Australian IT University?

Question

In Australia, which university is best for MIT? RMIT, Swinburne, or UTS? Also, please tell me which of the cities is best to stay for Indians. Thanks!

Answer 1

G'day,

I used to be an international student from South East Asia in Australia. I will try to help you abit...

There are only 39 universities in Australia, therefore the quality and recognition of their graduates are equal from wherever university you are studying from. The most important thing is you have to READ the course information carefully, since some courses may have the same name but different content. I understand that you listed RMIT, Swinburne & UTS b'cos of the names that has "Technology" word in it. However trust me, the quality and the recognition of the course are the same. RMIT & Swinburne (both in Melbourne) have a beginning of being a TAFE colleges, before upgrading their status and becoming a uni. Therefore the courses are somewhat more practical compared with the other unis. Location wise, RMIT & UTS are right-smack in the middle of city centre. Swinburne is abt 7km from city centre, with lots of cheaper student accommodations compared with city centre apartments. Some RMIT students even choose to live in Swinburne area since it is cheaper.

Living cost... Sydney and Canberra have the highest living cost, followed by Melbourne & Brisbane, then Perth, Darwin, Adelaide & Tasmania the lowest. I am attaching a weblink from RMIT & UTS as an indication.

I'm living in Melbourne and this is what you're going to find in Melbourne:
1. First of all... some people do not like the weather in Melbourne (you can have 4 seasons in one day). However, if you read the 3rd weblink from The Age newspaper, you will find out that the weather is still more preferable than the other cities. Sure you can have 42C day like last month, but almost immediately you'll get a much cooler weather pretty soon afterwards. It is very rarely that you got 2 or 3 consecutive days of hot weathers (unlike Sydney, Brisbane or Perth).
2. Melbourne is a city of diversity. If you are a newcomer, and you do not look 'Anglo-Saxon', you do not feel like an 'alien', since you can find almost every race in the world walking in the city. They are both immigrants and overseas students.
3. THE FOOD!! Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Thai, All-you-can-eat, African, Lebanese, Mexican, Sea Food... anything else? All available and lots of them in a very-very-very affordable price
4. Pretty good public transport system. With one ticket, you can switch from train, tram and bus. They do not always come on-time, but still reliable and improving (www.metlinkmelbourne.com.au). Good for students, since not all can afford car.
5. SHOPPING!!! Original branded clothing sold very cheap. There are even shopping tour, where the participants are taken to retails outlets just for shopping. Big temptations for ladies.
6. Crime rates... just read the last article on the bottom.
7. Night Life... hmmmm... I'll say the centre of nite activities will be Crown Casino and Docklands. Altho there are still plenty of cafe's and clubs scattered around the suburbs as well.
8. Tourist attraction. This is the area that I think Sydney is better than Melbourne, since it has most of it's attraction within its suburbs. Most Melbourne attraction are pretty much out of Melbourne, such as the gold mines in the cities of Bendigo and Ballarat, The Great Ocean Road, Lakes Entrance, Grampians, skiing in Mt. Buller etc.

In regards to Indian, I have a feeling that there are more Indian students in Swinburne compared to RMIT. Dunno how do you take it though ;) There are plenty of Indians in every capital cities in Australia, so I dun think that you'll get lonely.

Hope this helps. E-mail me at [e-mail] if you have any further queries abt Australia. Good luck on your studies :)

Answer 2

Just to add to the above - some of the colleges at USyd for instance are single sex e.g. womens college, or religious Santa Sophia (Catholic) or Jewish Mandelbaum House. The religious ones will tend to offer accommodation only to those of that religion (recommendations are required from priest/rabbi) and only if there are rooms available at the end of the allocation will non-members be permitted. Most of the people who live at the colleges are international students as most Australian students do not move out of state to attend uni and still live with their parents. Those that move out of home move into shared housing, college living is more for those people who 1) do not have friends in the city or 2)wish to live where all cooking/bills are paid for. Its usually more expensive to live in a college than in a group home, but the colleges are all close to campus. The USyd colleges do not limit attendees to be students of USyd, other unis (especially UTS which has no residential college) also stay there so the competition is very fierce. In addition to academic reports, you need to provide character reports from people of importance (minister, school principle etc) to show that you are the sort of person they want to live at their college.