Queensland any good?

Hi there,
You guys are my only help, so since I'm still desperately looking for online courses in the medical field, I found Queensland university.
Now, what do I have to think of that one? Safe or not ?
Anybody know about it? Will US universities accept those credit hours and can I trust it.....
I have no idea.
Thanks guys!

 

Can you post a link to this Queensland University? I have heard of Central Queensland University www.dtls.cqu.edu.au and University of Southern Queensland www.usqonline.com.au and both are fine accredited Australian universities. However, that said, many less-than-wonderful schools use names that are very close to the names of well-established good schools in order to deceive their prospective customers. So, if you could maybe find a link to Queensland University for us, maybe it would help us in trying to tell you if it is a good school.

 

link

Ted,
This is what I was looking at.

http://handbook.cqu.edu.au/Handbook/information.jsp?id=34

 

Re: link

Yes, Central Queensland University is a good school.

 

University of Queensland is one of the premier universities in Australia. It was the first university established in Queensland which is a state in Australia.

Generally speaking, the entry to the university is not easily achieved. It tends to be "elitest" and, perhaps, "old school tie" in reputation. It pulls big dollars out the Australian Government for research.

The degree will travel well and it is well known, particularly in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries. Although, there isn't the disparity between institutions that exists elsewhere. They all have pretty rigorous standards. There is very stiff competition for the govt. research dollar.

If you say you are a "U of Q" grad., then doors open because of the "tie" connection. It is a good university and has high educational standards. I found that its customer service was that the university was doing you a favour to let you go there. This may have changed with the competition being so close now.

 

ebbwvale, how would you compare the University of Queensland with the University of Southern Queensland(USQ)?
Is there a large difference in prestige as perceived by residents of Queensland and elsewhere in Australia?

Dennis

 

Re: link

CQU is an average school.

 

There is a huge difference in prestige between UQ and USQ. UQ belongs to the Group of 8 in Australia. It is a prestigious research-intensive university whereas USQ is ranked in the lower rung in terms of reputation in Australia.

 

The USQ has an excellent reputation as a Distance Learning School. It has structures its business largely on the external market and has spent considerable time building up its repuation in this area.

U of Q used to be the only provider of distance learning in Queensland, then left the market. USQ and others picked it up. USQ, locally, has an excellent reputation. It has a good reputation amongst business and government entities for pragmatism.

Distance learning in Australia is fairly mainstream and nobody discriminates on the distance learning degree. Law, for example, can be learnt by distance learning and there will be no impediment to practice. The emphasis is more likely to be on the university than how you earnt it. If it is a conservative law firm, then U of Q or QUT. If it is a "leftish" practice, then Griffith Uni. There is no notation on the degree that it was earnt by distance learning mode. A degree is a degree.

This is probably because of the nature of the country and being isolated. Australians also are very technology concious and the internet is second nature to most, even many of the elderly. Again probably because of necessity. I think I am the exception!

After all those words, I would rate U of Q higher in the research field because of its reputation and access to dollars. USQ is the better provider for practical distance education. U of Q has the prestige, but USQ has the "grunt". Depends what you want.

If you are going the distance learning route, go USQ. If you want to come to Australia and research, go U of Q.

 

Sorry, for some reason the quote part didn't come out properly. i wanted to say that the advice given was very good.

 

You can always check with the Association of Commonwealth Universities which monitors all legitimate universities in the 50 countries of the Commonwealth. If the university is not listed there, think twice!

Brad

 

Thanks,
I went to check commonwealth, but you need to subscribe...
Is it just a list of countries or a list of universities they offer?
I'm looking at universtities in England, cause I can go there, whereas I'll never go to Australia.
I haven't found any though.
Thanks

 

If you keep searching in the site they tell you a bit more, details are for those who subscribe, but there is information anyway that can be used. And is a good reference to write to should you have any doubts. I think they would respond for free if you ask about specific universities. UK universities as well as those in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa are mostly accredited by the government, many with Royal Charters.

In the UK there are older established universities and more recently a large number of new universities when the polytechnics were upgraded to university status (Oxford Brookes University for instance).

In any case a search on the web, plus checking here with degreeinfo would be a great way to go.

Brad

 

I note that U of Q list their PHD as internal or external mode. You may never have to come to Australia for your degree.External mode at U of Q is distance learning.

They used to have a school called External Studies which administered all distance learning. Now it appears to be administered on a departmental basis.

Here is the Link:

http://www.uq.edu.au/study/program.html?acad_prog=7501

You can also do a Masters by external mode if you wish. The PHD can also be undertaken by way of publication. This is a new "push" in Australia. There is some sort of funding from the govt. for published works and it appears that universities are now pushing that area.

I am not sure which level you are pitching at, but some undergrad. degrees would also appear to be available by distance mode.

 

Although this is theoretically possible, it is not easy to deal with the university burocracy by distance. I learned my lesson when trying for a external PhD with Charles Sturt and CQU.

These programs are meant for an individual that normally takes the time to go at least few times times to the university, meet face to face with a potential supervisor, do all the paper work and then complete it externally.

The main issue is that many of these programs are not DL friendly as they assume that potential students should visit the university. It is very hard to find a potential supervisor enterily by distance as most supervisors are busy and not willing to take everyone that just sends them an email.


Research proposal defense also normally requires face to face the same as the dissertation defense.

External study normally means more than one visit. Although this might not be an issue for an australian resident, it is a big issue for a person living in the US or Canada as only few trips can bring you to bankruptcy.


I'm not saying that all the australian universities would require visits. However, one must check with the university and make sure that no visits will be required before considering enrollment.

 

can you afford UofQ???

Wow - here is the tuition for PhD from the website:


Band/Program grouping Tuition fee per semester (AUD)

Band A:

Arts; Business, Economics & Law; Social & Behavioural Sciences (except Psychology, Archaeology, Human factors)

Health (Human Movement Studies - Sociocultural)
$10,500

Band B:

Biological & Chemical Sciences; Engineering, Physical Sciences and Architecture; Health (except Human Movement Studies - Sociocultural)

Natural Resources, Agriculture and Veterinary Science (except Veterinary Science Cloinical)

Social & Behavioural Sciences (Psychology, Archaeology & Human Factors)
$13,500

Band C:

Natural Resources, Agriculture and Veterinary Science (Veterinary Science Clinical only)
$17,500

 

They certainly aren't cheap for foreign students. Australian and New Zealand students are exempt from fees for the PHD. They still pull the foreign students for research even at those prices. If the law of supply and demand exists, then they must have a solid reputation or a lot of empty places. The traffic around the place indicates not too many empty places.

I was a distance student at U of Q years ago and found that I was not treated that well. We were "add ons", outside their main game. They may have changed since then, but my preference is for the less "prestiguous" universities who, in my experience, have more of a service focus and an emphasis on distance learning.

I won't discover a vaccine for cancer or how to get the scram jet engine to work, but I will have a solid education, although from a university that is relatively new and less well known, for what I want to do in my life.

 

In fact, it is controversal how much better educated you can get at a prestigious, heavely research based university. "Everything people learn at Harvard you can learn too, without going to Harvard", someone once put.

Dennis

 

Avoid schools from down under. Some have dubious intentions.