Degree completion in Australia?

I have a partially (approximately 2/3) completed degree (part Electrical Engineering and part Computer Science, plus a bit of Civil Engineering and a bit of Health Science - yes, I know I was all over the place!) from an Australian university.

The problem is that my last enrollment was more than 10 years ago which means that most Australian universities will not give me any credit for courses completed more than 5 years ago.

Does anyone here know of an Australian uni which might be more lenient in terms of providing credit for subjects completed more than 10 years ago?

I have in the meantime started a law degree (which I will complete!) but it seems such a shame that all those courses (over 30 ) which I have passed in the early 1990's have no value at all and cannot be collected (maybe with a few additional courses) and recognition obtained for these

 

I doubt that you will find any success for obtaining credit towards a degree with an Australian University. They don't seem as ready to allow credit as the US universities.
I enrolled in Excelsior which meant that I had to have my Australian University credits put through an evaluation service but Exclesior did award me credits after receiving the evaluation of my transcript.
I would try Excelsior as it seems to suit "nomadic" students needs more than others. It is RA and will be recognised back here.

 

Thanks, ebbwvale, I have looked at Excelsior and the like as well.

Can I ask how many credits you did get for your Australian studies? Did you feel that you received fair credit or not?

 

G'day fellow Aussies,

Yes, you are going to have problems with tranfer of your old credits. There is generally a 10 year rule floating around, and even shorter if you are trying to get recognition of current competence in the VET sector. Go for the post-grad route (MBA etc) as there is generally no requirement for an undergrad degree.

Cheers,

George

 

Hi George,

Thank you for your reply. Post Grad route was something I had also considered, but it would have led me nowhere because I have left the corporate environment behind me and am keen to establish my own business. Hence, I am now enrolled in an undergraduate law degree (by distance naturally).

My aim now is to simply find a way of obtaining due recognition for significant studies completed, even if it was a while ago. It seems very unfair that if you have completed the degree, no matter how long ago, it is still recognized, and yet if you have partially completed a degee you get nothing at all for it after, as you say, 10 or even 5 years down the track.

I am sure that there are plenty of people in Australia in the same boat as myself, but unlike our cousins across the Pacific, in the USA, we have few avenues to pick up the pieces of wrong decisions in the past. We actually may only have the option of going across and use the services of such places like Excelsior. We really should have similar options here.

 

I received, in my opinion fair credit. I had undertaken about 6 subjects here which I received credit for with Excelsior.

You might also think about Athabasca Uni in Canada. I don't know much about it, but is worth a look. Might get a better run on the Aussie dollar against the Canadian Dollar.

I have found some interesting courses in the US in the liberal arts area. Just watch the English. There are some tricks to the differences and it isn't just the spelling. It may cost you some marks! I can't complain about the service and it suited my needs. The materials were always good.
best of luck.

 

Hi AdAstra:

I’m not one of the experts here; I don’t know anything about Australian schools.

I don’t understand the comment about getting a Post Graduate Degree before you have an undergraduate Degree (which I’m sure will be pointed out as demonstration of extreme ignorance).

BUT, all that aside, and again sure to insight personal attacks against me, have you considered looking at a DL school that is DETC accredited? I don’t know exactly how it all works, but they seem to have more liberal credit transfer policies, and a good selection of DL programs.

DEL

(I have an MBA from a DETC accredited school, and in the US business market, despite all the rhetoric you read on this web site, it has served me fine)

 

Within the British university system there has always existed the possibility of being permitted to embark on even a PhD without any kind of education as long as you are able to present sufficiently convincing evidence that you are capable of successfully completing it. Evidence would entail a very comprehensive thesis proposal for example. This leaves open the ability of exceptionally gifted individuals to enter by the 'back entrance'. However, my guess is that very few would be accepted with nothing more substantial in their educational background than a high school certificate.

As for MBA's, these are rarely by research and mostly by coursework, so if you can pass the subjects, who the hell cares if you have an undergraduate degree or not. Furthermore, most academics in Australia, and others 'in-the-know' consider the MBA as of very little value and merely a means for a university to make some cash. You would not be able to transition into a PhD program by research from an MBA the way you would be able to from any Master's program by research. I have several family members who are professors at university in Australia and in the UK, and without fail they will roll their eyes as soon as you mention the MBA or any other coureswork based Masters. These are relatively recent additions to the university menus in Australia, and are not at all well regarded by academics.

Note that in Australia PhD's and Masters have traditionally be purely by research, which is in contrast to the USA where there is often a mix of coursework and research.

Just to put things into perspective, in Australia any USA graduate with a Bachelors only would generally only receive 2 years maximum credit towards an Australian Bachelor's degree. An American Masters degree would be regarded as equivalent to an Australian Bachelor's degree.

This is just a brief overview of the Australian context.

Thanks for pointing out the DETC issue. I have not looked at that in any detail yet.

 

I tend to agree. This is the main reason why I undertook an MEd Management and did 50% by thesis. I wanted to leave my options open for entry to a PhD later. Re-MBA entry to a PhD, it would be interesting to find any stats on application and acceptance rates re-this pathway.

Ooh, this is not my experience, and certainly not the norm in Australian higher ed. The NOOSR guides clearly state that a US RA Bachelor and Master degrees are equivalent to their Australian AQF counterparts. You may be quoting transfer policy from one Australian university - the policy you are quoting is certainly not the general norm.

One also needs to be careful on the difference between credit transfer and RPL. Two different animals, and many different policies prevail. I think you would be suprised to hear of the very stringent credit transfer policies between Aussie unis, never mind overseas institutions.

Cheers,

George

 

George,

You are probably correct in all regards.

Not every uni is the same in its policies, and these are probably quite flexible too, taking into account all kinds of other factors as well. Even each faculty will have its own criteria.

My explanation was a generalization and to be taken as a guide only

 

Are the ordinary degrees (3 year Bachelor degrees ) considered as equivalent to the US RA Bachelor or is it the Honours degree (4+ years with a significant compulsary thesis/project).

If the former, where does an Honours degree fit in?

The undergraduate law and medicine degrees must really confuse things.

 

I may be wrong but according to what I've read and heard many US universities will not consider Australian 3 year pass bachelor degrees holders for graduate(master level) study. They explicitly require a 4 years bachelor and that would probably be the honours version.


Dennis

 

Mmm, I've seen the same written about 3 year Indian degrees as well. When will people in academia learn that duration is not the be all and end all???

Cheers,

George

 

It must really confuse those in the US when they see somebody who has a Bachelors (Honours) go from that to a PHD. It does not fit the US system.

I am one of those who has a Masters Degree without an undergrad degree. I am doing my Doctorate and I am down the track on that.

I commenced a BS (liberal Studies) with Excelsior a long way back when it was a Regents Degree. I left it to do my Masters Degree here in Australia for occupational reasons. My entry to the masters programme was a result of occupational experience and background, not my educational background. I will finish the BS (liberal Studies) hopefully this year. I have two subjects to go.

There are clear differences. We appear to be more consistent with the UKwhich is quite understandable given our background. It wasn't that long ago when the undergraduate degree was te final professional qualification in this country and the UK

 

Here is an interesting comparison of Australian and US degrees using the example of psychology education:
Are Americans better trained in psychology?

Dennis