Academia at the Australian National Univsersity
I took 3 classes at the ANU which was considered a full time load by U of I. It came out to 12 hours. Here's the conversions in case anyone is interested (correct as of Fall 2003):
So I took 3 classes at ANU worth 6 credit points (or units) each. That is equivalent to 3 classes at U of I worth 4 hours each. So that adds up to 18 credit points (or units) at ANU and 12 hours at U of I, both the minimum for a full time student. According to ANU's website, "the minimum academic load is 18 credit points each semester, a normal full-time academic load is 24 credit points each semester."
The grading scale equivalence is as follows:
IMPORTANT NOTE!!
I took my classes at ANU for credit/no credit. This meant I had to get a CR (which is 60% or above, which is also a UIUC B equivalent in the chart above) in my classes, or else I wouldn't get ANY credit. Since I was taking the UIUC equivalent of 12 hours, if i failed ANY of my classes, I would not get credit for ANY of them, since if I failed one, I would no longer be considered a full time student by UIUC.
BOTTOM LINE: If you are going to take a minimum full time load for credit/no credit, make sure you get a 60% or above in ALL of your classes, or else you won't get credit for ANY of them.
Most classes meet 3 times per week. Usually you will have two lectures per week and one "tutorial." A tutorial is simply a discussion section where you and maybe 10-15 other students meet with a TA (called a tutor) or the professor of the class. The Tutorial rooms look like this:
| ANU Credit Points |
UIUC Semester Hours |
| 4 | 3 |
| 6 | 4 |
| 8 | 6 |
| 12 | 8 |
| 24 | 16 |
So I took 3 classes at ANU worth 6 credit points (or units) each. That is equivalent to 3 classes at U of I worth 4 hours each. So that adds up to 18 credit points (or units) at ANU and 12 hours at U of I, both the minimum for a full time student. According to ANU's website, "the minimum academic load is 18 credit points each semester, a normal full-time academic load is 24 credit points each semester."
The grading scale equivalence is as follows:
| ANU | UIUC |
| HD: High Distinction (80-100%) | A |
| D: Distinction (70-79%) | A |
| CR: Credit (60-69%) | B |
| P: Pass (50-59%) | C |
| F: Fail (<50%) | F |
IMPORTANT NOTE!!
I took my classes at ANU for credit/no credit. This meant I had to get a CR (which is 60% or above, which is also a UIUC B equivalent in the chart above) in my classes, or else I wouldn't get ANY credit. Since I was taking the UIUC equivalent of 12 hours, if i failed ANY of my classes, I would not get credit for ANY of them, since if I failed one, I would no longer be considered a full time student by UIUC.
BOTTOM LINE: If you are going to take a minimum full time load for credit/no credit, make sure you get a 60% or above in ALL of your classes, or else you won't get credit for ANY of them.
Most classes meet 3 times per week. Usually you will have two lectures per week and one "tutorial." A tutorial is simply a discussion section where you and maybe 10-15 other students meet with a TA (called a tutor) or the professor of the class. The Tutorial rooms look like this:
The lecture rooms are pretty similar to UIUC's lecture rooms. One of their more famous rooms is called the Tank. Here's a few pictures of it:
One of their more traditional lecture halls is in the Manning Clark Center, and shown below:
They have a really nice library with a lot of resources on campus. They also have space for you to study in:
And of course, we can't forget the Australian counterpart to our Study Abroad office. This building is the International Studies (website located here) building on the ANU Campus:
Return back home