The World Is Eleanor's Oyster
Sun Herald
Sunday August 17, 2008
AN INCREASING number of undergraduate students are setting their sights on the world beyond Australia when choosing a university degree.
Interest in international and global studies has grown in recent years, leading many universities to create courses entirely devoted to the subject. Even learning foreign languages has taken a twist. Eleanor Dups, 19, (pictured) is taking the unusual major of classical languages: learning ancient Greek and Latin while she already speaks English, Swedish and French fluently. Dups's mother is Swedish and her father is British, so she grew up in a bilingual household and then spent a year in high school as an exchange student in France. After year 12, she began a science and law degree at university in Brisbane but then realised that she was not really studying what she wanted. So she decided to pursue her passion for languages and move away from home to Canberra, where she lives on campus at the Australian National University. During her degree, Dups hopes to also study one of the romantic languages such as Spanish and possibly Italian and spend a semester studying overseas. "You really need to immerse yourself in the culture of a language to learn it properly," she says. In 2009, the University of Western Sydney will offer a bachelor of international studies with opportunities to take subjects such as international relations, foreign policy and Asian studies as well as learn a language and spend a semester overseas."UWS is a very multicultural university and we want to prepare students for a career of intercultural dialogue," says Professor Nancy Wright, the university's head of school, humanities and languages.Meanwhile, the University of Technology Sydney has a new bachelor of global studies to add to its already popular combined degrees in international relations.The trans-disciplinary degree connects political, economic and cultural aspects of global phenomena and includes a work placement with a globally-orientated organisation. "We're hoping to get graduates who think on their feet, possess cultural and linguistic skills and won't assume that everyone in the world operates the same way as Australians," says Dr Paul Allatson, head of the international studies program at UTS."We want to produce students that have a different attitude or outlook on their education. It's not simply becoming a lawyer, for example; it's becoming a lawyer in a much bigger context."Allatson believes the proliferation of internationally-focused courses reflects a new generation of global citizens."Australians, especially young Australians, are aware that we are part of a larger world," he says. "We live locally, work locally and study locally but we have to think globally. "Students are increasingly wanting to know and are asking of their education, no matter what discipline, whether it will enable them to be globally competitive in their chosen field of employment."And that's increasingly what employers across the globe in all areas are asking of their recruits."Joanna Matkovich completed her bachelor of international studies at the University of Sydney this year. The course was launched in 2004 and was followed by a bachelor of global studies last year."I was looking for a degree that would be a good platform and open many doors on the world," she says. "It was a great course and has put me in a good position to work in a globally-orientated company."Matkovich majored in international business and government and international relations and now works in international investor relations.
© 2008 Sun Herald
