Australia, Day 18

So, what does graduate school look like in Australia?

Talking with a couple of folks over the last few days, it has become clear to me that there are some rather major differences in the way graduate students get their PhDs. Here are some differences between the US and Australia.
 1.  In the US, when you get admitted to a graduate program, you take courses -- this allows you to figure out which faculty member you want to work with and also get a better sense whether your research focus is reasonable.  In Australia, you write a 5000 word proposal, present the proposal in a public setting to the potential committee and anyone else who is interested, and after the proposal is approved, you start writing -- no courses required except for some basic ones like lab safety.
2. In the US, you decide on your committee and chair.  Ideally, you will do this before you apply, but many folks also do this during course work.  Faculty can be chairs if they have an active research program, recent publications, and a certain rank.  In Australia, you choose a supervisor.  This supervisor not only needs to be current in research, but, at Macquarie, also needs to have gone through mandatory training to guide graduate students towards successful degree completion.
3.  In the US, many graduate students receive an assistantship that allows them to get a tuition waiver and even some money to live on.  In Australia, once a proposal has been approved, you submit a budget and timeline that gets approved, and based on this information, the university receives funding from the government in lieu of tuition.  This money comes in two chunks -- at the beginning and on timely graduation.
4.  In the US, you need to finish the degree in a certain number of years to ensure that you stay current in the research.  In Australia, you need to finish your degree (if a full time student) within 4 years (they are thinking of cutting this down to 3).  If you take longer, you will need to start paying the fees that the government would have paid for you.

sunset over Sydney

The Macquarie Center for Learning and Teaching just launched its blog that focuses on learning and teaching:  http://teche.ltc.mq.edu.au/

But it also helps other people across campus use the wordpress platform to get their messages out, too.

wildlife:  possum