completed a Master's in Applied Linguistics, at USQ. Was there a significant research component involved in that degree ? If not, it MIGHT be somewhat difficult in gaining admission to a doctorate programme at such a prestigious institution as Melb.Uni. Why don't you contact the dept of Education (or Applied Linguistics) ? If you are not admitted to Melb.Uni, there are other unis in and around Melbourne that you could choose from, eg: Latrobe, Monash, RMIT, and Deakin.

Anyway, Melb Uni is very close to the city. A short tram ride (about 10 minutes) will take you to the heart of the city (Flinders Street Station).On and around campus, there are halls of residence - but I'd imagine that the boarding fees would be quite high - also, from what I've heard, many of the (undergraduate)residents would be noisy prepy-types ! There might also be student flats actually owned by the uni - contact the uni housing or accommodation office. Melb.Uni is in the Carlton area - very colourful place, with plenty of Italian restaurants and late 19th Century terrace houses. But as it is so cosmopolitan and close to the city centre, many yuppies live there - thus ensuring that rents would be quite high. But you should be able to find a reasonable share-accommodation situation, with other students, a couple of miles away from the uni, close to a tram route .

You would like Melbourne - probably Australia's most cosmopolitan city ! Greek, Italian and other ethnic restaurants abound.There is an excellent art gallery/cultural centre, close to Flinders Street Station. Also, there are some excellent parks and gardens around the city.

Apart from Melbourne, have you considered any other Australian city ? I would also recommend Adelaide (my home town !). Another place worth considering is Brisbane. The University of Queensland is located in a very pleasant, leafy, riverside suburb, called St Lucia - and is only about 20-30 minutes by bus from the centre of Brisbane.

I believe that with a student visa, one is permitted to work for up to 20 hours pw.There are a number of language schools in Melbourne - but, as you have already remarked, most teaching jobs there are on a casual or on-call basis. But if you put your name down at a dozen schools, you just MIGHT be able to do 20, or so, hours of teaching pw !

Regards,

Peter

[Rice Paddy Daddy]

Hi Peter,

That was really nice of you to apply with all that useful info.
Thanks a lot!

Will PM you.

[eltbert]

[chipy66]

While i generally agree with most of what was said in the last post about the university of melbourne. The tuition and living costs for my friend are not discounted at all. He pays upwards of $20,000 AUD for tuition and heaps of money for rent.
My friend says that there is a multi million dollar asian recruitment service going on right now. Apparently the schools make most of their money from asian students paying international fee's and then taking extra years because there english isnt great.

anyways melbourne is a great city regardless. It seems like there is much more happening here than sydney.

[rickit]

If you are considering coming to study in Australia, be aware that the university system here struggles for funding and consequently sells degrees to non-Australians, whether these are permanent residents or on student Visas.

There has been a great deal in the news these past months on corruption in universities in Australia. This doesn't mean that if you are hard-working and play by the rules that you won't get something out of your education: you will. You should realize, however, that any country that sells its degrees without demanding an English entrance score that is adequate to meet the demands of university study, in addition to dismantling tenure and ongoing positions, i.e., hiring casual staff that are paid by the hour to teach classes and feel constrained to pass sub-standard work because they need to keep their jobs-- well-- you've got a bad situation all around, in my opinion.

That doesn't mean, however, that I didn't work my ass off, get good grades and learn something. But having said that, I was probably in the miniority when it came to plagiarism and I found my classes extremely frustrating due to the nearly complete inability of my colleagues to speak the language. They also seemed to want me to do their work for them.

Don't expect to get an easy ride: nobody gets an easy ride in a situation like this. And unless you can pay for your PhD? Forget about it.

R

[KCA420]

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[rickit]

Thanks, mate.

What about you? Are you in Oz?

Cheers,

Rickit

[KCA420]

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