American Reacts to AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITIES | How are they different??

[@RobB-vz2vo]

My experience in Australian Universities is that they expect that their students to complete not only the class work and attend them but also do a lot of self-led study out of class. I completed engineering, computing, and project management uni courses. It seems, from what she’s saying, is that she is doing an arts degree. She wouldn’t survive science or engineering courses. On the back of a dunny door just below the toilet paper at an engineering company that I worked at, which also employed people with arts degrees, someone had written ‘Arts degrees, please take one’.

[@li22ietopper26]

On the back of my dunny door I had Latin verbs in all their forms and glory!

[@FionaEm]

Arts graduate here. I used to read those same types of messages on the dunny doors. BTW we had a mix of essays and exams. No stuffing around the way she's describing!

[@kevin_mitchell]

@@FionaEm Yes, it gets tiring listening to them denigrate the workload of something they know nothing about.

[@nicolemcintosh6024]

Well said ^^

[@lesliewilliam3777]

I attended uni in my 40's and did a triple-major Arts degree (with a bunch of minors). I attended uni 2-3 times a week and had a more-or-less fulltime job. My job afforded me the space to do uni stuff there and so I could squeeze in more study, research and writing over the week. It took me 5 years to complete. One of my majors was the Indo-Malay language. This took up an inordinate amount of study time for the credit points. Every day you had to learn more and more vocab, do exercises, projects, read texts etc etc. Another was philosophy. You might only do 2-3 essays a semester but the research and reading workload was enormous. My marks were exclusively and evenly divided between Distinctions and High Distinctions. So, Mr Engineer, do you really want to make such dumb-ass comments again? BTW, do you want to know how many out-of-work engineers I've met in my life? And exactly what does a science degree get you? A high school teacher's position? And what does a philosophy degree get you? You NEVER lose an argument. I mean, N_E_V_E_R.

[@lizstyla88]

In my 4 years of University in Australia I never once had my timetable line up so I could only go 1 or 2 days, usually it was more like 3 to 4 days a week. A full load would be 4 subjects, usually a 2 hour lecture, and a tutorial or workshop per subject over the week. There would also be course readings required, the idea was between face to face time, readings time and course work/assignments work you would spend roughly 10 hours a week per subject. Most university students in Australia also will have a part time job working 20+ hours a week or more.

[@Ausecko1]

My weeks were pretty similar, except my favourite semester (2nd or 3rd year of B. Comm.), where I managed to line up all my classes on one day - 8am to 9.30pm - 6 day weekend, woo! We'd have 4 subjects per semester, each subject was 3 hrs - either 2hrs lecture + 1hr tutorial, or just a 3hr seminar. Since I was only doing a Bach. Commerce, most of the economics, marketing and maths subjects were just a repeat of highschool, so lectures were pointless :)

[@carolynrobertson4657]

Don't know where she went to uni... in sciences you have lectures and labs and tutorials

[@fionaanderson5796]

Second year of a science degree I had 21 contact hours per week which included lectures, tutes, and labs - geology lab was 3 hours, chem was 4. Then we had maths assignments, lab write ups, field trip reports (oh, yeah, field trips some weekends), further reading, etc. We were expected to do at least as many hours private work as contact hours. I lived in college (colleges are residential buildings for students) and saw the arts students who drank and smoked pot all night, almost never went to class, wrote one essay per class each term, and passed. Many arts degrees simply mean you can spew word salad without having a clue what you're talking about. The exceptions were languages and, to some extent, archaeology and HPS.

[@c8Lorraine1]

@@Ausecko1 I did part time study with full time work. I attended more lectures than this woman

[@jennifercampbell7698]

Yeah I studied at TAFE for 2 years, then went to Uni for a couple of degrees. TAFE was 9-5 lectures and tutorials pretty much every day, plus practical training and assignments and some exams (accounting and law type subjects) plus we had to complete 300hrs of extra part-time work in the subject (hotel management) area to complete our course. So weekends and Friday nights were working time. Uni was less contact hours but more than the KZbinr was doing, tons of reading and research and 3000 word assignments for each subject per semester. I too assume the woman was doing an Arts/ Literature type degree which tend to be lighter load than other degrees.

[@dutchroll]

Lol the attendance requirements are obviously highly variable depending on what degree you are doing. In my (Australian) science degree I was doing 5 full days a week for the first year, getting a couple of afternoons off in 2nd year, and just marginally more time off in the final year.

[@derekboland1460]

Same here. She's definitely not doing a science degree.

[@LibiB26]

Yeah I have friends who studied science and law that had waaay more contact hours than me. So glad I studied Communications! I was surprised by how few contact hours in comparison to secondary school, but very quickly got used to it and took full advantage of the additional time.

[@godamid4889]

@@derekboland1460 didn't she say she had a pathology class?

[@derekboland1460]

@@godamid4889 don't know, maybe but doing a pathology class is completely different to doing a science degree. With a degree there is a minimum of one 3 to four hour lab for each subject eg usually 3 or 4 three/four hour labs a week on top of tutorials and lectures.

[@godamid4889]

@@derekboland1460 possibly. Given the pandemic they are probably taking anyone who can use a microscope.

[@rubeedobee5399]

Totally different from when I was at Uni. I was at Uni four days a week (usually 23-25 hours). I think you need to think about the fact she said that she is currently in her fifth year of a three year degree, so she may have been doing it part-time? Sounds to me that there is a lot more rote learning or memorising involved in US and more critical thinking required in Australia.

[@gigracer]

My University experience in Australia was definitely not like hers. I studied nursing and had a mandatory attendance rate of 80% or we would fail the subject. I was at uni 5 days per week generally between 8 am up until 9pm some days, depending on my schedule. We had to do huge amounts of reading, present case studies (which are assessable and form part of the grade) each week, and participate in skill development labs. We also had 2 written essays, plus a final exam for the semester. If you failed the exam, you failed the unit, regardless of how well you did on the assessments and weekly tutorials. On top of that we had to also do clinical placement, and still complete assignments due during that period, plus do placement specific assessments. The grading the University I attended went from 1 to 7, with 1 a fail and 7 equivalent to a high distinction or an A. So our GPAs go up to 7. The word counts in assignments is true. We also used turnitin, which is for electronic assignment submission and also checks for plagiarism. We generally had either until 5 pm or midnight on the due date to have the assignment submitted.

[@iluvprawns]

I just tune in to hear you say "Happy Arvo" Takeaways: I did nursing. I had one day at uni that was 12 hours. I had a two hour class at 8am, followed by 2 tutorials an hour each that took me to midday. Then a 4 hour break until my arvo session from 4pm, which consisted of two 2 hour lectures back to back on opposite sides of the campus. One thing that I noticed with our American students, they didn't have the general background in high school to prep them for an Australian university. It seems like American college students are failed on stupid things. Plus, our class bell curve is shifted to reflect the average.

[@darkcase123]

As an Australian I've grown up with American TV shows and I've always gotten this vibe that America is a land of professional students. Like a lot of Aussies probably don't do college and university after school, and do courses later in life. The vibe I get from your shows and culture is that it's more important where you go rather than what you study, and it's frowned upon if you don't go to a college after highschool. Getting the marks, passes, grades.. whatever it is.. seems more important than actually understanding the information. A lot of what I was taught tended to be encouraging self-led study, and Its a skill that I have continued to use my entire life. At least that's how I perceive it

[@jacquelenebennett4028]

Surprised by the reference to Jane Eyre. We studied that in yr 9 or 10 at high school. Btw lightning severed the tree which is a metaphor for their relationship.

[@Chookly44]

Gday. It totally depends on the degree. For a science degree I had lectures/tutes every morning and 4x3h pracs in the arvos. Also colleges here are usually referred to as the residential living place, not the educational facility. Ir can also be an independent specialised training place. Cheers

[@carokat1111]

I've studied at three Australian universities in three different states, over 5 degrees. I majored in English and we always had exams, so I have no idea where she studied! The limited amount of time she described in classes in Australia does not reflect my experience nor does the smaller workload. I always had readings etc, from class to class. Perhaps it's a change related to covid. I last studied in 2017 so I can't compare that. We still use A,B, C etc in schools.

[@lizstyla88]

Maybe she just never did the readings

[@godamid4889]

Can confirm that it hasn't changed. She said she had a pathology class, I think. Scary.

[@lizstyla88]

@@godamid4889 oh God, that is worrying 😬

[@daveamies5031]

"We still use A,B,C etc in schools" yes in some of the backward schools that haven't found the 20th century yet, my recommendation to any parent, if your school is using A-F marking scale in the 21st century, try to move your kids to another school, this is the first sign that the school is not keeping up, I wasn't able to so we had to provide extra tuition to our kids ourselves, luckily we did my son's year 5 teacher thought "-2-5" was -3. Seriously teachers should be required to pass the subject before teaching it.

[@Reneesillycar74]

@@godamid4889 That would be scary! But no, she was doing mythology.

[@lynnemaclean7201]

As an Australian who has attended a few universities in Australia, this is all too weird 😵‍💫 Nothing is true. Maybe she attended Aus Uni part time?? It would be interesting to know which Aus Uni she attended 😂

[@gomiladroogies5951]

Im from Melbourne and pretty much every uni here is like this here, full time you have 4 classes tutorials are usually 1 or 2 hours long, lectures about the same. So very normal to have full hours of like 8-16 hours. Lectures we would go to for like the first week or two and then it drops to like 10 kids going out of 100. Now they're almost all online and we just skim through on x2 speed getting the basic jist of it.

[@moniquem783]

Sounds like she’s doing Arts. It’s a long time since I was at uni but Arts was definitely the bludge course then and it sounds like it still is now. I was doing a science course and had 40 contact hours. Definitely not a bludge.

[@1063-x6b]

I don't know about USA as I'm Australian. I did a business course full time 4 subjects per semester, total calss time was 12 - 13 hrs a week. What she said about ozzie uni is pretty accurate.

[@aab222]

This is the thing. Which one did she go to? That's the question. I had an American student staying with me a few years ago and she had classes every day. She told me the work was harder.

[@____0____]

Wouldn't a lot of this depend on the class a person is taking? I didn't go to Uni, I did TAFE about 25 years ago so I have no idea lol.

[@nutritionbykel]

I've had uni two or three days a week full time but those days were packed like 9am-9pm sometimes but if you have to work it's more ideal no one wants a 2-3hr break between classes. We do have to do more homework as she describes these days due to the new blended learning style especially if you're online however its not graded and not mandatory and I have had chapter quizzes plenty of times. However, I guess it depends on what you study I did health sciences but I rarely went to class unless its a lab/prac you don't have to go and you don't have to give an excuse unless there's a quiz that day or something. Nahhh we get don't get straight As we get straight Ds🤣 (equivalent of a B but yeah). Also we not only have word counts we often have formatting requirements so no messing with the font size/margins/line spacing for us. This has been my experience at an inner city and a regional uni over the course of 10 years studying nursing, nutrition, dietetics, and health promotion.

[@jessbellis9510]

For attendance it depends on the bachelor - STEM fields require a lot of actual attendance, while bachelor of commerce and art often have online courses. Depending on the uni you can also schedule your classes and make your own timetable to fit everything into a couple days. Australian uni encourages self-study and they treat you as an adult. Classes may be only 3-4 contact hours, but they generally expect a minimum of 10-15 hours study per subject per week.

[@jogould1045]

Her assessment of the pass rate is dependent upon the course. I did a bachelor of Information Technology at university here in Australia to pass i needed 80% bare minimum. So she is maybe right for a bachelor of Arts (idk) but not for what i did. Every unit i did had a final exam that was worth enough for me to fail the unit if i did not pass well and did not get good marks for the assessment projects. So her experience with Australian University is very subjective because she is doing a relatively easy bachelor. Full time i was attending university 4 to 5 days a week, depending on my unit load for that semester.

[@Chookly44]

Gday. Same, eh

[@GregRodgers1]

I had the same sort of schedule.

[@2DogsVlogs]

I did a law degree and a commerce degree at UNE and some law subjects required a 85% pass mark and that was 4 days per week at UNE full time. Big difference is that I did mine externally but they said each subject requires 7 hours of reading the material each week and it was hard. At the start of my law degree we were told 80% will fail or drop out.

[@petersinclair3997]

The difficulty of an Australian university exam should be guided by the Australian Qualifications Framework. This can be managed the control of action verbs directing assessment in the test instrument. An exam can be set to make achieving 50% difficult. Undergrad courses should be more than understanding the textbook and exercises using a template (that’s a college diploma). Folk aspiring to management need to be independent thinkers. Commercialisation of Australian Universities can find Markers under pressure to pass marginal students by the Dean.

[@MissAussieChick84]

100%! Your course determines the work. I’m doing a Bach of communication design, and don’t get me wrong, I’m doing it online so it’s in my own time, but if I don’t study everyday things won’t be that great. It’s also dependent on what courses are available for the semester. My assignments are labour intensive and take hours and hours to complete. I can only imagine what it would be like if I was studying to be a doctor or some sort of science based degree

[@calmmusicforsleep]

It is interesting to listen and compare! Thanks for nice sharing Ryan! Have a great week!

[@christinetreasure5321]

I've done parts of both a science degree and humanities/arts degree at Uni and they are very different! Humanities/arts have a lot less contact hours as she's describing here, but science you have labs and more lectures etc for each topic. A big plus though was almost all of the lectures for both were also recorded and put online so technically you didn't have to attend in person, the only attendance recorded were for the tutorials, labs, workshops etc. Definitely made it easier to shift your schedule around and get majority of lectures on one or two days so you didn't have to go in as much :)

[@62aligirl]

She’s talking about an Arts degree which is a reading degree, therefore far fewer face to face hours at uni in Australia. Studying science, law, education, medicine, etc it’s a completely different experience due to expectations. Yes we are graded: High distinction, Distinction, Credit, Pass etc.

[@mccorama]

US college is sounding like just another four years of high school!

[@geoffdrewer1978]

I think there's a difference between "busy" work and critical thinking 🤔. The few US students I met were struggling to get credits here, when they were used to distinctions in the US. When it came to grading my PhD the Australian professor was toughest, the UK 🇬🇧 marker was in the middle and the US marker the most favourable. Meant that I only needed to make revisions to the satisfaction of my university, not having a re-mark to graduate.

[@lesliewilliam3777]

When I was an undergrad in the early 2000's a lot of Americans attended the University of Sydney, the one I was at. (This was true post 9-11 because they, quite rightly, saw Oz was safe + the US buck bought them a lot more here.) They couldn't understand how no one received high 90's for their essay mark. They said they regularly received that mark back home. To even get an essay marked 90 or above is an extremely rare event here.

[@tammyfinnemore]

The thing about only two days at Uni, when I went through Uni, I was there only two and a half days a week but they were longer days, I managed to choose classes that were one after another for most of the days with a break somewhere in between, sometimes there from 8am-6pm, but then i had rest of the week to do assessment and work

[@RandomStuff-he7lu]

Here in my state in Australia a college is a joint primary and secondary private school.

[@kyliej2241]

No idea what she was studying in Australia but class contact hours was 25 hours. The online requirement and readings required to be prepared for contact hours was about the same plus assignment time. I think what she is telling you is misleading

[@theimperfectscrapper5313]

I agree. I’ve studied at Uni and I work in the Uni sector, my kids are studying Engineering and Teaching - all of our experiences are very different to hers.

[@pruebowtell3631]

I really enjoyed hearing your opinions

[@huggledemon32]

In Australia “college” often refers to the University specific accomodation- so I guess “dorms” would be the American equivalent!?- we do have some educational places called “colleges”, but Universities and Colleges are not the same thing.

[@amandacheevers9678]

Admittedly I attended Uni in the 90s and I understand some things have changed, but I attended classes and tutorials every day. Had plenty of essays and exams each semester including for English. Plus I had to read all the assigned books. I was horrified to discover they now do exams on weekends and in the evenings which just seems to be a bit much.

[@2DogsVlogs]

I got my degrees in mid 2006 and it was the same. Looks like things have gotten much easier. My exams were usually on the weekend or at night but I was part time and did one degree externally.

[@BritPryor]

Definitely depends on the degree or uni you're at in Aus or attending in the US. I have pretty much completely the opposite to this gal. Aus uni - Griffith Uni US uni - Illinois State Uni I definitely agree contact hours/class expectations in the US are much more depending and super inflexible. In Aus I am also usually only at uni 2-3 days a week (mostly 2 days) but I never had classes mandated. So you could show up to absolutely zero classes as long as you passed your assessments. Whereas my US uni had a 'two classes missed' maximum. Also found the classes in the US were so short and had multiple so you had to be available everyday which was a huge pain for me. Also found the US classes to be HUGELY easier and way easier to pass hence why I think their pass rate was 70%. I got questions in a third year class that I was getting in first year classes in Aus, also got half points + points for making jokes? It was wild. In Aus I averaged about 85% in the US I averaged about 98%. Often got 100% papers because they would have so many smaller assessments that were a few pages long and didn't really have any substance. Also agree about the paper thing, and that was 4 years ago so the fact that it still happens - weird.

[@davidporter499]

UK system similar to Australian (no surprise there), but self managed study, research and written work is more intense. Lectures and tutorials are to guide you as to how you may decide to approach the topic. What I am getting to is that our systems are based on independent learning and showing independence of thought in one’s approach to the subject.

[@belindamilne4922]

She’s describing basically doing the absolute minimum necessary to skate through. You’d never pass, if you actually did it for all your classes. At my uni 50% was called a “Conceded Pass” and you were only allowed a couple of those in your entire course, if you expect to graduate. You’re expected to put in the same number of hours, outside class as you do in it, some classes have lectures, tutorials and prac as well, so it mounts up. At Australian Unis all the weekly lectures are done in one session. Lectures, you can on catch up from home, if necessary, but tutorials are mandatory. Also, you’re expected to have done the ALL reading before the lecture and not after. Some Unis do have exams, even in the social sciences. I had one for every unit in undergrad. Open book exam sound easy but it’s only helpful if you’ve actually done the reading. Also 2,500 word assignments is only in first year by 3rd year and post grad you’ll be handing in 4000-5000 words without breaking a sweat, plus doing weekly in class presentations and group assignments.

[@digby3618]

This entire video is bollocks. Firstly, she's speaking for all universities, when they're all different. She's speaking for all courses, which are sooooo different. If she got away with attending lectures/tutorials once or twice a week she must have been doing an Arts degree.

[@Chookly44]

Gday. Totally agree. Arts degree students were the biggest partyers at my Uni.

[@BobSmith-pl6sm]

To be fair, I'm doing a 'difficult' degree in Australia at the moment and most of my lectures are pre-recorded and tutorials are online. So I end up only going on campus max two or three times a week (usually one tbh). Covid definitely changed things.

[@biancaann851]

Yeah attendance is definitely a big deal here… I went to RMIT and halfway through the year we had 2 people that were failing based on attendance record.

[@huggledemon32]

I agree- to be fair I was at uni like 15 years ago, but many of her points don’t li e up with my experience.🤷‍♀️

[@Lavenderskies36]

She must have been studying a BA at a basic uni. An arts degree at a decent uni in Australia is a whole other level than what she is describing.

[@simbob26]

I studied Engineering in the ‘90s and we had about 40 contact hours. That’s 40 hours of lectures and tutorials. Plus all of the work you are expected to do at home. She’s right about the assignments though. We had one major assignment plus an exam each semester which counted for the lion’s share of your marks. I can’t remember if we required to get a higher mark than “pass” for any particular subject. A, B, C grading is a primary (elementary) school thing here. At high school it is percentages. Good reaction video. Keep it up!

[@godamid4889]

Yep, 34-40 for Chem eng when I did it, depending on whether you did the business subjects. That wasn't the tutorials, you were expected to do those in your own time. For every contact hour you are expected to do 4 hours study as well. Was hectic. But I still managed to get to B.A.S.I.C. once a month.

[@judileeming1589]

Year 5 doing a 3 year degree … that explains why she says she is finding it hard to do so much in a week in the States. We don’t know whether she had to redo something or whether she is a part time student in Australia because she is working also, but I doubt she failed at anything because she personally achieved 70-90% on her units. I worked with a young woman who had wanted to study Law but didn’t have a high enough High School pass score to get a University place (you have to have a nearly perfect score to get into Law and Medicine because of the limited places) so she had done her nursing degree and then used the credits to enable her to study Law. She was working full time and doing her Law degree … incredibly hard worker and determined to achieve her Law degree but it was a long road for her.

[@anniemac7545]

Great video, really informative to hear about differences.

[@janmeyer3129]

I spent a lot of time when dealing with American exchange students preparing letters to explain where 63%, for instance, fell on the distribution of marks for the class (about the same percentile as about 80% US) - and that the mark depends on how hard or open-ended the questions are and how mean the marker (or the rubric)

[@aab222]

This. I had an American student staying with me and she got Cs here, where she was used to As in the US.

[@feenostrineeks]

yeah, in my experience (from working at an Aussie Uni, studying at an Aussie Uni and talking to US exchange students in years gone by) that Australian Uni's mark a lot harsher than US uni's (colleges) in that a 50-60% at an Aussie Uni would equivalent to a 70-80% mark in the USA. (generally anyway, not like it is hard and fast, ive seen a wide mix of marking harshness vs ease anyway)

[@RandomStuff-he7lu]

My uni had a 7 point scale. High Distinction, Distinction, Credit, High Pass, Low Pass, High Fail, Low Fail..... however you were only allowed to get 2 low passes (so 2 subjects rated overall as a low pass) throughout the entire 4 years and then they were counted after that as High Fails.

[@richardknight1532]

at my university, the final exam was 70-75% and you had to get over 50% on that to pass Plus pass each assignment. may sound easy to you try doing an engineering assignment. in the exam you need 2 scientific calculators to break the formula in half as it is 2 big for one calc. there is smoke coming off pen nibs

[@sara_387]

When I went to an Australian university in the 90s it was very much about being an independent learner. Yes you didn't have many set hours, often a lecture and tutorial or prac for each subject each week, but you were expected to put in a significant amount of study or library time on top of that. On average for every hour spent in class, students were expected to spend approximately 2-3 hours studying. In some subjects, it would be significantly more. Attendance wasn't taken for lectures but tutorial attendance and participation was part of your grade in some subjects. There were often only 1 or 2 assessments per subject per term, an exam or assignment or both. As my own child is nearing uni age, it seems it's still about being an independent learner, which some students really struggle with. You get out, only what you put in. You have to be self motivated. The exams for English...I don't know about uni, but in high school, with external exams now for senior, they have to write their essay under exam conditions. So if they're studying Shakespeare, they will be given 3 essay questions to prepare, but only 2 will be offered as options during the exam. They have one sheet, with a set word limit (very limited) where they pre write their quotes from the text, which is all they will have available to them during the exam. This is handed in a few days before the exam, and if they fail to, they have no quotes available to them. Edit: In QLD (at least at my kid's school) the senior English exam is a completely blind essay written on the Shakespearean play being studied, Macbeth in yr 11 and Hamlet in yr 12. No quote sheets and the question is only seen during the exam. That was the yr 10 exam above.

[@whisky.Lovers]

By the way, I have never seen a Macdonald sign named Maccers, it is just a slang Australians use. We do it with names as well such as John would be called Johno and you would be called Ryno.

[@80sOGRE]

Australian Uni is 4 units ( full time ) per semester. Each with a Lec and a Tutorial. Tutorial class times are usually 2 - 3 hrs with many Lecs online, especially since Covid. At enrollment time when you pick your classes timetable, you can work it so you could only have to turn up for 2 days but it would be 2 full days. I haven't been that lucky yet. 3 days always seems to be the best i've been able to reduce it to. TAFE which is our government run technical college only goes as high as Diplomas. Your in class 4-5 week full time but typically a Diploma course is only 1-2 years, it use to be 3 years decades ago.

[@arnitaxavier9446]

Because I had to travel to the other side of the city, I used to try and make it 2 full days and rest and catch the rest of the week. It was a tough two days especially back to back though.

[@80sOGRE]

@@arnitaxavier9446 i know what you mean. i'm on trains for 1 hour and 15 each way. you don't feel like doing any study after those full days

[@georgepapas8878]

(Edit: Just realized, that I forgot to mention I’m an Australian, who studied in Australia.) I think it must be course specific, because my experience at Uni was very different to her’s. It was actually a lot more similar to Ryan’s. I did engineering and it was minimum 40hrs a week. I got assessments every week from each of my classes. What was interesting is that for most of my classes you could pass with only a 50% however there were a few classes where they rose the criteria and made it so you could only pass with a 60% or more. Every class I ever had except for maybe two, had exams. As an engineering student you can’t escape them.

[@Ausecko1]

I did a Commerce degree while my mates did Engineering, GIS and other degrees. Engineering was definitely a 9-5 job, GIS was maybe 25-30hours per week, my Commerce degree was at most 12 hours per week (if you attended all of the lectures, which only international students did). I don't know how much private study the engineers were doing, but I'd assume quite a bit given the maths and science learning required... as opposed to an Arts or Commerce degree, which was just however much reading you wanted to do to write the essays.

[@xDRAGONSTARx]

I love your reactions dude, I look forward to them. Seeing as you have this Aussie thing going on all the time (yes, I am an Aussie) you should try reacting to some of the talented musicians we have. Your channel will grow through the roof if you started doing that!

[@Floury_Baker]

Even in our TAFE system (what you probably call a trades college) the pass rates are 75% minimum with a full load being done day or night across 5 days. The only time that got changed was in the final semester when Pass, Credit and Distinction came into use for Uni transfer.

[@jenb658]

I think the difference is that our Universities want students to think for themselves(with independent research) instead of learning things “by wrote” or from a textbook. We have that in our senior high school education and are then given the opportunity to fly in terms of our own interpretation, analysis and critical thinking.

[@kristyl933]

*rote And, agree. We (Australia) rely much more on self directed learning.

[@Danger_Mouse_00]

I love how you told us how you got away with page count. 😂

[@alonedingo]

Addressing a couple of things that came up: 1) Even when I was at uni in 2000-2004 there were people that could get away with 1-2 days of face-to-face. The difference that is probably lost is that you have a lot more choice in tutorials to select when you have those times, rather than mandatory class times. I'm a scientist and while I had usually a minimum of 20 hours face time, there were (up until 3rd year when the classes are smaller) usually between 2 and 4 choices of lab times. The lecturers would also bunch their lectures to give them time to do their own research on specific days. They also didn't (usually) schedule stuff for Friday mornings because Bar Night was Thursday nights. 2) Pass marks are different between universities, schools, and even lecturers. Also what you have to do in order to get marks can be adjusted to make direct comparison a little harder. For example one lecturer had 6 assignments (one for each core topic) and to get a Distinction you had to get that or higher in every assignment, getting a single credit (even if by 1 mark) meant the highest you could get was a Credit (and no, I'm still not bitter about that 20 years later. Not. At. All.) 3) The amount of assessments can vary wildly. Some units I had 2 exams and a single assignment/essay whereas for others it was a lab report each week. And even the format of those could vary. For one final year subject the reports were really just supposed to be answers to the questions posed, but when the lecturer changed (due to a heart attack suffered by the usual lecturer) the lab reports suddenly had to be full-on reports because one student complained that that's what they had done and they got a lower mark than the rest of us that "didn't put in as much effort". Overall the experience can be different across the spectrum. There's a lot of leeway that Australian universities have in setting their standards and how they execute their programs, and so they can set themselves up for different student experiences. Some are also a lot more akin to the Junior Colleges in the US in how they deliver programs. At the end of the day, it should be about how do you ensure someone has the skills, knowledge, and practical training for the field they are entering, rather than following a regimented program of learning.

[@kevin_mitchell]

A 13 week semester in Australia usually consists of four units, each requiring about 10 hours per week of study, readings, tutorial exercises, including a lecture and a tutorial, plus working on one of usually three assignments due during the semester, and sometimes an exam, depending on the complexity of the assignments. That will get you a pass, but if you want Distinctions or High Distinctions, then more effort needs to be put in.

[@joandsarah77]

It probably depends on the course, type of degree you are going for. My daughter is doing animal studies at TAFE -TAFE is a college not a university. She attends once per week but has assignments once per fortnight (some are short others are longer) They are given a satisfactory or unsatisfactory on them and nothing in-between. If you gain an unsatisfactory you can redo and resubmit. She needs 100% to gain that satisfactory and if you gain two non-satisfactorily in a row you fail that section and would need to redo them another year. For example nutrition or health &safety. So far she hasn't failed any but she has had to resubmit a couple and as you can imagine this is quite stressful when one assignment can make or fail an entire area.

[@alankohn6709]

Sounds like she is doing an arts degree (Medieval, American Lit, Creative writing, Victorian studies, and Mythology, Can anyone tell me the career this is setting you up for?) which can have a lower direct interaction requirement. I'm sure you talk to someone doing an engineering, Science, Medicine or Computer Science degree and they will tell you I believe a full time load is 20 - 30 hours correct me if I am wrong

[@jacquelenebennett4028]

Maybe writing fantasy romances?

[@alankohn6709]

@@jacquelenebennett4028 Ignoring Gerorge R.R. Martins wishes and finishing game of Thrones after he dies which is the only way the series gets finished

[@LadyMitcly]

I went to uni here in Australia & did summer school in Washington DC. ALL of my classmates got their best marks in the US cause it was such lightweight marking compared to AU. When I did my degree it was 20 contact hours per week plus minimum 20 hours non-contact work (it was actually a lot more really), so I’m not sure I agree with her assessment.

[@Mediawatcher2023]

Both colleges and universities can issue bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees. However, in Australia, there is a big difference between colleges and universities. There are 43 universities in Australia that award bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees.

[@kc3122]

I attended uni most days however my limited understanding is that some uni classes are mostly online now due to COVID (Australian university). As far as workload, depends on the degree & specific classes. I certainly experienced a decent workload. Interesting that it didn’t cover the cost of university. In Australia, as a citizen, we are not required to pay upfront fees and the fees are paid back over time at a reasonable rate. I know that there have been recent changes and the cost of uni is going up but I am very aware of how lucky we are here in Australia.

[@neumanmachine3781]

Sounds like she was in a low-effort Arts Degree. It’s really not representative of most university experiences in Australia. My wife is currently studying law and the workload is intensive with weekly assessments, plus major assignments and exams. There are hundreds of pages of weekly readings that are quizzed in class. When I went to university in the 1990’s (studying town planning) 20-30 contact hours was expected and you could be on campus most days including days from 8AM to 9pm. Her course sounds like a doddle.

[@m_mitch]

I don't recognise anything she described as Australian Unis. IT at Monash was full time with some weekends. Lots of exams and assignments. We needed to attend.

[@timbomb374]

I do uni, I only go into the uni 2 days a week but I attend online classes on 2 other days. I made sure to put all my in person classes on few days as possible since I have to catch the train for an hour and a half to get there. Although those 2 days I get up and go at 5am and get home at 8pm.

[@TheLargino]

Studying an "Arts" degree explains it all.

[@RandomStuff-he7lu]

BA = Bachelor of Attendance

[@theimperfectscrapper5313]

Would you care to elaborate?

[@Chookly44]

Gday. Yep. Even my BA friends would joke about that.

[@TheLargino]

@@theimperfectscrapper5313 I don't know of anybody who has studied Engineering or Science in OZ that could only attend class for 1 or 2 days and pass. She mentions classes with 2 contact hours; that never happens in Science/Engineering. 3hrs is a minimum: lectures 2hr with a 1hr tutorial. More commonly from my experience during my BSc was: lectures 2hr; practicals 1-2hrs and a 1hr tutorial. Contact hours ranged between 12 to 18 per week for a 4 course semester. Constant class clashes made it impossible to streamline a timetable.

[@theimperfectscrapper5313]

@bob wrong! I have an arts degree and work in an excellent career which pays very well!

[@theimperfectscrapper5313]

When I was studying a BA, another student who was studying a double degree BA and Teaching said to me - “oh, my teaching degree is so much more difficult than my BA which is super easy”. My response was - “so you get straight As in your BA then”. She replied “well no, I don’t”. I then replied “well I get straight As, I have 3 Deans Honours Awards, an International Honours Award and was invited to apply for a Rhodes Scholarship- and trust me, it wasn’t easy”. Also - I work in the Uni sector, my kids are studying engineering and teaching at the moment. All of our experiences are very different to what she is saying. And yes, my degree was graded As through to Fs.

[@Mediawatcher2023]

in australia back in the 1970's and early 1980s australia did have colleges now known as *TAFE*

[@janakulik708]

I'm a bit older than the woman in this piece, and have done 2 different Arts degrees. For both I usually managed to pack it all into 4 days most semesters. Pass/fail was at 60% for most subjects, determined by several larger pieces of work (and you couldn't switch courses without at least a 70% average passing average)

[@leahhaines5713]

High school here (depending on the school) some start at 8:30, 8:45 or 8:50am and finishes at either 3 or 3:30 pm, we don't have hrs between classes we get recess and lunch, from memory recess is 20mins and lunch is 50mins. Kids are at school for 6 hrs a day

[@pippasmith4813]

The advantage with online submission is that the students have to run the assignment through a plagiarism program prior to submission. Also, the majority of Australian universities offer only two semesters per year whereas one, Bond University, squashes in three semesters per year which is what I believe is the situation for the majority of US Colleges.

[@exidy2290]

She is definitely doing her courses in Australia, whatever they may be, part time. Definitely an arts degree. My first degree was a hybrid, first two years full time, final year part time (took me 4 years) for a total of 6. First two years, two full days on campus followed by two full days doing teaching rounds at my assigned technical school. Day 5 was taken up by study, class prep, assignments, etc. It was pretty full on. Note too, that first two years didn’t include any method area training, I already had qualifications in the subject for which I was being prepared to teach. The final year covered advanced topics in my method area which took 3-6 hours of lecture attendance at whatever times I could squeeze it in, usually evenings. Did my two post grad degrees fully part time, one to two evenings a week. Commenced uni in 1981, final graduation in 1993. I’d like to know which uni she attended, sounds pretty cruisy compared to my experience.

[@rebeccabath5276]

In Australia, you could literally show up to 2 classes a week and watch the recordings from your bed. Stem has more classes and longer labs but still you only have to attend compulsory things like tests

[@LibiB26]

Also at my school, we used the A-F system until year 10 (or 10th grade), where you have classes all day back to back. But for year 11 and 12, they used the High Distinction, Distinction, Credit and Pass system, probably to match up with universities so to prepare you. You only had 5-6 subjects for those final years so had a lot more free periods to study, but would still be in everyday. But at university, not many people live on campus, so its great to just come 2-3 times a week. There is a saying in Australia “P’s get degrees” but it’s probably not the case for some courses.

[@Eva9000]

Once or twice a week? I was doing part time and still had like three day weeks in Oz never mind when I was full time! it's either a recent thing or maybe to do with her specific course

[@idg2fox68]

Bro you should do a video about the youth sub culture of the Australian eshay. Would love to see your opinions of them.

[@drcl7429]

From the UK. My experience at UK uni is similar with regards to attendance. Very few "required" attendances for lectures etc and if you don't turn up they send you an email asking why and to fill in an online form with your reason. Do it or don't. Nothing happens if your attendance is 0%. You've paid for it. Wasting your own money. No way a lecturer can lock the door though. Would be a violation of health and safety.

[@2DogsVlogs]

College can mean different things. So I went too Rostervor College. Which I think starts at grade 4 and goes too year 13. Yes they added a year in SA if you need more points too get into University. After that you can go to technical college to do anything from a certificate to a diploma. Such as a trade certificate or a business\teaching diploma.

[@jaywan5553]

I’ve done three degrees at different universities in Australia, one bachelor and two masters. In the courses I’ve done, the core subjects requires grades of 70%, some as high as 80% to progress. Elective subjects require a pass. Elective subjects reduce as you move into specialty areas.

[@kazzagreen84]

Man that sounds horrible waiting for hours between classes. I always tried to get into the tute that came right after the lecture. I hated waiting around. I just wanted to get home asap.

[@neilcampbell3212]

I agree with Jo. My two children went through Uni , both did final exams and would attend classes more than 2-3 days a week. Second if you see a D grade on your results here that usually stands for distinction and would mean a grade of 75-80 percent

[@PhillipGWilkie]

I think this may be dependant on the course. I did a bachelors of info tech and needed to be on campus 4 days a week.

[@wallacefootrot6054]

You should do a reaction to the song Straya to the tune Hey Ya.

[@joandsarah77]

So far my daughter had had to miss 2 classes due to Covid and flooding. Both situations completely out of her control. Luckily with the flooding class was canceled since only 5 managed to get to the actual class room. If there is any teacher who would punish students for such things they need to be retrained or even fired. She would have missed a third class but she caught Covid over break so she only missed 1. Unfortunately the teacher had given a big assignment over this break which she was able to get an extension on due to the Covid -but who gives assignments to students going on break? Assignments are all online. None are done on paper since highschool.

[@matthewbrown6163]

Cost is 1/3 the price or less & under grad courses are 3 years only & NOT 4 years. I am part of a USA University for my Ph.D studies. 24 subjects for undergrads & 12 subjects for Masters or MBA. We now have the online courses / subjects that can speed up your graduation rate. I studied 5 nights a week at night to get my undergrads & then MBA at night for 2 years back in the olden days before the internet existed.

[@amandajb2024]

I think Aussie uni is less strict because you are 100% adult by the age of 18. She took the lazy route in an Arts degree (I also did one but put maximum effort in). If you’re doing a STEM based degree, expect way more structure.

[@rebeccabrewertaylor9260]

Did a Bachelor of Arts years ago. Schedule was busy but with lots of breaks. Essays and written assignments not exams.

[@zephyrmj]

regarding time spent at uni in Aust. depends what course you do. E.g. Engineering or science degrees - you're there 5 days a week. Maybe she was doing an arts degree?

[@Kammitoes]

There are a lot of lectures that are online these days. College is more like school, University expects the student to be a responsible adult and apply yourself without supervision. Also, i just completed a Masters degree and each subject required a 70-80% pass. She must be studying soft subjects.

[@michaelsinclair8018]

What course is she doing? I was in Science. Twice a week I had my first lecture at 9 pm and then a tutorial that started at 6:15pm Oh, I just read below she was doing Arts. This explains so much. I had lectures/tutorials/biochemistry experiments/writeups/pedagogy sessions. Three hour exams were so stressful.

[@micko11154]

My Computer Engineering course was 5 days a week at Uni Newcastle, NSW.

[@smokeandquills]

Yes, of course we get A's, B's etc... "straight A's" or "Big Fat F's" XD and all that jazz but it's a high school thing! Not generally used in university terminology. Also, the fact that she's doing an Arts Degree says it all really! So there's your answer for her lack of contact hours/days of the week she was required to attend. That is not the case for other degrees! lol, why do you think people make jokes about Bachelor of Arts/Arts Degrees being easy!?

[@bleukreuz]

I studied undergraduate medicine at an australian university, and it is definitely more than 2 days a week. In general 4-5 days/week, but some days might be lighter than others. We have multiple lectures, tutorial groups, practicals/labs, anatomy classes, etc... Some people does combined degree with medicine, it must be crazy busy, I don't know how they do it.

[@leglessinoz]

I've done an electrical trade at colleges which was done in blocks of 7 weeks each year. I skipped a year and did two years of college in 10 weeks. Attendance was 5 full days per week of theory and labs plus of course the rest of the year I learned on the job. I've also been at university for an Engineering degree which was every day face-to-face contact and labs, and the Arts degree (albeit an odd one) also had classes most days.

[@jenniferjones-challen3670]

When you submit assigments online in australia it also runs it via plagiarism software and if it is deemed too high a % you can be kicked out of the uni.

[@sigmaoctantis1892]

A note on Pass at 50% versus Pass at 70%. If both exams are well structured, the same proportion of participants should exceed the pass mark. The difference is that with the 70% exam it is more difficult to distinguish the exceptional students from the less adept. In short, I would expect an exam with a 70% pass mark to be easier than one with a 50% pass mark.

[@ianmorris7485]

So how do they check for plagiarism in submitted assignments if they don't lodge online? My sister was a tutor at Murdoch University and they lodge online and can check for plagiarism online too. It also means that lodgement deadlines can be rigorously enforced.

[@Westhaven2]

Hi Ryan: Canada here. From the comments, I suspect this person, may be a bit of an outlier in her description of Australian Universities. I have attended both Canadian and American universities and they are pretty similar. My undergraduate experience was similar to your description of your time at university. However, my time in my graduate program was actually quite similar to this young woman’s experience as far as class schedule time was concerned. Of course, there was a tremendous amount of work preparing for those classes. The thinking is that by the time one is in a graduate program you do not need a lot of direction and supervision but need time to do your own research. The terms college and university is a bit muddied in the United States. College seems to refer to any post secondary learning period. I am not sure about Australia, but in Canada, college refers to any non university post secondary institution offering complete programs in various trades and skills that are not part of the university offerings. Universities tend to be institutions that focus mainly on learnings that are often classed as academic pursuits, universities being the domain of academia. The most prominent programs focus on the pure sciences, social sciences, communication skills and professions such as medical, legal and education. The institutions in the United States that are called universities are basically universities and would not be called colleges in Canada. PS: We have our share of stupid in Canada too!!( But fortunately we also have universal health care.)

[@richardknight1532]

look at the subjects she is reciting. this is a "i don't want to have to work yet", student. she is not studying a real degree.

[@TheGreatLordDufus]

"College" has a few meaning in Australia. None of which are university, exactly. Universities provide (almost) all Bachelor degree and above qualifications, we don't have any(?)/many "research & higher degree only" or "teaching only" universities so go from Bachelors to PhD although not all will offer PhDs in every field. The main is "technical college" or "TAFE" in most states. These may offer bachelor degrees on occasion, but are mostly focussed on qualification below degree level and were originally non-academic subjects. Often they provided the school part of apprenticeships - car mechanics, plumbing, and so on. Added to this are things like childcare. Even retail has traineeships with an in-school component that may be run through TAFE, but more often private training providers. Confusingly some universities have a TAFE component, and others changed from being an "Institute of Technology" (a sort of hybrid) to a full university. Some universities seem to call some departments within a faculty a "college". This will normally apply to something which could be aligned to a TAFE style field, or another non-academic field such as performing arts. The second refers to "secondary college". In Tasmania, the ACT, and rural parts of some states (occasional city areas have trialled it and may still be in use) years 11 and 12 are separate from high school (in the public systems). These used to operate a bit more like unis, in that attendance was largely optional - so long as you got the work done, you could pass. This isn't in widesperad use as a term outside that one state and one territory. Many private high schools call themselves "colleges". I'm not sure if that is supposed to give an air of prestige about the name, or of it refers to having boarding school facilities.

[@Dru1111]

Hey Ryan, Happy arvo sounds cute But! “how ya goin’ this arvo?” Makes more sense 🙂 Love your vids

[@whatwhatinthewhat4400]

I did uni mostly part time and attended more than 2 times a week. I had lectures and other classes. I believe it was all optional, you are an adult and can attend or not what ever classes you want. Is the difference that American uni/college is less optional, as in you must attend?

[@Trananism]

I guess everyone’s experience is different. My brother studied in Australia and was struggling to get a credit and found the course really hard. Then he went over to Washington DC and studied and he said he found it much easier and was getting great results.

[@kirstenbowman1199]

I did a science based uni degree in NSW. I was on campus 4 days, I did 4 subjects a semester, and each subject has at lest 3, 5000 to 7500 word essays, and a final exam.

[@lizh9497]

I did a double major in history and English at an Aussie uni. At least 80% of my English courses had exams. The exams mostly required 3 short essays on 3 different texts and centred on major themes not insignificant details.

[@snapsforgeisha]

What course did she do??? Lol… I went 5 days a week! Oh she just said her classes… sounds a bit fluffy.

[@aimeeduncan8187]

Really depends on the coarse you doing at uni etc as to what you do and how much in campus or online or even in prac

[@HawkwindAus]

I'm not sure which uni she was going to in Aus but, like most of the other commenters, her experience is wildly different from my time at uni. In first year I did 4 courses, each of which had 3 1-hour lectures each week plus one or two 1-hour tutorial each week. The science subjects I did (physics and chemistry) each had a 3-hour lab session each week. In second and third year I was doing 6 courses, but it was only 3 courses per semester as they were half-year courses rather than the full-year courses in first year. The number of in-class hours was the same. In science and maths courses, the final exam was about 50% of the final mark, with assignments and lab work making up the rest, and there were weekly assignments. In humanities courses, there were generally fewer assignments, but they required about the same amount of work per week. As for pass marks, there are (or were when I was at uni in the 80s) different gradings - a mark of 50 - 64 was considered a pass, 65 - 74 was a credit, 75 - 84 was a distinction, and 85+ a high distinction. If you wanted to go on to post-graduate studies, such as a Masters degree or a PhD, you needed to maintain a distinction or high distinction level in the subject you were planning to do post-graduate work in.

[@boringuncle506]

As said below. I'm not sure what Uni she went to or the Degree. I was at Uni at least 4 days a week, some semesters 5 days depending. That was 4 years full time. I think every Degree in Australia sits differently. It depends on the peak body that helps form the course. Often so it will meet their minimum requirements for the course to be accredited, which again depends on the field of study undertaken.

[@mccorama]

Are there any australians who live close who can give Ryan a face-to-face tutorial on the correct pronunciation of "arvo", cos it's starting to get to me!

[@thegorn9904]

Nah, "Happy Arrrvo" is uniquely Ryan. Like no one says that... ever. He should trademark it.

[@Chookly44]

I totally understand. I did comment once, but he can't get too Aussie! lol. Funny how he pronounces the ss in Aussie too.

[@mishamelbourne1649]

My only issue is when he says “fair dinkuN” lol

[@mccorama]

@@mishamelbourne1649 I'm still a fan of the tutor solution

[@winterswallows]

@@mishamelbourne1649 "My only issue is when he says “fair dinkuN” lol"...... why???? who cares how he says it !, as The Gorn says, it's uniquely Ryan, in our multicultural society I have never heard an Australian correcting new Australians, or visitors from other countries, so please don't correct anyone, it is not necessary, It's disrespectful.

[@BioHazard_Dragon]

The rule of thumb is contact hours x 2-3 for the amount of work, depending on the course. She is doing an Arts (Humanities) course. For my Science degree, I was at uni 34-36 hours a week (including labs). And was expected to do an equal.amout of study at home. High school had more contact hours and very little free time.

[@whatwhatinthewhat4400]

Unless I missed it i feel her video was missing key info like what she was studying, what university and college she was going to.

[@pricey4566]

Just become an Electrician apparently as my accountant told me once we're up there with Brain surgeons 🤣🤣 true story

[@DeadDancers]

Ahh I miss Uni. One or two classes a day, sometimes fitting most in one-three days and ‘self study’ (video games) the rest of the week. Good times.

[@miniveedub]

Page count isn’t the only thing that can be manipulated. Because assignments are handed in online it is possible to add to the word count if you get to the end of your writing and don’t have enough by changing the font to white and adding a lot of nonsense words, they don’t show up on the page but they do show up in the word count.