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Academic Cultural Shocks in Northern America
By Aleksandra Wozniak, University of Calgary, Canada. Landing in Calgary, I thought my cultural shocks would come mainly from the food, weather and people. What I didn’t brace for was a wholly different academic culture. Although united in language, Canada and England differ significantly when it comes to their learning. Hence, when I first saw the letter “B” on top of one of my papers I had a mini panic attack. What I didn’t realize at the time is that Canadian institutions prioritize your learning and growth over grades. Having been comfortably nestled into the first-class zone at my institution, I had to rewire my whole thinking when I moved.…
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Exam Season at PolyU, Hong Kong
By Madeleine Dodd, Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hong Kong, Hong Kong Exam season is always a stressful time, especially if it’s in a different country with different teaching styles and grading systems. Whilst the majority of other exchange students only faced a pass or fail outcome, my results contributed 20% to my degree and were to be later translated to the UK grading system equivalent. This only added more stress to the ambiguity of a different country’s exam style. But, like many of the host universities, PolyU was supportive and attentive to my worries. Workload Throughout the term time, lectures covered the content that will eventually be tested in the…
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Adjusting To The Dutch Academic System: The Way To An Easier Life
By Hannah Wheeler, Vrije Universiteit, Netherlands When preparing to go to the Netherlands, I didn’t think much about how the dutch academic system would be different. My mind was preoccupied with thoughts about housing, friends and Covid. Now that I’ve been studying in the Netherlands for 8 months I wanted to share some tips to help deal with the different academic style.
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Academia and the university system in France
By Eva Kristinova When you come to university in your first year you have a lot to learn about how it all works. Then, if you decide to spend a year abroad, you often have to go through that learning experience again at your host university. And because there are plenty of other things you could be (and you would probably like to be) doing instead, let me make it a bit easier for some of you. Here are four key aspects of student life and the university system in France that I learned about during my first weeks at Toulouse.
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The Academic Lifestyle at Lund University
Lund University and the University of Manchester have quite differing teaching and assessment regimes. I am now able to see advantages and disadvantages to both and why it is a great experience, if there is the opportunity, to try different styles outside those you are comfortable with and used to. Lund University offers a wide range of module choices which cover a lot of topics and agendas. As a human geographer and international student, I have to take at least 15 ECTS per semester from the Social Sciences School. If I wanted to take modules from outside this School, this would be allowed but I would not be a priority.…
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Studying at the University of Auckland: what’s different?
Simon Hird / / Geography / / University of Auckland / / NZ I thought it would be a good idea to dedicate one blog post specifically to academics and the differences I have experienced between Auckland and Manchester. New Zealand and the UK definitely have many parallels and it didn’t take much time to adjust to a relatively similar style of life and study that they have here. But there are some distinct differences in how university works here compared to Manchester and the UK in general. One of the most resounding differences you will experience here is the way degrees are set up. Like many universities outside…
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First Few Weeks in Hong Kong – Initial Reflections
Anthony Bladen – The Chinese University of Hong Kong I have been at CUHK for almost three weeks now and while everyone at Manchester has just finished exam season, here at CUHK we only have one more week of classes until the Chinese New Year break – meaning I have a lot to talk about!
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Academic differences in the USA (because it’s not called “study” abroad for nothing)
By Elizabeth Pace (Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA) So now that I’m officially half-way through my exchange and no longer in the midst of the panic and stress of final exams I thought it would be a good time to take a step back and talk about the actual “study” part of studying abroad.
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Academic differences, or the reason I’m going to fail tomorrow’s midterm
By Rhiannon Jones, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This blog starts negative but picks up at the end, because being away from home can be hard sometimes… Before leaving the UK, I knew that jetting off to another country was never going to be a complete breeze, especially when; this year actually counts towards my final grade, you study chemistry; and you’re reminded before you go that the chemistry course at Illinois is ‘the hardest in the US’.
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Academic expectations
Harry at McGill in Montréal Academic expectation at McGill. This is the blog that I’ve been putting off the longest and that has been for two reasons. The first is that it would probably be the least engaging to write whilst the second was because I had to find a way to write it so as not to put future prospective exchanges at McGill off. Though I realise in confessing that it somewhat undoes my efforts. There are distinct differences to the academic system they have over here relative to the one the UK has and invariably these differences will be viewed as good or bad differently for every…
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8 THINGS YOU ONLY LEARN FROM STUDYING IN THE US
By Erdoo Yongo (North Carolina State University, USA) 1. You always seem to have some kind of test – whether it is a midterm or pop-up quiz, these are so frequent that after the first few tests you stop being surprised when your professor issues you with a test. 2. You have to submit papers via hard copy – for those of us who are used to staying up all night before an essay is due and submitting it online with only minutes to spare, this is quite a hassle. 3. Attendance contributes to your final grade – most professors take attendance every class to monitor students attendance and usually…
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Living Like a Local
By Jamie Chapman (University of Sydney, Australia) So, while Sydney is experiencing what’s being called the ‘storm of the century’ (really, it’s just a little taster of Manchester weather), it’s as good a time as any for an update on how things are going out here. It’s week 7 of term, assignments are piling on, and we’re slowly approaching the bitterly cold Australian winter with temperatures plummeting to as low as 15 degrees Celsius. Maybe one day I’ll be able to use that beanie hat… Here in Sydney we’ve just had the week-long mid-semester break. Whilst it’s not quite as long as the three weeks we get at Manchester, exams are…
A study abroad journal by students, for students.
