About Adelaide
A city of one million people, Adelaide is in the heart of the state of South Asutralia: the research, technology, arts, wine-making and festival state. Adelaide is amongst Australia's least expensive capital cities to live in - low prices for food, rental and residential colleages make it a popular choice for Australian and overseas students.
Adelaide is small enough to be friendly and welcoming, yet large enough to provide plenty of attractions and entertainment. Distances are not great, and transport is convenient and relatively inexpensive.
About the University
Founded in 1874, it is the third oldest University in Australia, with a high reputation for teaching and research in all its faculties. It has over 14,000 students, of whom 1,200 are international from about 65 other countries. It is situated on four campuses and has the usual wide range of social, academic, cultural and sporting facilities for students that you would expect of a large, modern University.
Visas
You will need authorisation to be a student in Australia. Once your application to the Geography Department in Adelaide is accepted, you will be sent a confirmation letter.
You should send this, along with the appropriate forms, to:
Australian High Commission
Australia House
Strand
London WC2B 4LA
Tel: 0207 379 4334
Fax: 0207 240 5333
www.embassyhomepage.com
Banking & Finance
You will need to open a bank account in Adelaide and you should approach your normal bank to find out if there are any Australian banks that they have links with. Otherwise you can take some cash and travellers' cheques out with you and open an account on arrival. You will need to arrange transfer of funds from your UK bank.
Travel Arrangements
You are expected to sort out your own flights to Oz and it is up to you to find the best deals. In many cases there are significant savings to be made if you can book early enough. Take note of the length of flights and the location/duration of any stopovers on the way.
Accommodation
All international students are guaranteed temporary accommodation when they first arrive at Adelaide, and are helped in getting longer-term accommodation. There is a variety of housing available including residential colleges and rented flats.
Cost of Living
It is generally cheaper to live in Australia than in the UK, and Adelaide is cheaper than most other Australian cities!
Timing of the Academic Year
The academic year in Adelaide is divided into semesters, but runs from March to November, with the main break in their mid-summer from December to February. Leeds students take their semester 2 first (July to November), have the long break, then semester 1 from March to June. This works, providing there are no module pre-requisites that effectively preclude participation by any exchange students.
The long vac provides a superb opportunity to travel, or even to work a while and then still have time to explore the country.
Study at Adelaide
We expect students to take the majority of your modules from level 2 or 3. Adelaide's courses are based on a points value instead of credits, with students taking 24 points in a year. A percentage of points may be taken as electives, as with your programme at Leeds.
We have a system for translating marks gained in Australia into the Leeds percentage scale.
University of Adelaide Home Page