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Call 020 7353 7200
159 - 161 Temple Chambers, 3 - 7 Temple Avenue,
London EC4Y 0DA.
The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is one of Australia’s leading teaching and research universities and consistently scores highly in a range of national and international rankings. It is also one of the largest and most international universities in Australia.
UNSW is renowned for the quality of its graduates and its new and creative approaches to research and education. Its motto, Scientia Manu et Mente (‘Knowledge by Hand and Mind’) encapsulates its central philosophy of balancing the practical and the scholarly. UNSW is one of Australia’s foremost international research intensive universities and the institution of choice for over 200,000 graduates.
International students have featured as an essential part of university life over 50 years. Of its 43,000 students, more than 10,000 are international, representing over 130 countries. The University also maintains strong links with its international graduate community. There are now over 190 opportunities in over 32 countries in the exchange programme, and a broad network of alumni chapters.
INTERNATIONAL REPUTATION
UNSW is highly regarded in the international academic community. In the 2009 World University Rankings from The Times Higher Education Supplement, UNSW was ranked 47th in the world overall and in the top 50 in the world in the fields of science, technology, biomedicine and social sciences.
UNSW also received the maximum five-star rating for seven key performance indicators in the Good Universities Guide 2010, out-ranking other Australian universities for graduate starting salaries, research grants, research intensity, student–staff ratio, cultural diversity, positive graduate outcomes and staff qualifications.
It is a member of Universitas 21, a prestigious international consortium of top universities, which provides the University with a framework for international collaboration.
ACADEMIC ENVIRONMENT
UNSW offers almost 1,000 academic programmes both at undergraduate and postgraduate level across its faculties. These are Arts and Social Sciences, Built Environment, Law, the Australian School of Business, the College of Fine Arts, Medicine, Engineering, Science, and the Australian Defence Force Academy.
Within the nine faculties, there are 75 schools, six institutes and four teaching hospitals. Students enjoy a balance of cutting-edge facilities and face-to-face teaching and are encouraged to take advantage of cross-disciplinary studies.
RESEARCH EXCELLENCE
UNSW is a founding member of the Group of Eight, Australia’s leading research universities, and has developed a strong reputation in a number of fields including social policy, biomedical sciences; next generation materials and technologies; water, environment and sustainability; government and health policy; ICT, informatics and robotics and business, law and economics. The University’s expertise is regularly sought after by business and government.
The new Lowy Cancer Research Centre, the first in Australia to bring together childhood and adult cancer research at one site, will open on campus in late 2009.
FACILITIES AND STUDENT SUPPORT
UNSW is a vibrant intellectual, research and cultural hub that gives students easy access to a range of commercial, academic and social activities. There are hundreds of sport, social, recreational, political and religious clubs and societies, numerous international student associations, a student bar, express transport services, a health and dental centre, newsagencies and shops, banks, a post office, lots of food outlets, a gym, an Olympic-size pool and a vibrant café scene.
International Student Services (ISS) is there to help international students to adjust to living and studying in Australia. ISS provides airport reception, accommodation services, orientation, academic support, and counselling services.
UNSW has also its own student channel, UNSW TV, a digital media management system that lets staff and students upload, publish and manage files including videos, PDFs and audio. It’s a great way to find out more about UNSW – see for yourself at www.tv.unsw.edu.au.
LOCATION
UNSW has three campuses – the main Kensington campus and the College of Fine Arts in Sydney, and the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra. Kensington campus, with its state-of-the-art academic facilities and recreational and social areas offers an enviable, cosmopolitan lifestyle. It is near the CBD, and well connected by public transport. The campus is also close to some of the city’s best beaches – Bondi Beach is just 15 minutes away.
ACCOMMODATION
Accommodation ranges from fully catered on-campus colleges to private rental units in surrounding suburbs. Kensington campus has seven residential colleges on campus and one nearby. UNSW also has two blocks of furnished, self-contained share apartments and a Housing Service, which provides help finding private rental accommodation.
Stuart, 25, is originally from County Durham. Through his MA in Development Studies at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Stuart hopes to understand the causes, and potential solutions, to the social, economic and political inequality between the developed and the developing world.
After graduating with an undergraduate degree in Business Management from Lancaster University in England, Stuart set out to travel in Africa. Beginning in the south and working his way up to Kenya over a period of a few months, he was exposed to the challenging conditions of developing nations. It was a far cry from his life in the UK, and in Africa he decided he wanted to make a difference. “After meeting the Africa people and seeing the continent, I wanted to understand why there was such a big gap between people like me and people like them in terms of what we have.”
Utilising his background in business management and his more specialised Masters degree, Stuart eventually hopes to work in government policy. He wants to make decisions which aid the development of the third world, in either Africa or the Asia-Pacific region. “It’s something I find important,” he says. “I had worked in a few different business roles in several small companies back in the UK, when I realised I hadn’t finished studying. I wanted to study something more specific, something that I was really passionate about.”
Stuart could have chosen to study development in the UK, but he was looking for a greater challenge, somewhere new. It’s what he calls “practical travelling”- experiencing a foreign country, but in the end getting much more out of your stay than the average tourist.
“UNSW is a top-notch university and the Development Studies program is highly rated and specialised which will give me an advantage in the job market,” he says. Studying alongside students from a myriad of nationalities including the less developed regions of Africa and Asia has contributed to Stuart’s knowledge. “My classmates all have their own ideas and bring something unique to the table- they’re able to explain the practicalities of certain topics from their own experiences,” he says. “What I’ve learnt about the developing world hasn’t been from textbooks or films but rather from the greater life experiences of other students in my course.”
Stuart has found that doing his Master’s degree through coursework has been a particularly efficient way to learn. “I prefer this mode of study as I really get into it. I find it’s a much improved way to retain information as opposed to the UK, where there is a high emphasis on exams at the end of each semester,” he says. “And, it’s much more interesting this time around.”
In his free time Stuart’s attentions turn to sport, in particular his love of football. He’s already made his mark on the UNSW men’s football team. “I’d missed playing since the last time I was at university,” he says. “It’s been nice to compete again.” The transition to UNSW has been smooth and simple. “I really like Sydney, I found a place to live right away and I’ve met lots of people. I’ve immersed myself into the Aussie lifestyle,” he says.
