Student Report
Bond University, Australia, Fall 2013
Student Report
Name of the University: Bond University
Exchange semester: Fall 2013
I. PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Before leaving Norway
I got my first inquiry from Bond University in March, with an application form I had to fill in,
attached. I answered quickly and got the official “offer letter” April the 16th. The process went
really smooth, and there were not really any problems at this time. When I got to the
university however, the application had not been approved in their system so I had to go to the
university to complete this. As a result my enrolment for the subjects was delayed, and some
of the subjects I wanted in the first place were not any longer available. I recommend
enrolling for subjects as soon as possible, as the classes are really small compared to Norway
and there might not be enough spaces for each subject.
Applying for a visa (if applicable)
I applied for my visa through the Australian Government’s webpage:
http://www.immi.gov.au/Services/Pages/student-visa-online-applications.aspx
This process also went really smoothly, and you will receive a Visa Grant Number which you
should bring with you to Australia. However, I did not use any of the information received as
they have everything saved in their data-system (at the airport etc.)
The cost of the visa was NOK 3,200.
Travel
I travelled to Australia with the Australian airline company Qantas, which was good. I booked
my trip through Ticket.no quite early (March), and got a ticket for NOK 12,000 including
return (tur/retur). I had a stopover in London, Dubai, and Sydney before my final destination
in Gold Coast. It is also possible to travel to Brisbane, one hour away from Gold Coast, which
is normally less expensive. The total time of the travel was 32 hours.
Housing
There is possible to live on campus, however I will recommend searching for apartments
outside campus. This way you will get a much nicer place, for approximately the same price. I
lived at The Reserve (http://www.thereserve.com.au/) which I was really satisfied with. The
apartments are really nice with great facilities like swimming pool, “beach”, gym, barbequearea, reception etc. The apartments are also very close to campus (2 min walk) and has great
view over Lake Orr which surrounds the area. It is also close to Market Square, where they
have grocery shops, cafés, restaurants, pubs and so on. Other good places to consider is
Varsity Shores, Central Park Apartments, and the Varsity Towers, which offers most of the
same facilities, but are all less expensive options.
Student Report
Bond University, Australia, Fall 2013
Costs
The prices in Australia are approximately at the same level as in Norway, although it depends
a lot of the currency. The currency was quite high the lasts months of 2013, which made it
more expensive to live. The table below shows approximately how much I spent on different
categories each month:
Rent
Books
Food
Transport
Other
5 000 – 6 000 NOK
3 500 NOK (total)
3 000- 4 000 NOK
400 NOK
8 000 - 10 000 NOK
Culture and language
The Australian culture is quite similar to the Norwegian, so I did not have any problems
regarding culture or language. The university however is very international and you will find
that there actually are more international students at the university than Australian students,
which I think is a great opportunity to meet people from different places.
Australia is a very large country in terms of size so if you want to travel a lot, you will expect
long distances and expensive flight tickets. I tried to travel as much as possible; however the
time was very limited with busy weeks, and also busy weekends. Recommended places to go
if you want to travel are: Sydney, Great Barrier Reef, Melbourne, Whitsundays, Byron Bay,
Ayers Rock (Uluru), Brisbane and Fraser Island.
II. ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Bond University is located in Gold Coast, a city on Australia’s East-coast. Bond University is
a relatively small university in terms of number of students, with approximately 4,000
students, divided on their five faculties: ‘Business’,’ Health Sciences and Medicine’,’
Humanities and Social Sciences’,’ Law’ and ‘Sustainable Development and Architecture’.
The campus at Bond University is really nice with a lot of facilities such as gym (included in
the university fee), library, travel agency, cafés/restaurants, pub/club, pool, different student
services etc. The campus consists of several buildings which all are surrounded around a nice
outside-area beside the lake.
Course registration
As mentioned above, I recommend to enrol for courses as early as possible as the places may
be limited. The university is currently facing a recession/rechangement where they are cutting
down on a lot of their administration staff. This may lead to delays in the enrolment process,
so to look at this as early as possible is recommended. Anyway, if you have not enrolled for
courses before leaving, there is still possible to enrol for courses during the first week of the
semester (Orientation-Week).
Student Report
Bond University, Australia, Fall 2013
To enrol for courses, log on to www.bond.edu.au with username and password you will get
from the university.
Academic calendar
The academic calendar at Bond is divided into 15 weeks, where the first week of the semester
is called O-Week, the first week with lectures is week 1, and the last exam week is week 15.
Mid-term exams are held in week 7.
Arrival date:
First day of the semester:
Last day of classes:
Examination period:
Any special events/holidays:
Other:
August 18th 2013
September 2nd 2013
December 3rd 2013
From December 6th to
December the 15th.
No holidays
Mid-terms in week 7
Arrival
The first week at Bond University is called O-week (Orientation-Week) and consists of a lot
of activities to get to know the university and other students. The O-Week lasts from Monday
to Sunday, but there is not mandatory to meet, although I would recommend it. The activities
were very various, from enrolment for courses, campus tours, and information sessions, to
dinner, parties, bowling and movies.
The lectures started in Week 1, although the first week was mostly used for information,
overview of the course etc.
The International Office
I found the International Office useful when applying for universities, and also for the period
afterwards. As there were some problems with my application process, the International
Office helped me sending necessary papers and information to Bond. I also got support
regarding selection of subjects.
Social activities
As mentioned, Bond University is a very international university with students from all over
the world. You will therefore meet people from several different countries, but the
relationship between the native students and the international student is very good.
The university has several student organisations that arrange a lot of social events for
students. These include parties, trips, wine-tasting, and activities like scuba diving, skydiving
and more. There is also possible to join different organisations/clubs such as dancing,
cheerleading, scuba diving club, beer association, soccer, and volleyball, to mention some.
III. ACADEMICS
In the classroom
Student Report
Bond University, Australia, Fall 2013
The teaching style at Bond University is very varied with both lectures and tutorials, and a lot
of presentations and group projects; however it depends on the subject. The classes are small
compared to Norway, with 10-30 students per class.
Since Bond University offer three semesters per year rather than two, the workload is obvious
greater. Bond also require “more” than BI in terms of more assignments required handed in,
presentations, tests, mid-term exams and also attendance for class. On the other hand, the final
exam will only count for 30-40% of your grade, compared to 100 % in Norway. In most
subjects, however it is required to pass at least 50% of the final exam to pass the subject.
Course materials
There are ‘required’ books for most of the subjects, but it is definitely possible to complete
the subjects without the books as power point slides and additional materials are usually
provided.
Some course materials, such as online articles and cases, are provided through Bond’s internal
web-page or available through other web pages. In the library you will also find most of the
articles you need, and also all the books required, which you can borrow for a certain period
of time for free.
Exams
The exam was primarily based on lectures and tutorials, but it was also required to read course
materials. A typical course was evaluated as following: 25 % exam, 25 % mid-term exam,
30% group project, and 20% participation (included in-class quizzes, class attendance, and
class participation). Normally an exam (included the mid-terms) lasted for 2 hours.
Library and technology
The university has one main library and one library for the Law Faculty. The main library has
several group rooms available for booking, and also study areas (both general and quiet).
There are also computers available where you can study, and also possibilities for printing etc.
The technology is very good.
The main library is open from 8am – 1am Monday-Friday and 10am – 8 pm Saturday and
Sunday. However, if you want to study apart from these opening hours, there are study-areas
open 24 hours a day.
Description of courses
Course code &
name
CORE11-130
Strategic
Management
Master/
Bachelor
Bachelor
Exam form
2 hour written
exam, mid-term
exam, and group
project
Prerequisites
Approved as
Comments
Elective/
(mandatory)
A core course
which includes a lot
of relevant
information,
however it is some
repetition from
Student Report
Bond University, Australia, Fall 2013
Bachelor
IBUS12-250
Introduction to
International
Business
2 hour written
exam, mid-term
exam, group
project
Elective
FINC13-308
Personal
Finance
Bachelor
Elective/
mandatory
MGMT13-311
Change
Management
Bachelor
2 hour written
exam, mid-term
exam,
assignment
No exam. Group
project and
individual
assignment
Elective
courses at BI
Interesting course,
with a lot of group
projects and
presentations.
Big assignment in
the end of the
semester,
interesting course.
Very interactive
course with a lot of
discussion in class,
interesting subject
where you learn to
apply theory to real
business situations.
Summary of my exchange experience (comments can be used)
My experience at Bond University was much better than expected. And this, despite the fact
that my expectations for the exchange semester actually were really high!
The university were much better than expected both in terms of learning, but also regarding
the social aspect of it. The environment and surroundings around the university were also
really good. The campus was beautiful, making it a nice and pleasurable place to study. The
surroundings around campus were also great; with Gold Coast only 15 minutes away, not to
mention the beaches and the rainforests which were in complete contrast to each other.
My experience at Bond University will definitely have influence on my future. A semester
abroad will not only help you with your language skills and make you meet people from other
parts of the world, but it will be an experience of your life.
I think the language skills I learned, however will be very useful for me in the future as I
would like to work in an international company after graduation, and maybe also work
abroad. To be more comfortable with both written and oral English was one of my main
reasons for studying abroad. Since the learning methods were very different from what I am
used to at BI, this is also something I will benefit from. I learned how to better work in
groups/teams, and how to work with different people. I also got more comfortable presenting
in front of class, and discuss cases, both prepared and by improvising. To be able to improvise
and answer unprepared questions quickly is something I think is very valuable in various
business situations. This participative style of learning will also be useful for my masterdegree.
I am sure I have also developed myself personally by spending time with people very
different from myself, as well as just the fact that I travelled alone to a new place all alone. I
have learned to value different things in life, which I have not really thought about before, and
I have also to some degree changed my lifestyle during my exchange semester. I really loved
the time I spent in Australia, despite the fact that it was a little too busy in my opinion. I
would really like to come back some time in the future.