IFSA-Butler at Griffith University

  Australia

• Gold Coast: 
Gold Coast
• Brisbane: 
Brisbane

Term: Academic Year, Fall, Spring 
Dates: TBA

Description: With a population of around 1.5 million and a warm subtropical climate, Brisbane combines the best of many worlds. Renowned for its casual lifestyle, it also offers the atmosphere, first-class facilities and opportunities of a vibrant, modern capital city. Public transportation runs regularly from the campus to nearby shopping, entertainment and regional attractions.

The social climate is decidedly multi-cultural, with visitors from overseas free to follow their cultural and religious beliefs. Brisbane has one of the most modern and best-equiped cultural centers in the southern hemisphere and features theatres, concert halls, museums and art galleries, and world-class sporting facilities.

Queensland's famous beaches on the Gold and Sunshine Coasts are only an hour's drive from the city, as are numerous regional and national parks that feature breathtaking mountains, sub-tropical rainforests and a variety of native wildlife. Brisbane is also a gateway to the far north Queesland tropical coast and the Great Barrier Reef.

In little more than 25 years, Griffith University has earned a reputation as one of Australia's most progressive and dynamic universities. It consistently ranks as one of the nation's top ten universities, with teaching and research focused on issues of prime importance to the Australian community. The interdisciplinary nature of study at Griffith is one of its hallmarks; courses continue to challenge rigid academic structures. With traditional strengths in environmental science and modern Asian studies, Griffith has been quick to take the lead in other new disciplines, including biomedical science, information technology, and microelectric engineering.

Positioned in Queensland's burgeoning Brisbane-Gold Coast corridor, Griffith has six campuses, three of which are available to ISA-Butler students: Nathan, Gold Coast, and the Queensland College of Art. Nathan, the university's main campus, offers housing in residence halls, while students on the Gold Coast campus live in off-campus apartments. Students at the Queensland College of Art may apply for accommodation in the nearby Nathan residences.

Highlights: Australia is a land of compelling extremes. The oldest datable land forms on earth are found in Australia, but it was the last continent to be discovered by Western explorers. It is the longest continuously inhabited continent on earth but has a written history of only 213 years. It is the smallest continent on the planet but it is also the largest island. Settled as a convict prison, today the country of Australia is one of the freest democratic societies in the world. As large as the continental United States in land area, it is home to barely 18 million people, the same population as the state of California. In a land of vast unsettled spaces, over 80 percent of the population lives in one of the five major cities.

Originally the European settlers were almost exclusively English and Irish. Today the country has sizable populations of Italians, Greeks, Malays, Indonesians and Chinese to enrich the cultural mix of this once isolated island. It is this diversity and this incredible backdrop that make Australia truly an education by itself. Combine this with the academic excellence of its universities, and you have a study abroad destination like no other.

The academic year in Australia is reversed due to the seasonal inversion in the southern hemisphere. The academic year roughly follows the calendar year, beginning in late February and ending in late November. The application deadlines for IFSA-Butler programs in Australia are November 15 for the spring semester and academic year and March 15 for the fall semester. Remember that if you leave in February for your 'spring' semester, you will be arriving in Australia at the end of their summer and will stay until the middle of their winter season.

Cost in US$: Inquire for more info.

Experience Required: no