Australia has been one of the main destinations for many Indonesians to study for years. It is geographically close and the climate is not too extreme; unlike many European countries which can reach below zero temperature during winter time. All of those combined make tropical inhabitants like us feel at ease when moving to Australia.
Here I have several tips for students who are planning to study in Australia – primarily about what and where to study in the land of ‘roos.
The process of choosing your field of study can be a huge undertaking. It will define your perspective towards the intricacies of this world, and most importantly, it will define your future. And so, you ought to save yourself a time to sit down and really look within yourself of what you want to learn.
Follow your passion, they used to say. It’s a cliché that you may have heard thrown away everywhere like cheap chips. But truth to be told, you really don’t want to lose sleep and fun times doing something that you are not even fond of doing. Go and find something that you know you will be good at. Some people know that they are going to be very good in learning something that requires a whole lot of creative juice, so they go with arts. Others, however, may feel that they truly love studying by living things in details, so they pick biology as their university course.
Eventually, you might want to have a job based on the course that you’ve chosen, either for the experience or perhaps for the money. My advice is that it is best to have a little peek to your future. Open the web browser and head to several Australian job seek websites, so that you can have a glimpse on what kind of jobs you’d get, what kind of skills or experience that are expected by the employers, and how much salary will you be able to get.
Do remember, pick something that you like and something that you know you are going to excel at. It doesn’t really help if you can’t get well paid doing what you like, when you can’t be good at it. Therefore, in order for you to worth your pay, you have to not only hold an affection, but also be good at doing it.
After you generally know what kind of course you wish to take, you can contact an education advisor. These people have access to many universities, and are able to give you recommendations on a specific course and the university that has the course as their strong suit, and also, how much cash you have to sacrifice to get their student ID. Use an education agent that has been around for a while and has a good reputation. An inexperienced agent could eventually cost you your money and valuable time.
I do recommend to study in one of the “Group of 8” universities. They are the recommended place to get your cranium brimming with the up-to-date knowledge.
This is the list of the “Group of 8” universities, and the cities that they’re in, ranked based on QS World University Rankings (2012-2013):
- Australian National University (Canberra, ACT)
- The University of Melbourne (Melbourne, VIC)
- The University of Sydney (Sydney, NSW)
- The University of Queensland (Brisbane, QLD)
- The University of New South Wales (Sydney, NSW)
- Monash University (Melbourne, VIC)
- The University of Western Australia (Perth, WA)
As for me myself, I chose Melbourne. The city is not as packed as Sydney, the public transport is pleasant (hooray for trams), it’s clean, and relatively quiet. Not much distraction either, and most of the shops are closed at 5pm. In short, it was the best place for me to study.
Pick what you love, be good and committed at it, plus enjoy the Australian studying experience. May your future be so bright that your parents need to start wearing sunnies.
Godspeed.
