University of Southern Queensland (USQ), Australia

Yes, avoid the bookstore from USQ, in Canada not only you pay customs but you get a bill from a customs agency of 30dlls for filling the customs form. So if the price is 80dlls, you end paying like 50dlls more. I get them from a local book store.

 

I am studying for my Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree at USQ and am very impressed with their responsiveness to administrative matters, their study materials, and the structure of the whole USQOnline environment in general.

I have also had great experience with the USQ Bookstore. From California, I have ordered my books online and had them in my possession in about one calendar week. The express shipping is very low compared to US express international shipping rates. And, compared to the cost of a single college textbook from UCLA, the materials from USQ are a great bargain, as I can purchase them and have them shipped for less than the cost of a single textbook from the local college.

I have been woking on my Web page, and have added a section on all of my experiences with USQ. It is not finished yet, and nothing is there but, when it is, you can look to:
http://kajidoro.com/usq/

(inspired my Mark Sykes)

Also, good advice for everyone:

I also attend local UC colleges, and transfer credits between all my schools each semester. It's kind of a paperwork nightmare everytime I receive a new grade to make sure every campus is notified of it and to receive my credit. One thing I have found that is a great help is to spend the money and get the university handbook every year from every school you go to.

I ordered the massive 2001 USQ Handbook (size of a phone book; cost ~USD16 w/shipping). I do this because it is a snapshot of the university at the time you attended, including course and unit descriptions, academic polices, explanation of grades, etc.. This is the kind of valuable information that college counselors need to determine if your credit from one college can transfer into their college, and to help explain formally the crazy GPA differences and definitions used by different colleges. Trust me: it will save you hours of headaches later for a small price.

Also, I am currently in 2 units for the upcoming S2 semester; Economics and Introduction to Marketing. Their response to my unit load enquiry was that 2 units is considered part-time, and what USQ recommends for everyone. However, they do allow up to 4 units for S1 and S2, but are very careful in making sure you understand what you are getting into, and about their refund policies should you bomb out from overload.

Regards,

Christian

 

MSc in Organisational Behaviour (not MBA) offered by Birkbeck College of the University of London costs only 3,795 GBP (check with http://www.lon.ac.uk/external).

Yan

 

Yeah? - well get used to it as that (XXXX) is how people in Queensland spell BEER. They are different up there. he weather is good one day adn perfect the next and the beach is 3,500 km long.

Peter French

 

I live within sight of USQ on the edge of Tiowoomba. It is a category 6 university (the lowest).

Smart high school leavers in Toowoomba don't go to USQ. They go elsewhere.

 

This might me true, but for students like me that are established professionals looking for a new challenge and knowledge the USQ is a good option given its price and accreditation. In Canada only few people know about Australian universities and having a degree from USQ or a top Australian university wouldn’t make too much difference for me.

 

Just for the records:
USQBookshop is OK if You can't get the material locally, but customs and handling fees are very high.

Peter, that's the DL advantage, drink beer
in germany and enjoy the very good service
of USQ (but I certainly miss the weather).

About high school leavers leaving Toowoomba,
that place is not listed in the OZ hot spot guide. Most DL people don't care about the beaches and sightseeing adventures at their university, but school leavers do (a long time ago I have been one of them).

 

Christian,

thnaks for the feedback, I´ll definitely check out your homepage. You are the 1st one with a positive feedback about the university bookstore. Well, I just wonder if I can get australian editions from books, like the ones for Economics here in Germany. Are there any other Ozzi bookstores out there in the web (but I guess there are)? I did not check so far if there is something like an Australian Amazon. One hope for me would be to get some of the stuff from UK bookstores.
By the way, what time do you approx. invest a week for 2 units?

Cheers,

Michaela

 

Bernard,

ok, I would probably not go for the next state university here, in my opinion there are always `bad rumours` about local universities. But ifit is really so bad how could it be that they were joint winners for Australia's University of the Year 2000-2001 by the Good Universites Guides of Australia and also the inaugural winner for ICDE Prize for on and off campus excellence?

CU,

Michaela

 

Then how did it win the Good Universities Guide co-university of the year 2001 ranking (alongside Wollongong)?


Peace,

------------------
Tom Head
www.tomhead.net

 

No wishing to receive a writ, I will be discreet, but the award does not necessarily indicate what you think it does. The criteria, for one thing, is not static, and therefore it would be quite remarkable for the same Insititution to gain the same award 2 years in a row.

Just do 'google' search on Wollongong, its co-winner, and see how 'good' it is - look for newpaper reports, or check it out in the education archives of www.news.com.au

Then tell me how reliable the award is in the context in which you are reading it....

Peter French

 

I certainly didn't mean to present the Good Universities Guide as the ultimate reliable arbiter of university prestige -- I'm just wondering who else might rate USQ as tier six.

Peace,

------------------
Tom Head
www.tomhead.net

 

I had the chance to question a new University grad from Australia (Grifith) who is now working in the US.
His comment was that USQ was a solid school... he had some "mates" who went there and they had no complaints. He also commented that USQ wasn't the "best" school in Australia but that there was definetly nothing wrong with it. He said that the difference between the "best and the rest" in Australia is not like it is in the US... standards are much more uniform.

 

University of Southern Queensland may had been rated as a tier six in its early days, when it first achieved university status in 1992. It was formerly known as Darling Downs Institute of Advanced Education. USQ has shown itself to be a progressive university, and is serious about distance education. In a short span of 8 years, it was able to become a joint-winner for GUG's University of the Year award with the University of Wollongong, a more established universiy. I doubt so that USQ is still rated at the bottom of the rung.

 

And the odds of finding even one person in the U.S. who could tell the difference? Right. None. Perception is much more a player in this situation than reality. For example, let's say for argument's sake that the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara had a terrific MBA program, better than anything available in Australia. Would you, living in the U.S., rather try to use that degree or the same one from USQ or Sturt? I'd chose the Australian degree, knowing it would be less complicated to use.

I've been a big fan of Heriot-Watt, but I often wonder if holding an MBA from National University (which I do) isn't better. There is no doubt in my mind that H-W is the superior school, and even that the MBA at H-W is a superior program. But no one ever asked me "What's that?" regarding my degree.

As for which Australian university is better than another, no one around here is going to be able to tell the difference anyway. And an MBA from a third-rate U.S. school is likely to be more useful--or, at least, raise fewer eyebrows--than one from Down Under.

Rich Douglas, who likes 'em anyway.

 

My USQ units have been accepted for full credit transfer by both the University of Hawaii and Stanford. My employer (major US bank) also has no problem with it. As HR said, "As long as it is legitimately accredited we don't care."

I guess this says more about the school than anything else.

Regards,

Christian

 

Hello friends.

Are there by chance some USQ Master/MBA level students in Business/MGMT or related fields?

I would like to know how important the "additional literature" in each subject is, i.e. if the material given directly by USQ would be enough to pass the courses or not? (since all the books on the literature list seem to be so expensive and they already give out so much material for the course itself... - isn´t that enough?)

Thanks for your advice!

Best regards.
master

 

I work with one. I will ask him to reply to your post next week. I know he has a heavy workload but he is thriving on the interaction with his lecturers. He has been adapting his studies to his work as he has been going through with support from his lecturers.

 

Hello ebbwvale.

I would appreciate that very much - thank you for your help.

Are there possible any other USQ Master students on the board or do you know some whom I could contact?

Best regards,
m.

 

Hi master,
the course synopsis lists
"Text and materials required to be purchased or accessed"
and
"Reference materials ..."

You normally should take that literally.
After 10 out 12 courses for the MProfComp
this proved to be right - as well as most
of the "workload requirements".

Good luck
Friedrich