Discuss with International

Owned by Paul Seiler (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Jul 24, 2017
3 min read


Fees

  1. How does a user know which year the fees are for? Maybe take a steer for how you signal fees in letters of offer for 1-2 years out.
  2. Fees are increasing significantly for MConBio in 2018. Do we have to signal this early? Should we then have the international-only scholarship visible?



UG Entry criteria

  1. Do we need international alternative wording for UG entry statement on areas of study (Bachelors degree or alternative)? And soon on the degree overivew card?


PG Entry criteria

We have three locations that present 'entry criteria' to prospective students and each can be worded slightly differently. This is causing confusion and in the eyes of some, is disingenuous. 

  1. 'Entry as an attribute on the card on the About tab: Intended to be a summary or indicator statement, it may not contain sufficient details. For example, International think that it should refer to IELTS when higher than PG norm, but this would involve an international version of these statements (doesn't exist at present). 
  2. 'Entry requirements' (splits into 'Academic requirements for International students' and 'Proof of English proficiency' if switcher is on) on the Requirements tab: A fuller wording, based closely on the Calendar. Can require things not mentioned on the card. Further, it often refers the reader to the subject requirements to see subject-specific entry requirements with the wording ' To have met the prerequisites for the subject you wish to study (see subject section below)'. This has a number of issues in its own right:
    1. Breaks flow/continuity: By asking the reader to skip over the Programme requirements down to the subject ones, even though he/she is 'in' the section for the selected subject'.
    2. Is only relevent for those with qualifying UG study at Victoria: And therefore inappropriate for most international students and any domestic who did their UG study at another University.
    3. Often contains little more details than 'major in this subject'
  3. 'How to apply' / 'How to apply as an International student': May contain a lot more information and sometimes includes many documents/artifacts. Having previously determined that I meet the entry criteria a read might be surprised to see all these new 'criteria'. Some related issues:
    1. The list of supporting documents should be the same for domestic and international students, but this is not always the case. Data quality issues at loading, or maybe wooly things by SMEs
    2. The list can be too long and onerous, especially for International students.

Using the Master of Science by coursework and thesis as an example:

  1. Entry on the card: 'Bachelor's degree in relevant subject'
  2. Entry requirements:
    1. A Bachelor's degree or relevant graduate or postgraduate diploma
    2. To have met the prerequisites for the subject you wish to study (see subject section below)
    3. To be accepted by the head of the school as capable of proceeding with the proposed course of study
      1. And if the subject is Biotechnology: 'Have previously completed:
      2. Or if the subject is Mathematics: 'Have previously completed four approved courses from MATH 300-399'
    4. How to apply: 
      1. International students don't have to provide anyhting other than the usual application for and 

        1. Be sure to include the following documents with your application:

          • A certified copy of your passport (the personal details page)
          • Evidence of your proficiency in English, if required
          • A certified copy of your official academic results
      2. Domestic students only need

        1. To apply, you'll need to:


Questions

  1. Do we 'extend' the entry attribute on the card to be more thorough, even if longer?
    1. Do we need an international version? If so, where is it sourced from?
  2. Do we need to show all the details for students who did their UG at Victoria? Remember that the website can;t know where a user did their previous study.
    1. Could we evolve to a 'If your qualifying study for this programme was at Victoria ..., or alternatively if it was at another institution ....' approach, as we do for specialisations? 
  3. Can we replace the second entry requirements with the subject-specific wording in the first subject requirement, given that the subject is selected? This would improve the flow and increase understanding.
  4. Should we undertake a quality audit on how to apply to identify inconsistency between domestic and international and also where we require too much to be competitive?