Academic Matters

For students enrolled into a semester length program, it’s not uncommon to have difficulties getting into all of the courses at the host university that were originally approved on your UniSA Course Approval Form (CAF). This is less common for short term exchange or other overseas opportunities, but it’s good to know about just in case.

As you may have already experienced at UniSA, when it comes to enrolling, some courses fill up very quickly, and the same can happen at your host university. Sometimes a program will change and the courses you’d selected are no longer offered in the semester of your enrolment. This is more common than you might think, and can definitely be cause for frustration.

If your course enrolments at your host university change for any reason you’ll need to get the updated courses approved by your UniSA Program Director. This is to ensure you’ll still be eligible to have those courses recognised towards your UniSA degree. If you don’t inform the PD and the Global Opportunities team of your course changes, you may receive less credit, or no credit for your time abroad. You might even earn yourself a Fail grade.

If this happens to you, and you need to make some enrolment amendments, please take the following steps as soon as you’ve identified possible substitute courses:

• Gather information about the new course(s), including a description of the topics covered, contact hours, methods of assessment, texts used, the credit value of the course and the level of the course (introductory vs advanced).
• Email the new course information to your Program Director while copying (CC'ing) in the Global Opportunities team. The PD will let you know whether the new course is approved, and if this has had any impact on the substitution credits you were previously approved for.
• If the course is approved for credit, keep all communication you have had with the Program Director to ensure ease of credit transfer when you return to UniSA.
• If the new course isn’t approved, start the process over again, and identify more courses being offered.

The method of teaching and assessment on your overseas program will undoubtedly be different than what you’re used to at UniSA. If you’re enrolled with an overseas university, there are likely to be social differences in the approach to teaching and learning. If you’re on a study tour, it will be a completely different situation altogether – you might have some classroom time, as well as site or industry visits. Assessment will vary a lot too! Regardless of your unique situation, try to keep an open mind. This is an incredible opportunity for growth, and to develop your cultural understanding.

For example, at some partner universities students are expected to be on campus all day from 8am to 3pm; or at some partners 100% attendance is a requirement for passing a course. In some countries it’s expected that students refer to their professors by last name, while some are more relaxed and informal. There are differences in the amount of work that’s required, and also in the level of assistance provided by lecturers directly. This can be difficult to anticipate so we recommend reading through some of the Returned Student Reports from previous UniSA Global Opportunities students.

If you experience difficulties adjusting to the differences in your classes, don’t wait to ask for help! Talk to your teachers to understand their expectations and use the academic support or counselling services provided so that you can perform well academically and gain credit for your studies overseas.

If you’re enrolled in an exchange course (semester-length or short term exchange programs), your grade at UniSA will only be recorded as a Non-Graded-Pass (NGP) or a Fail. This means that your successfully passed courses won’t have any impact on your UniSA GPA. However, if you do fail a subject while overseas this will impact your GPA negatively.

If your program is a different kind of short program (through a Mobility Experience Provider, for example), you’ll be awarded credit recognition upon completion. That means no grade is recorded for the program and it won’t impact on your GPA at all.

Study Tour students with a different type of UniSA enrolment will receive a grade in the same way as for a regular subject here at UniSA (e.g., HD, D, Credit etc). You may also be required to complete assessment pieces while you are on the study tour or after you have returned home, and your participation in activities may also be graded.

Before you know it, your program will be over and it’ll be time to return home. The end of a Global Opportunities program is always bittersweet – it’s great to go home to your loved ones, but sad to be leaving the new friends you’ve made. Coming home will have its challenges, but here are a few administrative/logistical tasks you can take care of pretty easily.

Host institution arrangements (if relevant)

• Ensure you don’t owe any fees (your transcripts won’t be released if you owe money!)
• Sell any text books/belongings you purchased and can’t take with you, or consider donating them to a student for next semester.
• Return all library books and university equipment, including keys.
• Consider how you will transport artworks and materials home.
• Make sure you know how you’re going to access to your transcript (often they are sent or emailed to the Study Overseas directly, though it may go straight to you).

UniSA arrangements

• Complete any post-overseas requirements, such completing the Returned Student Report, or any additional assessment/reflection tasks that have been set for you.
• For exchange students and those who did an experience with a Mobility Experience Provider, send your transcript or completion certificate to the UniSA Global Opportunities Team to have your credit processed.
• Make sure you enrol into your next semester of on-campus courses at UniSA, ready to re-join campus as soon as semester starts.

This section mostly relates to semester exchange students. It’s not uncommon for students on a semester exchange to think about the possibility of extending their stay abroad for another semester.

While this is a great idea in many ways, there are once again many things to think through before an extension can be confirmed.

You’ll need to first check with the Global Opportunities team and your Program Director as sometimes you won’t have space in your study plan for more academic credit or another student might already have been allocated the place to attend your host university.

The following steps are needed to be completed to confirm the extension of your exchange:

1. Look at your UniSA program, and think about whether you’ve got an additional 13.5 units (at a minimum) that you could take on exchange.
   • These don’t need to be elective courses, but keep in mind that many final year courses can be more difficult to match up for an overseas course substitution
   • If you have enough space left in your program, identify the courses at the host University you think you’d be able to enrol into
2. Contact the Global Opportunities team (student.exchange@unisa.edu.au) to request an exchange extension and seek approval to continue the process.
   • Remember we are constrained by the number of students we can send to any particular institution and we may not have the spaces allocated to be able extend your stay
3. Once given the go-ahead from the Global Opportunities team, contact your Program Director at UniSA to confirm that you would be able to receive an additional semester of credit towards your degree from exchange.
   • Send your Program Director the courses you’ve identified. Once the courses have been approved, you’ll need to do another Course Approval Form (CAF)
4. Once the Global Opportunities office receives proof of PD approval, we will contact your host university about the possibility and process of an exchange extension.
5. If you receive approval from your host university to extend your exchange, ensure that the Global Opportunities office are aware of this.
6. You may need to complete some additional forms for UniSA to confirm ad finalise the extension. The team will work through these with you on a case by case basis.
7. You’ll need to contact the relevant authority to find out how to extend your student visa, if applicable.
8. You’ll need to contact UniSA’s Insurance Office – UniSA’s travel insurance covers a period of 270 days, i.e., not enough for two semesters. You can extend this cover by getting in touch with the UniSA Travel Insurance team.
9. Following the submission of your Course Approval Form to the Global Opportunities team, you will be enrolled by our team at UniSA for your exchange in the relevant semester. If you’d already enrolled in courses at UniSA for that semester, you’ll need to drop them so we can enrol you into the exchange course.
10. That’s it! Make sure you enrol into the required courses at your Host Institution for the next semester as well.