Student Report
Name of the University: Deakin University, Melbourne
Exchange semester: Fall 2015
I. PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Before leaving Norway
Information from the university were always provided through email. I received COE and
offer letter in the end of April.
Applying for a visa (if applicable)
All information on what visa to apply for, and how to apply was sent to me by the host
university. Due to this the visa application was very simple for me. The process goes through
the Australian governments webpage, confirmation was sent to me by mail. The cost was
around 3000 NOK.
Travel
The T2 semester at Deakin University starts in the beginning of July. I travelled to Melbourne
by flight, with transfer in Dubai. If you do not order your flight tickets early they can be really
expensive.
Housing
Housing was provided by the University. Me and a lot of other exchangestudents from around
the world lived there. Which was a great way to get to know a lot of people. The
accomondation was also in great condition. It was also easy and safe for me, travelling alone,
knowing I would have a place ready immediately when I got down to Australia. However I do
regret not living in the city.
If you do not wish to live on campus there is cheaper places that are more convenient to the
city through websites such as gumtree, flatmates etc. There is also some help provided by the
international office at Deakin for off-campus accomondations. The university campus is
located in a suburb called Burwood, other areas I would recommend to live is Richmond and
Hawthorne.
Costs
Rent
Books
Food
Transport
Other
7500 NOK
2500 NOK
3000 NOK
400 NOK
2000 NOK
Culture and language
No significant problems with the language, Australians have some local slang but was easy to
learn.
Australia has a lot of great opportunities to travel and experiencing their culture. First of all
Melbourne is a very cultural city and there is always a lot of events such as festivals (in
summer), vintage-markets, food-markets etc.
I got to travel a lot around the state of Victoria. There is a lot of beautiful nature and wildlife
within short distances. You can either go by public transport or rent a car. If you want to see
more of Australia (which a lot of the exchange students do after their exams (semester ends in
October), there is a lot of cheap domestic flights as well.
Australians are a very open, laidback and friendly people. It is very easy to get in contact with
them, and they will teach you a lot about their culture, places to go etc.
II. ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Deakin University is a big university, with campuses located in Geelong, Warnambool and
Burwood. The one closest to the city is the campus in Burwood, this is where the majority of
exchange student is located. The University offers a broad spectre of academic areas, and
your co-students will therefore not only be business-graduates.
Deakin University has a huge international focus and there is a lot of international students in
addition to the local Australians. Therefore there is a lot of offers both for academic help and
more social groups arranged by other students and the administration.
Their study structure include regulary work thoughout the semester. Including several
assignments and a final exam at the end of the trimester. This can vary on the type of units
you choose
Course registration
I registered for courses in April. The University wanted me to sign up 6 courses of interest
already in the online application form for the University. Therefore it will be good to start to
look at courses early. All information will be provided by the University by email. Units can
be changes during the first weeks of the trimester.
My units were Strategic Management, Change Management, People, Work & Technology
and International Marketing.
Academic calendar
Arrival date:
First day of the semester:
Last day of classes:
Examination period:
Any special events/holidays:
Other:
02nd of July
05th of July (Welcome trip)
13th of July (First day of lectures)
1st of October
5th of October to 23rd of October
Inter-timesterbreak
Arrival
The 5th of July the Deakin Study Abroad office had arranged a welcometrip for all exchange
students. We travelled to a small surfer-town called Lorne, a few hours outside Melbourne.
We all stayed at a hotel and every day was a new activity to join such as hiking, yoga,
volleyball, surfing etc. These days were a fantastic opportunity to make friends.
In addition to the welcome trip the school usually have O-week, that includes not only
exchange-students but the whole University. I will guess the O-week is different during T1,
because in T2 it was very hard to get information about the parties. It was mostly 1st year
Australian students living on campus that attended the parties. It also clashed with a lot of the
lectures for the first week, as the parties often was held from noon and to the evening.
The International Office
The “Deakin Study Abroad” office is very helpful and they will send you all information you
need. They will respond quickly if you have any other enquires.
Promoting BI and Norway
There was no promoting activities other than “Word of Moth”.
Social activities
The Asutralians are very open and outgoing people, therefore it was easy to make native
friends.
The Univeristy has severeal group organised by their student union DUSA. Within this
organisation there is a lot of smaller more specific groups. Exchange students are welcome to
join every one of them wether it is a religious group, sports etc. A fair will be arranged in the
beginning of the trimester where you can get to know them all more.
For exchange students there is in particular group called DSAC which you can pay a entry fee
around 15 AUD to join. The events is set up by a goup of native students. They arranged
scavenger hunt in the city, parties, movie nights, BBQ nights etc. It is highly recommended to
join this group.
III. ACADEMICS
In the classroom
The teaching style is quite different from BI. Each week I would have a 1 hour seminar and 2
hour lectures. This vary from what unit you choose, but most common is to have 3 hours
teaching in total for each unit per week. The seminars are more practical and you get most out
of them with being well-prepared. The lectures are similar to BI with PP-slides.
The workload is a lot more to keep up with the assigments and also the seminars. You cannot
just wait to the end of the year to do all your studies, as you will have important evaluations
throughout the trimester.
The level is lower from BI. All my units were 3rd year. A lot of the theories were familiar for
me from BI. Still I learned a lot of new perspectives and theories as well. The people having
1st year and 2nd year units had a very easy time during their trimester.
Course materials
All lectures and seminars used PP-slides. Most of my units had one book that was followed
throughout, but some units will only used articles from the library each week.
Deakin were good at combining library sources with the book to get a greater understanding
of the theory in practice, although this will add on number of pages you have to read.
Exams
Exams was mostly based on lectures.
The courses was evaluated on a final exam counting 50% of the mark, all of mine were 2 hour
exams. I also had one in-class group presentation and several individual and group
assignments. All of my units has 3 evaluations. Were the first usually was a written
assignment counting around 10-20%, the second a larger paper counting 20-40%, and the
exam at the end of the trimester.
A studyguide for each unit is provided at the Deakin homepage and will contain information
on what evaluations will be arranged for the unit.
Library and technology
The library is a little small, and to get a good spot you need to be early.
All lectures is recorded, so you can watch them later.
Description of courses
Course code & name
MMM365
Strategic Management
MMH356
Change Management
MMK358
International
Marketing
MIS332
People, Work &
Technology
Master/
Bachelor
Bachelor
Bachelor
Bachelor
Bachelor
Exam form
Prerequisites
2-hour written
exam
2-hour written
exam
2-hour written
exam
None
Approved
as
Elective
None
Elective
None
Elective
2-hour written
exam
None
Elective
Comments
On a final note, how will you sum up the exchange experience?
Do not miss out on an exchange semester. I have learned so much, academically and socially,
about myself and other cultures. Melbourne is an incredible city, like no other I have seen.
With great people, a lot of events and so much nature to experience. It is no doubt that an
exchange semester like this will benefit when applying for jobs. In addition to all this you get
new friends from all over the world, and improve your English incredibly.