University of the Sunshine Coast

My name is Shelby Meek, and I am a junior at Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. I did the Diploma Study Abroad Program at the University of Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia. At Goucher College, I am getting a bachelor's in arts with a Communications major with a professional writing minor. I enjoyed the community in the Student Guild and meeting people from my classes, local or international. I enjoyed meeting people and making new friends with many from the Sunshine Coast area. However, that helped me meet people, see other places outside of UniSC, and experience the Australian Culture. However, I think I enjoyed the classes the most. My classes were more based on journalistic writing, linguistics, and screen media, so more writing. However, my professors made the classes a lot of fun. We got to share stories about one another’s culture or favorite things. For example, in my CMN240 (feature writing), we got to write in different journalism styles, such as travel writing, opinion, and profile pieces. In these pieces, I was able to put a bit of myself in them. I was able to write about foods I liked, places from Baltimore that I miss, and much more. I highly recommend CMN240 and LNG210. CMN240 is a feature writing course. It was hard and new for me because I had to write in British-style English. However, it helped me better understand British English. Also, in that class, our professor told us at the beginning of the semester that we had an opportunity to publish an assignment of ours. I decided to jump at that opportunity and publish one of my assignments, which was a profile piece. I was able to get it published in the My Weekly Preview magazine both on hardcopy and online. It was also published online in the Sunshine Coast News. I enjoyed traveling to Perth, Cairns, Sydney, and Brisbane. However, I would say I enjoyed the Caloundra markets and the Kondalilla park. Caloundra markets on Sunday was always something fun to do. The people in the area are very nice and they never fail to brighten up my day. The lady I interviewed in my piece that got published is in Caloundra and I always make sure to visit and buy her 88% dark chocolates. Also, the people running the vendors always love to have conversations about where I am from, why I am in Australia, and if I enjoy it. Another place is Kondalilla Park. I love to swim, but not in pools. My friend recommended swimming in the waters at Kondalilla. The water was so beautiful and the sights in the mountains were amazing. It was a bit cold at first, but it got warmer as the day went on. Also, make sure to do the hiking trails!

Studying in Australia has been amazing. I loved the outdoor culture and the laid back attitude. There is so many fun things to do from swimming, surfing, drinking great coffee, to meeting new people. USC has a great way of providing hands on learning and doesn't require you to do random courses that have nothing to do with your major. If it's a required class, you will use it. This helped me appreciate my education and not feel as if there were things I would never use in my future practice. Highly recommend!

My name is Justine Fry, and I am an undergraduate student from Pennsylvania in the United States of America. I studied abroad at the University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSC) for a semester starting in February 2023. While I was at the university, I studied business related courses as I am pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Accounting at my home institution. One of my favorite parts of the trip was meeting so many wonderful people from different countries. I stayed at Varsity Apartments which houses both international and Australian students. This helped me make friends and connect with other students who may have been in the same situation as me. Varsity Apartments is one of the student accommodations, and the students are lively and always up to make new friends.

The courses were taught differently than I was used to, as a lot of the learning is done independently; however, this made traveling easier. The university has various clubs that allow you to get involved and make friends on campus. A popular spot on campus is the student guild. This is an organization that holds weekly events for students that range from free dinners to movie nights and silent discos. One of my favorite events was the movie night at the pool. We were able to swim and there were snacks provided. The university offers connect weeks where events are held, and these were fun for students to meet each other. Some days there were market stalls on campus for students to browse. One day there was an international connect day with a picnic lunch and koalas on campus. There were food trucks some of the days, which adds to the variety of food offered at the University. There are various spots to grab a bite on campus, and my favorite was Café C. You could grab a cup of coffee and a quick snack before heading to class. There is also the Brasserie, which is the main dining option, and it offers meals and other quick food options. I attended the Sunny Coast Christian Student club which allowed me to connect with people who had similar religious beliefs as me. The club offered multiple meetings a week and other fun activities off campus. We would go to the beach and play volleyball, there was a camping weekend, and other fun activities. It was easy to connect with students and both students and faculty are eager to welcome you to the university. The location of the university makes it easy to catch a bus to the beach, but it also allows you to quickly catch a train to Brisbane or a flight to Sydney or the Whitsundays. I was able to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef which has always been a dream of mine. A couple of friends and I flew up to Proserpine (Whitsundays) and got a shuttle to take us to Airlie Beach. We spent a couple of days there, which was relaxing and beautiful. One of the days we took a boat tour out and snorkeled the reef. It was amazing and something I will never forget. I recommend going out to the reef if you get the chance to study at UniSC or just visiting Australia!

There can be a lot of options when picking a place to study abroad; however, Australia offers a variety of city life to rural exploration. If you want to visit a city, it is easy to get a train or flight to Sydney. The beaches in Australia are beautiful and will not disappoint. Overall, the University of the Sunshine Coast was a good fit for me, and I encourage you to look into it if you are wanting to study abroad in Australia.

I am loving it here at USC! I started off with a Diploma and now I'm onto a bachelor's. Everything about the campus is amazing. The teachers really care about the students, they are so supportive and knowledgeable. The campus is beautiful and open, full of wild life too. That also have a really good international team to assist the international students.

There's plenty of study spaces and learning resources. So easy to make friends and so many people who share interests. Living on the coast is the greatest! Close to the ocean but still not far away from the greatest hikes I've been on.

I loved my time at USC. I completed my Bachelor of Criminology and Justice back in 2019 as an international student and was extremely happy with the support I received from the academic staff. I applied as a Study Abroad student in 2016 but decided to extend to a full-degree program which I do not regret one second. USC has provided me with great knowledge and the staff and students support has been fantastic. I can only recommend studying Criminology at USC, especially if you want to improve not only academically within several areas, but also in a practical setting when you get to go on placement your third year.