Get Away

Sydney Morning Herald

Thursday August 7, 2008

Colin Menzies

Tertiary students are finding themselves in far-flung locales, writes Colin Menzies.

Learning a language has always facilitated travel, but in the past decade there's been an increasing emphasis on the latter as an essential ingredient in acquiring the former.

Australia's universities have enlivened language courses with associated, though not always compulsory, periods of study abroad - up to a year in some cases. Undergraduate students have been keen to accept the challenge, often with the aid of the Federal Government's OS-HELP, a HECS-like loan that provides up to $5299 to those eligible.

The bachelor of languages is not the only course to legitimise time abroad. The Australian National University offers a four-year bachelor of Asian studies (specialist) that involves a year's overseas study in Asia. In this program, undergraduates spend the first two years undertaking the normal Asian studies program, then a third year in an overseas institution before returning to ANU for their final year. An individual studies project must also be completed while overseas.

Students must finish the first two years of the course at a credit level or higher to qualify.

About a quarter of those in the course choose the year abroad, but numbers will probably be higher next year when ANU intends awarding a graduate diploma to successful candidates.

Similarly, ANU's new bachelor of languages, run jointly by the faculties of arts and Asian studies, encourages students to spend anything from a semester to a full year abroad honing one or more of the 18 languages that are taught in the degree course.

The University of Sydney, by contrast, conducts its language and Asian studies courses through the faculty of arts. Thus the former is awarded as a bachelor of arts (languages), the latter as bachelor of arts (Asian studies).

The four-year languages degree has a compulsory overseas study component that can be completed at one of almost 200 foreign institutions with which the university has formal agreements. Two majors in selected areas are required to be completed, one of which must be one of the dozen languages available at Sydney.

Like ANU, Sydney requires students to achieve a minimum credit average in all units, which explains why the university pitches the degree to "talented school leavers".

Though the three-year Asian studies degree also offers an exchange program, it isn't a compulsory part of the program.

The University of New England is another institution insisting on a compulsory year overseas as part of its four-year bachelor of languages degree. UNE makes its options simpler by offering just six language choices, meaning undergraduates don't have to troll through a long lost of partner universities when searching for the optimal overseas institution.

UNE is, however, flexible and will allow the year of full-credit study to be undertaken at any overseas institution approved by the school of languages.

These are just a few of the language and travel options open to undergraduates. It should be stressed that language courses are not the only pathway to an overseas component in an Australian university's degree program. Many other courses offer similar opportunities. But to successfully acquire the fluency, cultural knowledge and social dexterity required of a language, time in the relevant country is essential.

For those contemplating a course with an overseas component, check whether fees continue to accrue at your home university while away or if they are put in abeyance.

Also, remember that you must be able to cover the cost of travel, accommodation and living expenses while overseas. A full year of study will cost a minimum of $20,000, excluding any extra fees imposed by the in-country university. It makes that $5299 in OS-HELP seem pretty slim.

'People assume you're going to be a language teacher'

Melissa Batt was introduced to Japanese when a friend of her mother taught her some phrases and told her intriguing tales of life in Japan. "I guess that's where the interest really started," Batt, 24 says.

She was sufficiently inspired to study Japanese from year 7, first at Duval High School then PLC Armidale, where it was her favourite subject.

Now she is in her fourth year of the bachelor of languages program at the University of New England, majoring in Japanese and Italian.

Batt has already completed - and thoroughly enjoyed - her compulsory year of study in Japan. Now she is planning a year in Italy, six months of which will count towards her degree, while the other six months will be as an official exchange student.

After graduation, she intends pursuing a career in the diplomatic corps or, failing that, as a foreign-aid worker.

"I think it's really flexible," she says. "People assume I'm going to be a language teacher, but there's so much more you can do with it.

"It's so important, especially doing Asian languages with the region that we're in. It

will probably give me a step above everyone else applying for similar jobs because I can speak languages." Colin Menzies

© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald

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