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New Mexico State University
STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF ACADEMIC SYSTEMS-ADJUSTMENT TIPS
ARGENTINA
Registration, Scheduling & System: • Academic calendar runs on an annual schedule. It would be best to begin class at the start of the year. Courses may be year long, and one has to make up the first semesters work to do the second semester. • Very little technology (internet, copiers, computers) to work with.
Course Organization, Methods, & Evaluations
Language Issues:
Professors & Other Instructional Staff:
Personal Attitudes: • University is decentralized so introduce yourself to your different teachers and become familiar with the colleges as soon as you arrive.
AUSTRALIA:
Registration, Scheduling & System:.• It is harder to do well in the classes, but just as easy to pass them.
 Course Organization, Methods, & Evaluations: • ...a lot of independent study. The art instruction was so different and I never really adjusted to their approach. • All the work is given in one concentrated time... • Just do your best-try to follow their guidelines and if you don't get it exactly right, most likely they will cut you some slack because you're foreign. I never got their referencing down, but I survived. • All tests are essay tests and huge projects; • ... with the grades coming from only 3 or 4 assignments.• ...the grading can be hard to understand....; strict and difficult to tackle; "A" level work in the U.S. barely received a pass in Australia.
Language Issues:
Professors & Other Instructional Staff: • Talk to professor or exchange coordinators is having problems, since they have academic workshops throughout the year at Swinburne. Brazil: Professors can be hard to contact.
Personal Attitudes:
BELIZE:
Registration, Scheduling & System: • Be prepared for sporadic class schedules.
Course Organization, Methods, & Evaluations: •
Language Issues:
Professors & Other Instructional Staff: •
Personal Attitudes:
BRAZIL:
Registration, Scheduling & System:
Course Organization, Methods, & Evaluations: • Find out early when classes meet (day or night) and how they are structured (number of tests, papers, assignments). • Most courses material is piled on at the end.
Language Issues:
Professors & Other Instructional Staff: •
Personal Attitudes:
CANADA:
Registration, Scheduling & System: •
Course Organization, Methods, & Evaluations: • Summer classes at U Alberta fast paced and students were graded on written and oral work. • There are few discussions, projects, term papers, readings of source material, presentations.
Language Issues:
Professors & Other Instructional Staff: •
Personal Attitudes: • Get to know the campus, professors, on-line system.
CHINA:
Registration, Scheduling & System:
Course Organization, Methods, & Evaluations: •
Language Issues:
Professors & Other Instructional Staff:
Personal Attitudes:
Special Issues: • Excerpt from longer letter about problem sending independent study papers to the U.S.: The Chinese Foreign Censorship Security Act makes two major restrictions on intellectual property leaving the country, such as papers written in China, so that papers can be checked and must be approved after inspection. So delays can be expected in sending documents to the U.S. Also e-mail security falls under this act and email can be blocked. "For future reference and for the edification of all students traveling to China, some preliminary action must be taken. First, when petitioning for intellectual transfer right, a signed note from the professor in America and from the professor in China will help speed the process. Secondly advise all future student NOT to e-mail any message or .txt, or .doc attachments with any words that could be seen as a possible security threat (such as positions of buildings or references to cults or outlaws in China). Also, students must be prepared to edit papers to the standards of Chinese censors, (who usually speak very little English, and will require meetings with you and a translator to understand concepts). In these meetings NEVER point out any criticisms toward China in a paper.
ECUADOR:
Registration, Scheduling & System:
Course Organization, Methods, & Evaluations: •
Language Issues:
Professors & Other Instructional Staff: • Don't always help students as promised and don't always keep office hours.
Personal Attitudes:
FINLAND:
Registration, Scheduling & System: • Oulu didn't use block scheduling--it's basically a free for all the way classes are scheduled. • In Nordic countries academia is vigorous and highly valued. When Finns commit to anything, nonetheless school, very often this activity becomes a large facet of their life.
Course Organization, Methods, & Evaluations: • Be prepared for self study. • Don't expect an A or B. There is only one possible score for each of the A/B category, but 3-4 for the C,D, and E category. Teachers don't like to give high marks.
Language Issues:
Professors & Other Instructional Staff: •
Personal Attitudes:
FRANCE:
Registration, Scheduling & System: • No class descriptio0ns, no syllabi, no information on profs teaching course.• Don't worry about what classes you will take, since France is relaxed and it is ok to start classes a couple days late. • Do not plan on registering through the internet in 5-10 minutes. Catalogs, schedules, if available, will come out one week before or after classes start. ...students have to fend for themselves to get classes, and classrooms change frequently. • System unorganized and classes rescheduled without notice.
Course Organization, Methods, & Evaluations: • Be prepared to take lots of notes since no books used in class; paperwork takes longer to process and academic system is slow paced. Classes are much more intensive than in U.S.--be prepared to write long essays. • Expectations of students is high but resources are limited. • Exchange students graded on the same scale as native students. • Expect to have one exam that counts for the whole grade.
Language Issues: • Non-native speakers may find it hard to follow courses taught in French. • Sit with native speakers who will help you with note taking. • Speak as much French with native people before you go to France to get used to using the language in class.
Professors & Other Instructional Staff: • same as in the U.S., some awful classes and profs, some wonderful. • ...unorganized professors. • Email, office hours, and communication with the professor is almost impossible, so ask questions in class. • Develop relationships with professors who will appreciate it. • Find a professor you can talk with who most likely will be the one in charge of your level. They will be the closest link to your questions.
Personal Attitudes:
GERMANY:
Registration, Scheduling & System: Registration chaotic, not on line.•...there is no formal registration system like there is in the states. You simply show up on the first day of classes you're interested in. • Almost no help was given for selecting classes. • Class room assignments are not fixed. Course schedule not published well in advance, so hard to take classes I needed for my degree. • Have many courses offered pre-approved for transfer to NMSU in case courses change or are not offered as advertised.
Course Organization, Methods, & Evaluations: •Three types of courses-lecture, seminar, and language; seminar and language require that you register, lectures are free to any student wishing to attend. • Have to study more on your own. Professors don’t teach much. • It does not seem like a lot of work through out the semester, but come exam time and whoa it's study, study, study. • Entire grade can rest on one test.
Language Issues:
Professors & Other Instructional Staff: •
Personal Attitudes:
GHANA:
Registration, Scheduling & System: • Expect delays in classes commencing on the first day. Registering is different and it is necessary to go to the department first, fill out a short form with a passport photo for each class. Ghana time is not US time, so schedules have leeway oftentimes.
Course Organization, Methods, & Evaluations: •
Language Issues:
Professors & Other Instructional Staff: •
Personal Attitudes:
JAPAN:
Registration, Scheduling & System: • The system is very similar to American system, so adjusting is no problem.
Course Organization, Methods, & Evaluations: • Professors and their instructional methods seemed very close to high school methods in some of the courses.
Language Issues: • When out of class during the day, find someone with which to speak Japanese. Most Japanese friends will have part-time jobs after school or live far from campus, so need to use the between class breaks for consistent time to speak and hang out. • When taking courses like accounting or chemistry, be ready for major kanji lookup and memorization. • Make friends and study Japanese every day, take sports classes. • Buy an electronic dictionary for Japanese. • To enroll in courses taught in Japanese, best to have achieved level 3 Japanese proficiency.
Professors & Other Instructional Staff: •
Personal Attitudes: • Just meet some nice people and start a study group • Get advice from other students who have been studying there for a semester.
KOREA:
Registration, Scheduling & System: • Some courses may end after your program is supposed to terminate, so watch out for that. Check the syllabi first.
 Course Organization, Methods, & Evaluations: Don't let unorthodox grading policies scare you. If you do your best you will do well. (Ajou)
 Language Issues: • Limited understanding from taking Korean class, but can use it outside of class. All other classes were conducted in English. (Ajou). • No S/U option for Korean courses, unorganized methods of evaluation, not very student friendly. (Korea U)
 Professors & Other Instructional Staff: •
Personal Attitudes: • Read about Korea before going so you understand the culture. Knowledge of Korean Confucianism, Korean food, and customs will help students to adjust easier. • Just because they have no real homework, don't let you study habits slide and don't let Korean study habits (cramming before exams) scare you.
MEXICO:
Registration, Scheduling & System: • I wish we could have picked the times of our classes because a lot of us exchange kids got late classes like at 6 p.m. • Classes are not always offered unless there is a large number enrolling.
Course Organization, Methods, & Evaluations: • Format for papers is different. For example the teachers want "justified margins" and they don't indent. And works cited was very different. Just be patient with their guidelines and just do it their way rather than complaining, in terms of writing papers, doing work cited, readings, attendance. • Be well prepared to give presentations; work on public speaking skills. they are highly valued in Mexico! • TEC has an extremely strict attendance code!! You can only miss 1 week of school, so if you go to class twice a week you can miss only 2-4 classes out of the semester only, no excuses!. 
Language Issues:
Professors & Other Instructional Staff: •
Personal Attitudes: • Join clubs, volunteer groups, culture classes, PE classes to make friends and pass time. • Need to understand you will be studying with the rich elite of Mexican society.
NETHERLANDS:
Registration, Scheduling & System: • Be prepared to advise yourself and handle your own administrative affairs. • Classes don't have permanent locations thus move around.
Course Organization, Methods, & Evaluations: • There is no homework with entire grade based on a final exam. • Don't miss more than 3 classes or you will be dropped.
Language Issues:
Professors & Other Instructional Staff: • Dutch professors expect punctuality. There is a campus bar and student organizations, teachers socialize together. • the professors are very helpful so ask them any class-related questions. • Professors hard to contact.
Personal Attitudes:
NEW ZEALAND:
Registration, Scheduling & System: • ... don't expect them to have all the classes you want, especially since many courses are year long, not semester long.
Course Organization, Methods, & Evaluations: • They teach in the British style so most of class was not discussion oriented. • Most all the grade was based on one final exam. • Expect to study hard and do much of the school work on your own.
Language Issues:
Professors & Other Instructional Staff: • Be prepared for professors who don't care about you as an individual.
Personal Attitudes:
SOUTH AFRICA:
Registration, Scheduling & System: • Be prepared to be lost and confused by everything being in Afrikaans, but for the most part people are friendly and helpful.
Course Organization, Methods, & Evaluations: •
Language Issues: Limited courses taught in English, most taught in Afrikaans.
Professors & Other Instructional Staff: •
Personal Attitudes:
SPAIN
Registration, Scheduling & System: • ...complicated. • Have a backup schedule in case course not offered as planned. • The school system is much more relaxed, but it depends on what your are doing. For example, it is almost a month after classes began and I just switched some classes around (again). Don't freak out about not being registered right away. • Don't expect same level of technology as in U.S.
Course Organization, Methods, & Evaluations: • At UPO, classes small, but they do not tolerate absences. • May seem easier than NMSU, but don't slack off since they use different methods which evaluate just as well. • Make sure to have the