1. University of Real World In a city of Very Friendly People, Fine Weather, and Tasty and Reasonably Priced Beer!!

2. Before Exchange 1 Visa – Takes long time like 1 month or so. – You need to take medical check as a part of the procedure. – Better to start applying for visa early enough.

3. Before Exchange 2 Secure Accommodation – Option 1: Stay at hotel temporarily and move to shared house you will find after arriving there. Securing shared house before leaving Bangkok is not a good idea. Many cases are reported that actual property is different very much from its advertisement photos – Option 2 Stay at Homestay which requires 4 weeks as a minimum stay. If you move to other place or continue to stay there is up to you.

4. Before Exchange 3 Units Registration – You need to take at least 3 units (courses) in each teaching period. – Most of units have prerequisites and the school evaluate your eligibility, meaning that some of your unit applications might be rejected.

5. Academic 1 Class – Different class mates for each unit, because the program there is very flexible. There is not so called “Class 20XX”. While all of us is seeking for MBA together with 2 years at Sasin, students there are not; some take 2 years, others take 4 years. Someone takes only 1 unit at the same time, whereas another takes 2 units at the same time. Someone takes a break without any unit for a while. – Small class for each unit, consisting of about 20 people – Majority is local people, about 80%.

6. Academic 2 Study Style – Active Interactive Discussions in Class – Less Group Work Almost all units assign you with group repot. But you will have only 1 or 2 one-hour meeting for each group report. Work is done basically through e-mail communication, because most of your class mates have a job and a family. – Academic Writing Need to get familiar with academic essay and citation (http://www.citewrite.qut.edu.au/cite/qutcite.jsp) Requires lots of lots of readings… You need to read a lot of articles to find out references that you want to cite on your essay.

7. Academic 3 Academic Period Structure – Each period is called “6 week teaching period” and consists of 6 weeks. Weekly class * 6 weeks + 1 week for final examination (some units assign essay instead of final exam). – 1 week break between periods Text Book – Very expensive, costing AUD100 to 200. – But you can borrow almost all text books from library, of course free.

8. Academic 4 English – 80% are local (native speakers). Even about non-locals, most of them are native speakers (born in Scotland, grown up in U.S., or so) or ones whose spouse is local. – Australian English is so much different from American English that if you are not at a level of almost native speaker or if you are familiar only with American English, you might have a big challenge in listening.

9. Visa and Insurance Visa Information; http://www.immi.gov.au/visawizard/#vw= %23a_step_1 Insurance – Insurance covering whole period of your stay is a must for getting Visa – About AUD150 for 6 months

10. Flight Thai Airways, Singapore Airline. SA is cheaper Free Airport Reception Service – Register at the QUT website – You also can go to the center of Brisbane by yourself with a taxi which costs about AUD60.

11. Transportation in Brisbane Mainly bus within the central part of Brisbane Train for little long distance trip within Brisbane such as from airport to the city http://jp.translink.com.au/ – provides you with journey planning function Buy pre-paid card, “go card”, for discount (30 or 40%)

12. Accommodation Basically two options. Qualities of both are enough, unless you are uncomfortable with THB1,000 to 1,500 hotel in Bangkok. – Homestay Easy Life: Host family does housework (cooking, cleaning house) – Shared House More Economical Life:Cheaper costs if you cook (see next slide) Staying with other students in both options. They are language school students in most cases. Most of them are from China, Korea, Japan.

13. Living Expenses