Obviously not. I'm just highlighting how students can misunderstand their roles as well as those of their academics at university.

This post has been edited by chris_c28: Jun 13 2007, 01:00 PM

If you terminate your contract before it ends, you'll most likely have to pay out the rest of the cost of the phone (sometimes, they have an exit charge). This will be stated in the contract you signed, so there's no "free" escape. A lot of people pay out their contract before it's due because they want to upgrade to a new phone. That's how mobile operators profit....and if you're wondering if you can choose to not pay, then no, you can't.

This post has been edited by chris_c28: Jun 18 2007, 09:00 PM

Has anyone seen the new revised changes to the ESOS Act affecting international students?

http://aei.dest.gov.au/AEI/ESOS/default.htm

Universities across the nation should now be announcing these changes to their students and how it affects them.

Basically, the new policy now makes study visa extension rules stricter than before. Students are required to complete their degrees within the timeframe set in their eCOE and extensions are only granted on exceptional grounds. Afaik, students are encouraged to overload if they think they can't finish their degrees on time (because they may have switched courses or done less than a full load previously).

I've tried asking the international student support group at my uni and they said it won't affect the majority of students and that at this point in time, nobody knows the full effects as the implementation only begins July 1st.

EDIT: I've been informed that students doing the minimal load (like 18 units) every session should be concerned about this change as they can no longer do this under the new regulations.

This post has been edited by chris_c28: Jun 25 2007, 03:00 PM

I know. If this rises > 3.5, it's going to be crazy now that USD is just around that figure.

This post has been edited by chris_c28: Jul 4 2007, 11:58 AM

You may want to consider UNSW too, as their Accounting and Finance disciplines have been consistently ranked top in Asia-Pacific in the past few years, and they have recently merged with the AGSM, forming the biggest business faculty in Australia. If UniSA, Curtin, UTS and Melbourne are your ONLY viable options, then Melbourne is the best choice as their business faculty is currently the 2nd in Australia, above all other unis. This is all only important if you really care about rankings.

Source: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=991974

Through my own observations, the best place for a degree in Accounting and Finance in Sydney is UNSW or Sydney University. There is virtually no difference between them as they are pretty good. Macquarie and UTS would be next up the list in Sydney.

This post has been edited by chris_c28: Jul 8 2007, 08:25 PM

If you're serious about Engineering, you should consider UNSW, Melbourne or Monash as these are the heavyweights in Engineering studies here. Afaik, they lead some of the biggest Engineering research groups in the country and you'll get first hand experience in technical knowledge. I think you were also concerned that the Electrical Engineering programs offered by these unis do not have "Electronics" in the name, but looking at the content, they do have courses such as Embedded Circuit Design, Digital Signals, Electronics and Circuits, etc. in the program. It's just the naming convention that the university prefers to use, but they do not reflect the actual content as far as I'm aware.
Then again, the costs are much higher studying in Sydney or Melbourne and I think the fees are more expensive too, so it all really depends on what you're ready to go for. If you have applied to all of them, then you can actually "cherry-pick" among them.

Depends whether you want to study locally or overseas. The experience will be pretty different.

Most universities have some sort of industry links/partnerships to enable their students to find positions to satisfy their compulsory 60 day industrial training (IT) requirement to graduate as an Engineer accredited by the IEA. International students may complete these in their home country.
There are co-op scholarships sponsored by major firms which ties a degree with work experience, i.e. students get paid while studying and undertaking part time work, but these are usually offered to permanent residents and citizens.
The best university in this regard (internships) that I'm aware of is UTS (University of Technology Sydney). Their Engineering programs include a compulsory 12 months paid internships with companies which they have contracted with, so you're pretty much guaranteed a job in one of their partner firms. I'm not aware of any other unis which offer such a deal, so others may want to chip in their thoughts.

EDIT: Removed my incorrect interpretation of the visa changes to avoid further confusion. Please check RBR's comments or http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-ski...ation/index.htm

To answer your question, yes, you can remain in Australia upon graduation to find a job here.

This post has been edited by chris_c28: Jul 13 2007, 10:16 AM

Actually that's not quite true. UNSW's Electrical Engineering program does not have Electronics in its name because Electronics is a specialisation within Electrical Engineering, so in your 3rd and 4th year, you'll get to select electives which allow you to specialise in a specific area of your expertise. Those wishing to do Electronics will get to choose subjects relevant to this field. The first 2 years are common for all students.

It's not feasible to do a conversion for everyday purchases like food and groceries because these are necessities. Before you come to Australia, you would already have known the expected living costs and would have taken into account an average inflation of 4% and an exchange rate which fluctuates between 2.7 to 3.0, so I think there should be funds set aside just to accomodate that.

That is not much different from average Sydney/Melbourne prices, except rental in the faraway suburbs. However, for the same amount of rent, you might have gotten a larger property.
The other problem is cooking. What I have found is that if you are in an intensive degree (like Engineering/Med/Law?) and fulfilling work commitments, you'll be too tired to cook by the end of the day, unless of course you can do your readings while cooking/washing.

Yay, UNSW. Let's meet up!

Some interesting links on Australian higher education:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/more-t...6857512039.html

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/highereducation/


This post has been edited by chris_c28: Aug 17 2007, 08:16 AM

I'm not sure what you're getting at, but if you are comparing between wages in Australia and those in Malaysia, here's the reason:
Higher standards of living. You pay $8 for a bowl of noodles here, but RM3 at home.
Petrol, consumer goods and generally everything costs more than they do in Malaysia.

This post has been edited by chris_c28: Aug 19 2007, 12:54 AM

What do you want to know about USyd? It's a good (and old) uni and it's within Sydney CBD, close to Newtown, Redfern and Broadway. I believe there are a few here from USyd, but they don't seem to visit often.
Anyway, here's the university webpage if you haven't already visited it.
http://www.usyd.edu.au/

No, I'm not from Usyd (from UNSW, cross-town rival ).
Anyway, you should search around the site, there is an International students page that tells you all about what you're inquiring (airport, accomodation, etc.):
http://www.usyd.edu.au/stuserv/issu/

USyd has a big campus, which is spread across the city, with the Newtown campus being the main one. One nice thing is that it is easily accessible by train and bus. I have no experience with Sydney University Village. It looks like a typical student accomodation service much like Unilodge.

Life in Sydney....that's a tough question to me (self-confessed geek). I find Sydney very multicultural, much like any other city in Australia I guess. It is a big city, but beyond the CBD, most suburbs look the same. The North Shores are really nice as it is more modern than the older East and West suburbs. The Eastern suburbs are where most of the beautiful beaches are. The central shopping/entertainment area in central CBD (Pitt St) will undergo a major redevelopment beginning next month. Northern CBD is basically a financial district where all the big multinationals are. USyd is close to Chinatown, but still not a walking distance.

Basically, you would want to live in the Eastern suburbs (including CBD), as public transport and most other things are much more accessible.

Chinatown in Sydney isn't really big nor grand like those in the US, mainly because you can get Asian stuff anywhere in Sydney. Thus, the appeal has somewhat diminished.

This post has been edited by chris_c28: Aug 20 2007, 07:32 PM

Then refuse to, work elsewhere. They are exploiting students because they know students tend to be submissive, especially international students. We're Malaysians, show them that we have self-dignity.

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Added on September 6, 2007, 9:48 pmUNSW Med offers Undergraduate Medicine too, albeit it's 6 years. It's in Sydney, though, but studying/living in Melbourne doesn't make it any cheaper, so it's another alternative for you.

This post has been edited by chris_c28: Sep 6 2007, 09:48 PM

No, as I mentioned, if you can afford Melbourne, you can afford Sydney.

This post has been edited by chris_c28: Sep 7 2007, 10:32 PM

http://www.apesma.asn.au/surveys/engineers...ary_for_web.pdf

Engineers are in high demand here currently, due to an industry-wide supply shortage. The average in Sydney is around $48k-$60k for fresh grads afaik, mainly in IT and Telecommunications. The highest paid engineers are those in mining due to the resources boom in WA.

Read the post above you ^^.

I'm also at UNSW, albeit not Medicine.

I'm doing Software Engineering/Commerce with a major in Finance.
Life's ok here, but very hectic. During session, we're pretty much busy all the time because there is a lot of readings and assignments to do. SENG assignments are a killer as they take up a lot of time. As we work on a lot of research projects (yes, even for undergraduates), the stuff is pretty challenging in itself.
Sydney's a beautiful place and I'd say it's not expensive if you're comparing it with Melbourne. However, you might get less Malaysians here than you do in Melbourne.