When you get to your destination, you may find some things different and you may have to do a little troubleshooting… Most of this tends to centre on not being able to get into the courses that you had approved by your faculty before you left for exchange.
In some universities, courses fill up and extra lectures are not created; in others, programs change and the courses you selected may no longer be offered.
Just relax, take a deep breath and try these troubleshooting tips:
- Find out why you cannot get into a certain course.
- If the reason is to do with your academic background or the number of students in the class, try out your negotiation skills and ‘talk’ your way into the class.
- Try politely reminding the professor that you have come a long way to take his/her class!
- Take in a recent transcript showing that you have taken the equivalent pre-requisites to help sway your argument.
- If the course is no longer being offered or you cannot get into the class, contact your UQ school/faculty to have new courses approved. Not getting approval for new courses may jeopardise credit transfer on your return to UQ. Ask the faculty to send a copy of any new course aprovals through to UQ Abroad for our records.
- Make sure you keep a hard copy of all your correspondence with UQ regarding course approvals.
- Keep a copy of your syllabi, assignments and exams to help with credit transfer.
Once you are through this administrative process, which every exchange student faces, we guarantee you will have the time of your life!