Description

Founded as Australia's eighteenth university in 1975, the University of Wollongong has quickly established itself as one of the country's most prestigious universities, consistently ranking in the top ten overall and winning awards as Australia's premier research institution.

The city itself, Australia's ninth largest, is located an hour south of Sydney and two and one half hours east of Canberra, Australia's national capital. Wollongong also has easy access to the outdoors, as it is less than one hour from some of Australia's most pristine national parks, including Royal National, Budderoo, Morton, and Jervis Bay National Parks.

The university is located two miles from the Wollongong city center. In addition, university housing is within walking distance of some of Australia's finest swimming and surfing beaches. Wollongong is a moderate size campus, currently enrolling close to 9,000 undergraduate students. The university can cater to just about any subject area and is particularly strong in communications, Aboriginal studies, Australian studies, music, theatre, commerce, law, nursing, and informatics (computer science, computer engineering, etc.).

For recreation, Wollongong has world-class athletic facilities for cricket, rugby, Australia Rules football, soccer, basketball, table tennis, basketball, swimming, and archery. The university also sponsors nearly thirty athletic clubs. In addition, campus facilities include banks, a cinema, pharmacy, food outlets, pubs, health services center, and counseling services center.

Highlights

Australia is a land of compelling extremes. The oldest datable land forms on earth are found in Australia, but it was the last continent to be discovered by Western explorers. It is the longest continuously inhabited continent on earth but has a written history of only 213 years. It is the smallest continent on the planet but it is also the largest island. Settled as a convict prison, today the country of Australia is one of the freest democratic societies in the world. As large as the continental United States in land area, it is home to barely 18 million people, the same population as the state of California. In a land of vast unsettled spaces, over 80 percent of the population lives in one of the five major cities.

Originally the European settlers were almost exclusively English and Irish. Today the country has sizable populations of Italians, Greeks, Malays, Indonesians and Chinese to enrich the cultural mix of this once isolated island. It is this diversity and this incredible backdrop that make Australia truly an education by itself. Combine this with the academic excellence of its universities, and you have a study abroad destination like no other.

The academic year in Australia is reversed due to the seasonal inversion in the southern hemisphere. The academic year roughly follows the calendar year, beginning in late February and ending in late November. The application deadlines for IFSA-Butler programs in Australia are November 15 for the spring semester and academic year and March 15 for the fall semester. Remember that if you leave in February for your 'spring' semester, you will be arriving in Australia at the end of their summer and will stay until the middle of their winter season.

Degree Level

Bachelors Degree (Undergraduate)

Subject Areas

Cost in US$:

Inquire for more info.

Program Fees Include:

Tuition, housing, pre-departure advising and information, some fees, subsidized excursions, overseas orientation, fully-staffed IFSA-Butler office in Sydney and a Student Services Coordinator in each university city.

Experience Required

no