Aalto University School of Business

Travel Report – The University of Queensland

Spring 2016 424521

12.09.2016

In this travel report I will discuss my exchange semester as an undergraduate student in the

University of Queensland in spring 2016 in Brisbane, Australia.

Preparing for the exchange

In March 2016 I was appointed as our school’s official nominee to conduct my exchange studies in

the University of Queensland. In the end of August I received my first letter regarding to my

upcoming exchange semester. As a nominee I still had to meet their requirements, which meant that

I had to apply for the university to be officially accepted as an incoming exchange student. This

simply meant that I had to fill an application form by the end of September that could have been

done either via the traditional method or online. I chose to use the traditional paper application

where I also attached my most-up-to-date academic transcripts and proof of my English skills.

Achieving at least the grade eight 8 in A-level studies in high school was enough proof.

After sending my application I received an official offer letter from the university. At this point I

also I had to provide proof that I was insured during my stay in Australia. The easiest way was to

purchase the Overseas Student Health Coverage (OSHC) that was offered by the university. After

signing the forms I received my electronic Confirmation of Enrolment that I needed to apply for the

visa. Just to point out even though if you purchase the OSHC make sure you are insured otherwise,

for example if you plan to travel outside of Australia after the semester. In my understanding typical

Finnish travel insurances are valid only up to three months of travelling so make sure you are

insured also after the semester. I learned this as I was not able to extend my normal travel insurance

in Australia and I needed to purchase a new one for my travelling after the semester in South-East

Asia.

The student visa application process was easy and did not take a long time. However it is

recommended to apply for the visa well in advanced, as you will need it when you enter Australia.

The student visa cost 550 AUD and was electronically attached to your passport. The visa allows

you to re-enter Australia until one month after the semester officially ends.

Arriving in Brisbane

I arrived in Brisbane on the 11th of February around ten days before the beginning of orientation

week. Both the University of Queensland and Queensland University of Technology had a free

airport pickup service that was convenient after travelling for over 24 hours. Just remember to book

it in advanced. During my first week I stayed at a YHA hostel which proved out to be a good choice

as I met a lot of other exchange students. At the time of your arrival you have been probably added

to UQ’s Facebook group for incoming international and exchange students. If you feel the need for

company the group is a good way to find some as there are lots of other exchange students in the

Facebook group seeking for people to hang out with.

Because I had not arranged any permanent accommodation in Finland I had to start seeking for it

immediately after arriving in Brisbane. In my belief it took from around a couple days to a week on

average for exchange students to find permanent accommodations. I found mine from the Facebook

group for exchange students in just a couple of days after arriving. Other options to find

accommodation were from the university rental websites, student accommodation providers and

house sharing websites (such as flatmates.au or gumtree.au). There are also rental agencies that help

students to find accommodation.

Noosa Heads

I stayed in a private room in St Lucia near the university campus and shared the flat with two other

international students. My rent for the room was relatively low compared to what I heard from other

exchange students. Excluding bills (electricity, hot water etc.) the rent was 160 AUD a week and I

payed 15 dollars a week on average for the utilities. Usually bills are included in the rent but if they

are not be sure to add them to the price when comparing different rents. I was lucky not to have a

lease and my landlady was very flexible regarding to my leaving day. Many of my exchange friends

stayed in bigger houses full of other exchange students but I was happy with my solution. As a

district St Lucia was nice and peaceful. However I would not recommend this district to people that

prefer to stay out late, as the public transportation system is not best in Brisbane during nights.

Westend, Highgate Hill, Southbank and CBD were districts that most exchange students preferred

to live in as they were close to the local nightlife.

Exchange studies

I was an undergraduate student during my exchange. Therefore I had to take four courses to receive

the right amount of credits for my bachelor’s degree. The course offering of UQ was good and in

my experience you were able to choose rather freely between different courses. The lectures began

on the 29th of February. However the compulsory orientation week began already during the

previous week (22nd – 26th February). During the semester there was a one-week mid-term break.

The final exam period began on the 13th of June and the semester ended officially on the 25th of

June. Luckily I only had one exam during the official exam period and therefore my studies ended

already on the 14th of June. I did not have to buy any books and as printing was not free I did not

print that much.

ABTS1000 Indigenous Australian Issues, Past Present Future (2 Units / 7.5 ECTS)

I would recommend this course to those students that want to learn something unique to Australia.

This course provided insight to the issues related to Indigenous Australia in the past, present and

future. The course aimed to provide skills to establish an understanding of the history,

contemporary issues and the different way of seeing life of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

Australians. Even though this course did not have any prerequisites and in general was not too

challenging I felt that some prior knowledge would have helped me toparticipate in the discussions

that took place in the tutorial sessions.

The course had different lecturers and the result was that the level of teaching was not consistent.

However the tutorials in general were engaging and the course coordinator Condi Canuto was a

good lecturer. The workload of this course was relatively large because the course did not have any

exams and therefore there was a lot of work to do at home during the semester. A lot of exchange

students chose this course because the topics were interesting and in general the assignments were

easy to complete. The evaluation was based on four small critical reflections (4 x 2.5%), an

annotated bibliography, (15%), an essay plan (25%), a 1500 word essay (40%) and a group work

(15%). This was one of the two course I did not regret taking at UQ.

PHIL1110 Critical Reasoning (2 units / 7.5 ECTS)

My main reason for taking this course was that I wanted to improve my argument skills.

Unfortunately this course did not fulfill my expectations. The purpose of this course was to promote

clearer thinking and improve your analytical capabilities with a view to developing clearer and

more persuasive argument skills. The course had a special emphasis on understanding arguments;

their content, structure and evaluation and the recognition of common logical fallacies.

In my opinion this course did not promote clearer thinking. As this course was a corner stone course

for general philosophy studies practical exercises were used mainly to develop an understanding of

new concepts and techniques, which I did not consider to be useful as a business student. The

positive side of this course was that the lecturer Dominic Hyde was engaging and the workload was

not too high. Even though this course was easy to complete I would not recommend it based on its

contents. The evaluation was based on a short 15-minute in-class quiz (10%), an essay grading

exercise (5%), an essay (30%), a portfolio (30%) and an exam outside of exam period.

IBUS2301 International Business Management (2 Units / 7.5 ECTS)

This course was a general international business course that introduced the core theories,

frameworks and issues in international business at both firm and country level. It also introduced

how these aspects influence public policy and decision making in firms. The topics of this course

were interesting and I found it relatively useful. In each tutorial session two groups had to debate on

a given topic for a half an hour. The idea of the debates was good as the debating groups were

supposed to learn the topics by debating and the audience by listening. However, because the

tutorials were not mandatory, students did not participate in the sessions, which made the debating

sessions a bit pointless.

Unfortunately the lecturer Dr P. Brewer was not very engaging, as he did not provide any additional

insight and mainly stuck to reading slides. By simply reading the course book at home I would have

achieved the same learning results and therefore I would not recommend this course if you want to

learn something more. Reading the course book was recommended but in my opinion the slides

were adequate if you simply wanted to pass the course. Overall the workload of this course was

adequate. The evaluation was based on a midterm exam (25%), three group debates in the tutorial

sessions (25%), and a final exam (50%).

Byron Bay

ENVM3524 Business management in a carbon constrained world (2 units / 7.5 ECTS)

This course was my favorite course from the four courses I chose at UQ. The course aimed to

provide skills to establish an understanding of the carbon cycle, the uses for carbon in the economy,

business exposure to carbon constraints and the transition from hydrocarbon to new sources of

energy. In my opinion, the topics were interesting and relevant also to business students. However

at some times I felt that the reading materials were not sufficient enough and a part of the

assignments were a bit pointless. Even though this course was by far the most challenging course

during my exchange at the same time I felt that it was the most useful one, as the assignments

required the application of theory. On average the workload of the course varied over the span of

my exchange. Occasionally it felt like there was nothing to do at all, but at some times it seemed

like there weren’t enough hours in a day to complete the assignments. Overall, I felt the workload

was adequate.

The lectures were not mandatory but highly recommended as the reading material for the course

was limited and the teachers helped with the practical report exercises during the tutorial sessions.

The lecturer Paul Dargusch was inspiring and got well along with the students. As the size of the

class was small there was a lot of interaction between the students and teachers, which made the

lectures more interesting. The evaluation was based on an in-class quiz (40%), a practical report

(30%) and a case study (30%). I would recommend this course to a business student who wants to

learn more about sustainability and how living in a carbon constrained world affects decision-

making in firms.

Free time and other information

In my experience the cost of living in Australia was rather high. Luckily during my exchange the

exchange rate was rather favorable. My groceries cost the same or even less compared to back

home. Meat was generally cheaper, for example chicken breast fillets that I consumed a lot cost

under nine dollars per kilo. One interesting notice was also the fact that meat was usually cheaper if

you bought it separately from the meat counter. Fruits and vegetables were rather expensive in

grocery stores. However, they were a lot cheaper if you bought them from local farmer’s markets. I

recommend visiting the one held in Westend on Saturdays, as the prices there were significantly

lower compared to elsewhere.

I hardly ever ate at the school cafeteria, as it would have been more expensive than preparing lunch

at home. Even though there was a lot places to choose from, the options were mainly unhealthy.

During my exchange I truly started to miss our basic Finnish school food. In general restaurant

prices were not too high in my opinion. However alcohol is expensive in bars and clubs. If you

prefer to drink at home there are cheap wines to choose from in liquor stores and if you are on a

tight budget try some goon. Surprisingly beers were relatively expensive.

Brisbane was a great city to spend my exchange. The weather was too hot during the summer but it

cooled down later on. Winter days were still pretty warm but the temperature dropped significantly

during nights. In my flat the room temperature was too low during winter as there was no proper

heating system in the building. Now I understand why ugg-boots originally come from Australia

and New Zealand.

It was a shame that Brisbane was not by the sea. However there was a lot of nice places to visit

close-by such as Noosa, Byron Bay, Gold Coast and the three sand islands: Moreton, Stradbroke

and Fraser island. Australia in general is a great country for travelling, as the nature is diverse and

there are a lot of places to see. However, travelling and activities are expensive so prepare to have a

bigger budget if you want to travel a lot.

Final comments

I truly enjoyed my stay in Brisbane. The city was cozy and not too big, and the location was perfect

for short weekend trips. Queensland known as the “Sunshine State” truly lives up to its name.

People are both friendly and open and the weather stays warm and sunny nearly all year around. As

a host university UQ was welcoming and used to exchange students. There were a lot of courses to

choose from and clubs for free time activities, such as QUEST. If I could change something about

my exchange I would have changed some of my courses. However, it was refreshing to study

completely new subjects. I learned a lot of valuable skills during my exchange. Getting to know

new people from all around the world was a unique experience that I will cherish for a long time. It

was quite an experience to arrive in Brisbane and to realize that I did not know anyone in the city

where I would spend the next five months of my life. As a person I feel that I am now more ready to

step away from my comfort zone and grow as a person. I truly recommend going on exchange,

either to Australia or anywhere else!

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, Brisbane