Korean Job Discussion Forums

[TECO]

Can anyone here comment on this school?

I am considering taking a course here in the faculty of Education and am curious if there are any Australians here who have studied at Univ. of Melbourne or had friends that studied there.

What is the city like to live in and is the school near the city?
I would like to get student housing and would like to live near the school. Also, is there a subway or train system that links to the university?

Thanks.

[crazylemongirl]

I haven't lived in melbourne but been there a couple of times. It's a great city. A lot of artsy stuff and great eating to be had. Good public transport too. The city has street cars through the city.

The university of melbourne is part of the group of top 8 universities in aus so reputation is reasonably good.

try PMing waterbaby as she knows a lot about it.

[TECO]

thks, very much!

will do.

[just because]

Uni of melb is considered one of the Top 10 in the country...

Melbourne itself is a very cosmopolitan city, it actually is the second largest Greek city(in terms of Greek people) in the world and plenty of other Europeans to make up the mix......

Weather is a bit of a bugger, it literally can have 4 seasons in one day...

However, it is very popular

[whitebeagle]

That's where I studied and lived for the last 16 years. Melbourne uni is considered the best in the country, and it's located very close to the city centre. Student housing should be easy to find if you keep an eye out for student notices in the student union, there are plenty of places available around the area. There are trams that take you to melbourne uni from several different suburbs although there aren't any direct subway trains.

Melbourne's a great city, it's got a lot of hidden charms and lot of places to eat and party. Around the uni there's Lygon street where they have the best Italian food in the country, and about 20 minutes from uni, a suburb called south Yarra has a really good nightlife as well as st kilda which is a very bohemian, beachy and trendy suburb. PM me if you have any more questions.

[just because]

[TECO]

I talked to a woman from univ. of melbourne who came to represent the school at an Australian university exhibition in Taipei.

she said that many considered their Education Dpt. to be one of the best in the country - not that the entire school was the best in the country.

anyone agree with her comments?

[crazylemongirl]

basically from what I know of the aussie system it seems to break down like this:

the g8 universities are the top research universities and are located in the captail cities. The g8 see themselves as the 'ivy league' of aussie universities.

then there is the IRU which are newer institutions and tend to have a liberal education focus.

Then there is everyone else.

As to the education departments. Perhaps you might want to get in touch with some people from the education department at your home university.

[waterbaby]

TECO - I started my MA TESOL at Melbourne Uni in March last year. I dropped out after just 3 weeks because I realised what a BIG mistake I'd made. Teaching wasn't my future, wasn't the profession for me. I'd had an OK time doing it for 2+ years, mostly in Korea, but as soon I was back in the halls of academia, I knew it wasn't for me.

So my choice was largely personal - I took a different career direction after the those three weeks and haven't looked back since.

At the time I chose to study there, I was more or less looking for an easy way to come back to Oz... I had family reasons for coming back (sick relatives & wanted to be around, rather than an ocean away) and going back to study certainly was the easy option... nice way to slide back into Aussie life without the responsibility of picking up my career (however, that just kind of fell into my lap )

Anyway, one of the lecturers was this amazing woman who managed to get even me excited about education policy in Australia!!! She was fantastic. I was having a trouble with the assignment in her class because it was really structured for those already teaching in the Australian school system (though they swore black and blue than one didn't need to have a BEd and teaching experience in Australia to do the course AND it was a compulsory subject). From memory... you're one of the "real" teachers around here - yeah? So that wouldn't be a problem for you.

And another lecturer was just horrid... I mean, this woman had a PhD in teaching and her first class was a perfect example of what NOT to do... she was disorganised, thought aloud "now... what shall we do next? how about... no, won't give out those papers... yes, let's have a look at this" Then she proceeded to tell us how unavailable she was becuase of her work with the Iraqi refugees... did I mention the Iraqi refugees??? On and on and on she went about her schedule. Like we care??? Do you want to listen to more about the Iraqi refugees? Oh and this one time, at band camp, there were these Iraqi refugees... And she had this ultra feaux posh accent that incesed me And she favoured the international students.

So I'm in two minds about it. Melbourne Uni is the best one in Victoria (State), closely followed by Monash (not such a good location as Melb Uni). ANU (Aust. National Uni) is the best - that's in Canberra - but they don't have a TESOL program ... at least not for people like me with a non BEd background. Worth checking out - tho' Canberra is a bit of a small sleepy city. Sydney Uni also has a good rep.

Melbourne's a great city to live in, though. I love it - but perhaps that's because I have all my mates and family here... the weather is a bit of a bugger though - literally 4 seasons in a day... so make sure you have sunscreen, an umbrella, a jacket and have a t-shirt under your shirt/jumper to accommodate for this!!! Can be annoying as all hell, and I reckon you won't find anywhere else people talk about the weather as much as they do in melbourne *yawn*!!!

Melbourne Uni is in a great location. It's in Carlton (the Education faculty is in their main campus in Carlton) which is just north of the Melbourne CBD. Plenty of trams run past there - probably one departing at least every 5 mins.

Most people catch the tram from one of Melbourne's 3 subway stops - Melbourne Central... trains go everywhere across greater Melbourne, but there's only 3 below ground stations, referred to as the "City Loop"

Renting (I think) is not that expensive... depends what you want, where you want to live and if you want to share. Check out www.realestate.com.au or www.domain.com.au to get a feel for prices. Look at Carlton and neighbouring suburbs if you want to live close to campus.

You can get an older style one brm "flat" for around $150 pw... I pay $195 for a 2 brm in a great location just out of the CBD, about 3 suburbs further north of Carlton. It's a renters market here in Melbourne because of the investment property boom of a few years ago (and continuing) - lots of vacant apartments and not enough renters. You can negotiate to get yourself a good deal. The new apartments in the city CBD are quite expensive to rent (cheap to buy tho') because of the exorbitant annual body corporate fees.

Hope this all helped in some way. PM me if you want more details.

[diablo3]

top 10? stop kidding, it is the top 2.

[TJ]

[waterbaby]

[turtlepi1]

I don't know much about the Australian Uni system, but I get the feeling it is somewhat like the Canadian system and unlike the American system.

There are better schools and worse schools but all of the public schools are of a similar standard. Unlike the US tiered system.

In Canada if I said the University of British Columbia was the top university it would be tough to actually quantify that. They rank them every year but the criteria is generally silly. When we argue about which school is better in Canada it is much different than when americans discuss college rankings...

I mention UBC because that is where I am doing my masters in educational technology and I was reading today that they consider the University of Melbourne a "peer" institution and have partnerships with them.

[TECO]

I agree - Canadian schools are pretty much even across the country compared to Japan, Taiwan, Korea, and the U.S. .

I can either go to law school at U. Vic. or U. of Toronto and basically come out with the same quality of education - except the U. Vic. degree'll be a lot less expensive!

I really appreciate all the info.
Thanks!