One of the advantages and challenges of studying abroad at an international university is taking classes that are completely different from typically Northeastern courses. This provides a benefit as it gives students an opportunity to broaden their perspective and expand skills that they have gained through previous courses. I was really excited to take courses at the University of Sydney and received an in depth look at how courses and campus life operate and how it compares to Northeastern. In this blog, I will cover the campus, semester schedules, lecture structures, tutorials, and exams. I hope this provides prospective students with a concise overview of the University of Sydney.
Campus
The University of Sydney has a beautiful campus that combines buildings reminiscent of Hogwarts with more modern works of architecture. The main greens are centered atop a hill overlooking Victoria Park and Sydney itself. The majority of my classes were in the Abercrombie Business School, which is on the other side of campus. Sydney and Northeastern are similar in the fact that both are city schools they utilize architecture and landscaping to provide an intimate and enclosed campus for students and staff to enjoy. Although, Sydney does have more green space and students do not have to deal with Boston’s harsh winter.
Schedule
The schedule of courses at the University of Sydney is completely different than Northeastern. Every course only meets twice a week for a two-hour lecture and then a follow up one hour tutorial. Lectures are not mandatory and many students often watch the pre-recorded lectures online. This is due to the fact that many courses’ lecture times overlap so it is often difficult for students to attend all of their lectures. On the other hand, tutorials are mandatory and participation is essential. Tutorials are typically a smaller portion of the class and provide practice problems that relate to the lecture material. Comparatively, many of Northeastern courses meet three times a week and combine the lecture and “tutorial” into one time slot. Additionally, all Northeastern classes are mandatory and not pre-recorded.
Lectures
I had lectures for my courses once a week for two hours. I attended all of my lectures because I did not have any time conflicts, although I was in the minority of students to attend all my lectures. As previously mentioned, all the lectures are pre-recorded so it is not mandatory for students to attend. This serves two purposes as many students at Sydney Uni live far away (many people I met lived an hour away by train) and many students have time conflicts due to overlapping lectures. The pre-recorded lecture style provides students flexibility and allows everyone to go at their own pace. However, one drawback from this style was my relationship with each of my professors was very informal and I did not receive individual attention. Additionally, exams included everything in the textbook not just what was covered in the lectures. Therefore, students were expected to do a lot of learning on their own. This was difficult for me to adjust to at first, especially coming off a six-month co-op, but I was able to stay on top of my work by attending every lecture and completing any assigned reading. Additionally, professors had office hours to answer any questions students might have. Overall, only meeting once a week for lectures and having to do most of the learning at home was difficult to adjust to at first but I grew to enjoy this style of learning.
Tutorials
Tutorials were very like the style of business courses I have taken at Northeastern. Each lecture had three of four corresponding tutors who ran weekly tutorials for smaller groups of students. In these tutorials, we completed practice problems or case studies that related to the material covered in that week’s lecture. This provided a better opportunity to have hands-on learning and form a closer relationship with the tutor. All my tutorials were mandatory and resulted in a participation grade. They also provided vital information for exams. These helped to solidify the material covered in lectures and provided opportunities to work through practice problems. I found that these tutorials were like the courses I have taken in Northeastern’s business school as there was open discussion and we completed problems rather than simply listen to a lecturer. The combination of lecture and tutorial was interesting and difficult to adjust to at first, but provided a different style of higher learning which I grew to appreciate. I am not sure at this point if I like this style of learning better than Northeastern’s, but it was an interesting opportunity.
Exams
The courses at the University of Sydney are structured in a way that puts that majority of a grade’s weight on the final exam. For example, for two of my courses the final exam was worth 50% of my grade. This was different from my experiences at Northeastern where most of the business classes I have taken do not have a final exam worth so much. However, the final exam schedule is like Northeastern with exams spaced over two weeks with a built-in reading day.
Grades
The biggest difference was in the grading structure. Australia operates on an entirely different structure. 0-50 is a Fail, 50 – 64 is a Pass, 65 – 74 is a Credit, 75 – 84 is a Distinction, and 85-100 is a High Distinction. There is no formal GPA number and grades are simply giving a label. From my experiences, the course averages typically fell between the pass and credit range, around 67 – 77, with very few High Distinctions given. This is completely different from my prior experiences as a class average of around 70 on anything is not normal. Although the grade transfer should provide a competitive GPA back home, it was odd at first receiving what seems like very low grades for assignments I worked hard on. From talking with advisors and other students, I eventually understood the grading system.
This should provide a comprehensive overview of the course structure and teaching style at the University of Sydney.
