Australian DL/Advantage?

Greetings!

Please excuse my newbie question about DL.

Browsing this DB and the posted threads has shown me how many of you are involved in international programs, Australia especially.

As far as I can tell, there are many universities in Australia like USQ that offer a plethora of subjects. However, I rarely find a particular subject in an Australian program that is not listed elsewhere. Same with SA. Why might someone prefer an australian program over one in the UK or SA? Is there an issue of academic reputation here in the US that makes an australian degree preferable? Are their expectations less stringent or more rigorous? Do they generally offer more user friendly formats for DL? What kind of dangerous generalities can be made about Australian programs that makes them so popular--or am I wrong that they are popular in particular?

 

I'm a student at USQ, why australian? I feel that you should try to get a local DL program first, that helps for the marketing of the degree since you don't have to answer many questions when they see that you are doing a foreign degree. I live in Canada so there was no point to go for an expensive US degree when here it would be considered foreign too.

South African Degrees are mainly research based, it is very hard to manage a research based program when you are employed full time. SA degrees are not as prestigous as Australian in Canada, few people from Canada would go to study at SA but many go to Australia mainly because degrees are recognized in Canada for license purposes as the ones from the engineering and accouting faculties.

You could say UK degrees are more prestigous than Australian, but their tution fees are too high from non european residents. Plus most of them are research based. I talked to few PhDs that graduated from UK universities and don't advise to go for a part time research based PhD since it can be a risky business, specially when your supervisor can leave for a better job in a span of 5 years that is what usually takes to complete the degree.

Some US universities are good but the price is too high, and the ones that are some how affordable are very poor.


So I decided to go an Australian degree. I speak spanish and french and some french and spanish universities were also in my list. But most of these universities are not very flexible to accept foreign students and they will ask for a lot of non-sense papers like equivalences or legal documents that it would take few trips to spain.


So in few words, there was no other option for someone living in Canada making canadian dollars. I must say there is another option to go full time for 5 years to the university and get a 100000 dlls loan.

 

The main reason for going off shore is $$$. With a strong US$ the costs for the UK, SA, and Oz programs generally tend to be less than comparable US programs.

The next main reason is that in general (90+% of the time) you do not have to take course first, but start right in to the researc/dissertation (read thesis for UK) phase.

As to which one is favored most, that happens to be a personal preference issue. SA tends to be the lowest cost, but stability of the program (and even the country) can be an issue. UK is the next lowest cost (usually), but can be stick about entry and actual degree requirments. The Oz schools have tended to show more flexibility and been willing to work with the student then UK (gross generalization!!!!!).

A last reason for a lot of mention is that several regulars on this board are from Oz.

In my case I took a strong look at several Oz schools UQ and USydney in particular before deciding on a US program (Colorado State).

 

thanks guys.

What I'm hearing is that AU programs are often just as lucrative as the other continents (SA, UK), offer similar quality of a UK reputation, but may not be so sticky about nit picking certain points when it comes to finishing up your work.

I can also see why one might have a problem with the trasigence of an advisor in the UK, or perhaps, other reasons to question institutional stability when it comes to SA schools.

If I can continue this international line of questioning, where are the prospects going in the future for emerging schools? Which countries in Europe (et. al.) are opening up programs to Americans (in "american" english)?