Travel report

The University of Queensland Brisbane, Australia

Fall 2016

424194

Brisbane

1. Preparing for the exchange

The results of the exchange applications were published in March 2016, and fortunately I was

selected as the official nominee of Aalto University. However, at this point the process is far from

over since it is required to also apply to the University of Queensland. As I applied for the autumn

semester, the application deadline for UQ was only few days later. Unfortunately for me, these few

days happened to be Saturday and Sunday. This resulted more or less in panicking since I wasn’t

able to provide all the necessary documents on time. Even though everything worked out and I was

granted few extra days to complete my application, I would still recommend to prepare yourself

slightly more carefully than I did. Especially if you are applying for the autumn semester being alert

right after the announcement of the results is important. The required documents include most-up-

to-date official academic transcripts and a proof of English skills. The English translation of upper

secondary school diploma with at least grade eight (8/10) in A-level studies in English is sufficient

proof.

After sending the application, an offer letter should come within two weeks. In my case though, UQ

somehow forgot my application and after a month of waiting and sending an email to the exchange

coordinator, I finally received the offer. After accepting the offer and purchasing the Overseas

Student Health Coverage (OSHC) offered by the university, I received an electronic Confirmation of

Enrolment and were able to apply for the visa. The student visa process was very easy and receiving

the electronic visa as a Finnish citizen took about 24 hours. The cost, on the other hand, was rather

expensive, around 550 AUD. When applying for the visa, it is also important to make sure that your

passport is valid for the required time.

2. Arrival in Brisbane and accommodation

After the more or less stressful preparation, I was able to book my flights. I only booked one-way

tickets and stayed few days in Hong Kong on the way. I arrived in Brisbane on 7th of July, about two

weeks before the university started. The university arranges free pick-ups from the airport and I

definitely recommend to use that. These pick-ups however must be booked in advance.

Whereas most other exchange students have to start looking for an apartment right after arrival, I

had booked accommodation already in Finland for the whole semester so I didn’t have to stress

about finding an apartment. I stayed in Altitude at Taringa, an off-campus student accommodation

also recommended at UQ’s housing website. My flat and the whole complex was really nice. I shared

an apartment with an Australian student but had my own bathroom and balcony. The complex also

had two swimming pools, barbecue areas, and a gym. The location was also very good, 15 minutes

to the campus by bike, the closest railway station was only few hundred meters away and the train

took around 10 – 15 minutes to the city centre. In addition, many bus lines passed the complex and

there were two big shopping centres close by. Unfortunately, this luxury had its price the rent being

very high, 270 AUD per week including water and electricity. I also had to make a 6-month contract,

which can be avoided with private lessors. Most of my friends paid around 180 - 220 AUD per week

for a room in a shared house located in good suburbs close to the campus. Therefore, I would not

recommend to book an accommodation beforehand and just use the first few weeks to find a

private apartment. Exchange life can be pretty hectic with all the activities so you may want to save

your money for something else.

Great areas for UQ students (and where most of the students live) include St. Lucia, Toowong,

Taringa, West End, South Bank, Woolloongabba, Dutton Park and Fairfield. The public

transportation in Brisbane is pretty good in all areas but doesn’t run during weeknights. As in

Finland, students get a 50% discount from the prices, but the price of a journey is determined by

the distance travelled. In addition, the weather being good all year round I would definitely consider

buying a bike, even though it can be a bit hilly in some parts of Brisbane. At nigh time using Uber is

pretty popular among students. So if you live in an area close to campus, sharing an Uber shouldn’t

be a problem either.

3. Exchange studies

Great court, the University of Queensland

As a bachelor’s student, I had to choose four courses. They were all worth two units, that is 7,5 ECTS.

So in total, I received 30 ECTS. All of the courses started on the last week of July (25th - 31st of July).

The week prior to that was an orientation week, which consisted of only a few mandatory

information sessions but also had several campus tours and parties. The University of Queensland

is a big university, so there is a wide variety of courses to choose from. Some of them, however,

have to be pre-approved first. To be honest, with the limited time I had, I ended up choosing courses

that were mentioned on previous travel reports. Changing the courses later on is possible, but I was

quite happy with them and did not want to change any. The exam period was in November, the last

exam date being the 19th. Below I have listed the courses I took.

AUST1000 Contemporary Australia (undergraduate, 2 units)

The first one of the courses I chose was Contemporary Australia. In this course, most of the students

were exchange students. The course discussed Australia and Australian culture in a profound way.

The course examined the Australian culture respect to history, art, multiculturalism, indigenous

issues, the portrayal of women, etc. I found the course pretty interesting and very different

compared to the courses offered in Aalto. The course provided me a fairly deep understanding of

Australia and its culture. The course was led by Dr. Robert Hogg, who I think was a good lecturer.

The course did not have actual lectures, but instead, weekly seminars with a small group that

involved a lot of discussions. Attendance of the seminars was mandatory. The evaluation was based

on lecture attendance (10%), short essay (15%), an academic essay (25%) and a final take-home

exam (40%).

ECON1120 Economics of Social Issues (undergraduate, 2 units)

This course provided an introduction to the economics of social issues. The topics discussed included

for example health sector, welfare state and education policy. These topics were always discussed

from two different viewpoints. The purpose of this course was to understand the nature of different

solutions to these issues and to help build your own opinion where you stand. I think the course was

very interesting and probably my favourite course at UQ. The lecturer was a retired professor Alan

Duhs. The attendance in the lectures was not mandatory but the course had a weekly 50-minute

mandatory tutorial. In this course, I actually had to read the textbook to answer the multiple choice

questions in the mid-semester exam and the final exam. Luckily, the book is very interesting and has

only about 200 pages. The course evaluation consisted of a mid-semester exam (25%), an academic

essay (25%) and a final exam (50%).

IBUS2301 International Business Management (undergraduate, 2 units)

The purpose of this course was to introduce the most important theories and current issues in

international business, both in a country and a firm level. The topics discussed included

globalisation, trade theories, economic integration and entry strategies to new markets. I found the

topics quite interesting and useful and the course was organized pretty similar to courses in Aalto.

The lecturer was Peter Liesch. The course had both weekly lecture and tutorial but attendance was

not mandatory in neither of them. The course evaluation consisted of two group debates (25% in

total), a mid-term exam (25%) and a final exam (50%).

MGTS2604 Introduction to Human Resource Management (undergraduate, 2 units)

The course content consisted of theories and approaches to HRM. I think this was the easiest but

also the least interesting of my courses at UQ. However, to people who are more interested of HRM,

it may be useful. The lecturer was Yiqiong Li. Also in this course, the lecture attendance was not

mandatory but there were tutorials every week with mandatory attendance. In addition, we had to

prepare learning unit for each tutorial. I didn’t personally like the concept of learning units, which

were more or less finding and writing down sentences from the textbook. The course evaluation

consisted of the tutorials and learning units (20%), a scientific essay (30%) and a final exam (50%).

In general, I could say that the courses were pretty easy and at least only passing the courses does

not require too much work. All of the lectures at UQ are recorded and can be watched any time

during the course. Studying facilities are good with several 24/7-spaces. Also the library is very

comprehensive, and they have at least few mandatory textbooks for almost all of the courses. What

is especially good is that the library has many short-term loans, from two to 24 hours, so you are

usually able to access the materials whenever you need it. In most of the courses textbook is

required but unless you are aiming for the highest grades, simply borrowing the course book for the

assignments should be sufficient. What is very important in selecting courses is to select the tutorial

times at the very second when the registration for each tutorial opens. This allows you to plan your

schedule and possibly extend your weekend significantly.

4. Life in Australia

Brisbane is Australia’s third biggest city with a population of more than 2.3 million people. Despite

the business centre, most of the city is just suburbs, so the city doesn’t feel that big at all. However,

in an Australian scale, the city was very cosy and vibrant. By far the best aspect of Brisbane is the

weather. During my stay (June – November) the daily temperatures varied between 22 – 32 degrees,

with less than ten rainy days. Queensland – the sunshine state, really bears its name.

Port Douglas, Queensland

The other brilliant thing with Brisbane is the location. Located in the middle of the east coast, it is a

perfect location for traveling in Australia. What is important to keep in mind are the massive

distances that maps may sometimes distort. Sydney for example, is as much as 900 kilometres south

of Brisbane. Despite not having an own beach (there is a nice artificial beach though), some of the

Australia’s best beaches, Noosa Heads, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, and my favourite of all - Byron

Bay, are located only 1-2 hours away. They are accessible by public and transportation and perfect

for a day or especially weekend trips. There are also beautiful national parks close to Brisbane. I

would recommend visiting at least Springbrook national park and Blue Mountains. There are also

cheap flights available to other cities and destinations further away. I bought a car with my friend

so we mostly used that for traveling. In addition to several trips to the close by areas, we did two

major road trips. The first one, two weeks during the mid-semester all the way up north to Cairns

and back to Brisbane through the east coast. The second one, a month’s trip after the semester

down the east coast to Sydney and Melbourne. Traveling by car is more flexible and allowed us to

explore the exact places we wanted to. Fuel prices being cheap in Australia, traveling by car also

saved us some money.

Roadtrip

“Aussies” are very friendly and nice everywhere we went in Australia. Even though you don’t have

to expect a big culture shock, the culture is still a bit different compared to Finland. In general, the

people are slightly more laid back and talkative (especially in Queensland). In most situations, you

are expected to change at least few sentences instead of just greeting. After a short while, you’ll

learn to ask how the cashier is doing today and are quite familiar with “No worries, mate.” However,

I ended up hanging out with other exchange students for most of the time. I would say the easiest

way to get in touch with locals (and other exchange students) is to join and be active in the clubs at

UQ. I joined the following clubs: QUEST (The Queensland University Exchange Student Society)

where basically all exchange students join, UQ Surfers and UQ Beach Volleyball-Club. They all

organise weekend trips, sports activities as well as many social events such as pub crawls. As being

a big university, also the range of different clubs is also huge and there is surely something for

everyone.

Camping somewhere in Queensland.

The sport facilities at the campus are really good. Big gym, swimming pool, indoor sports hall, many

football fields (both Australian and soccer), cricket court, track and field venue, over 20 tennis

courts, beach volley facilities, etc.There are different levels of sport memberships but I found them

all quite expensive. Also, because I had a gym and pool facilities at my apartment I decided not to

buy the membership and mostly played tennis and beach volley at the campus. Hiring a tennis court

for an hour costs 5 dollars for students (11am - 2pm weekdays). Many clubs also organize social

sporting events and games, so in order to play for example football you don’t have to be experienced

player.

I found the prices in Australia quite expensive. Groceries and restaurants are about the same than

in Finland, some things being cheaper and some more expensive. Alcohol is only sold in special

bottle stores, so for example beer (bought from a store) is more expensive than in Finland. However

wines and drinks at the bar are slightly cheaper. The only thing that is distinctively cheaper in

Australia is gasoline, around 1,30 AUD (about 0.85 €) per litre. I would say what makes Australia

more expensive for a student is the lack of student restaurants or housing as there is in Finland. No

matter what you do, you most likely end up paying quite a lot for accommodation and food.

5. Final Comments

Despite having thousands of international students in the University of Queensland, I happened to

be the only one from Finland. Since there is not really an opportunity to start hanging out with other

Finns, it kind of forced me to step out of my comfort zone and meet new exciting people from all

over the world right at the beginning, and all by myself. Although being a bit unnerving at the

beginning, I think this was one of the best and most useful things during my exchange. I got better

and more confident with meeting and interacting new people and working in an international

setting. Also settling in into a completely new environment sure made me more self-reliant.

Of course, with no Finnish speaking people around I basically spoke only English six months straight.

I believe that my stay really improved my English skills, especially spoken English, making the use of

language much more natural and confident. As already studying in English in Finland, doing

coursework was not very different and thus probably didn’t, unfortunately, develop my written skills

that much. However, based on my grades I guess my written English was sufficient enough.

All in all, the time I spent in Australia was a magnificent with many unforgettable experiences. I can

most certainly recommend Australia and Brisbane for exchange destination. The University of

Queensland is a great university with a good variety of courses and it is pretty much up to you how

do you want your semester to look like. I am happy of the timing (Finnish Autumn), my courses, as

well as the activities I did, so I wouldn’t really do anything differently. Finally and most importantly,

I made many really good friends that I will also meet in the future.

Sunset at the Blue Mountains.

Cheers.