Informatics at University of Wollongong: A Review

When I was a young high school graduate I never gave much thought to what I would do in the future. In truth I had little ambition and no idea what really interested me. I suspect many young people are in the same boat. However the choices you make with regard to tertiary study are perhaps some of the most important decisions you will make in your life. A poor choice may lead to a career which you really don’t like, or worse may leave you badly in debt and with a largely useless qualification. The reason I wrote this review of the University of Wollongong is to help potential students make better informed choices.

While Universities themselves can be valuable sources of information about course options, never forget that their survival depends on attracting students to courses. So while universities will probably not tell an outright lie, they may be tempted to distort the truth or conveniently overlook some information that might be perceived negatively. Furthermore many lecturers and advisers may have spent their entire careers within the tertiary education system and not be well informed themselves with respect to the value of a qualification, employer perceptions of qualifications, or in general terms where a course might lead. One of their primary motivations is their own jobs and the financial viability of their department / institution rather than what qualification would serve the students best. Also some lecturers, having spent their whole life working in some area, are obviously convinced of the great value of study in that area however whether the wider world and potential employers share that view is another question.

With the growing cost of tertiary education it is more important that you look at your education not just as something to fill in a few years between highschool and the drudgery and boredom of working life, but rather as perhaps one of the most important investment decisions that you will make in your life.

I studied computer science, so I will discuss this course of study in some depth. However I will also try and provide some more general information about the University and other possible courses. In addition I will endeavour to provide some useful information and pointers where additional information can be located. I hope you find this discussion useful. Good Luck.

Applying for Entry

If you are a domestic year 12 student you should apply through the University Admission Centre (UAC)

http://www.uac.edu.au/

International and postgraduate students should apply directly to the University. The one exception to this is international students that are undertaking year 12 in Australia. In which case they should apply through a separate section of the UAC.

Wollongong

I wasn’t from Wollongong, and to be honest had never even visited until I decided to enroll at the university there. I found the town to be a good place to study and enjoyed the environment there. People who are looking for a bustling city environment might find it too quiet though. Needless to say there aren’t numerous art galleries, museums, and cafes like you might find in a larger more cosmopolitan environment like Melbourne or Sydney. However it has some great beaches and excellent surf, also there are plenty of other options for outdoor activities. A note of warning though, surf beaches can be very treacherous. Please don’t swim outside of a patrolled area unless you are a good swimmer and familiar with the conditions. Even wading in the ocean can be potentially risky if you can’t swim, as there is the very real possibility of a large wave knocking you off your feet, and then a rip pulling you out. I don’t want to be overly alarmist but there have been a number of cases recently where international students have drowned at Australian beaches.

Although Wollongong is fairly quiet in the weekends you can always head up to Sydney if you want a dose of the big city. Sydney is about 1.5 hours away by train. I also found the Wollongong locals to be generally quite friendly, more so than in the big city. Although in some respects there are also the typical small-town parochial and jingoistic attitudes. Like many parts of Australia, crime can be a problem, so I wouldn’t recommend wandering around at night by yourself. Also Australian pubs are notorious for unprovoked assaults and aggressive behaviour, so be careful where you decide to drink.

It is worth noting that the University of Wollongong has campuses other than at Wollongong. I have no direct knowledge about these other campuses, so I won’t discuss them further. However I imagine that the course quality would be similar across campuses.


Accommodation

If you are from Wollongong or the surrounding areas then accommodation hopefully won’t be too much of an issue (unless of course your parents or landlord has decided to evict you). If you are from out of town you have the choice between University run accommodation or private accommodation. Each has their pluses and minuses. I elected to stay in university run accommodation at first. If you are from out of town or overseas this might be a good option for the first year until you can find your bearings. Be warned though it is quite expensive. The various options offered by the university can be found here

http://www.uow.edu.au/about/accommodation/

The fees are given here

http://www.uow.edu.au/about/accommodation/fees/index.html

I elected to stay at Campus East, if you choose the flexi-catered option the cost is round $4000 per semester plus $60 - $70 week for meals (2009). There are some additional fees as well such as infrastructure, insurance etc. All up you can be spending at least $200 (excluding meals) per week. I think that is quite expensive, someone once told me that the accommodation branch of the university is the most profitable, and I find that quite plausible. Unsurprisingly it seems that the majority of students there are international students as they are willing to pay for the extra convenience.

Some of the other accommodation options offered by the university let you self-cater, or are a complete package (including meals). I understand Campus East also has a self-catered option.

I don’t know that much about the other accommodation options offered by the university, well at least nothing much apart from what is on the university website, so I’m going to talk a bit about campus east. Campus East is located in Fairy Meadow which is a beachside suburb in Wollongong. The site was originally a resettlement centre for refugees, and at some point was purchased or otherwise acquired by the university to provide accommodation. Nearby is Fairy Meadow beach which is a great beach and I have fond memories of swimming there. However walking to the beach after dark may not be safe, so I wouldn’t advise it. There are also some shops and a supermarket within walking distance.

According to the University around 600 students live at Campus East. It is about a 10 minute drive from the university. There is a bus that is available to take you between Campus East and the University. It takes about 10 minutes. I used to walk to the main university campus from Campus East occasionally, I can’t remember exactly how long it took, but probably around 35-45 minutes. Cycling would also be a good way of getting to and from campus, as I recall there is a reasonable cycling route. While it is probably safe to cycle back from the university after dark, again use caution especially if you are a female student.

Generally speaking I found the accommodation at Campus East quite comfortable, and the catered meals were quite tasty and of good quality. Overall I have no issue with the service provided, although whether it represents good value for money is another question.To say the university is “raking in the cash” from campus east is probably not an exaggeration.

I will now discuss some of the minuses of living at Campus East. Some of the blocks of accommodation are quite new, others unfortunately seem to date from Campus East’s time as a refugee resettlement centre and are pretty old. The different blocks have nicknames, if I recall correctly one of the old blocks was referred to as “trench town”. For at least a decade there have been suggestions that this block was going to be pulled down, however nothing has happened yet. I stayed in this area when I first arrived as my other room wasn’t ready, I thought it was pretty old and rundown. I remember one time when I was at reception in Campus East and some girl had turned up asking about accommodation, apparently she had received an offer that some was available. She wanted to see the room first before paying the money, however the staff refused to let her do so. I suspect she was going to be placed in one of the dodgy old blocks, so they didn’t want to show her. I thought the way she was treated was quite unfair, what other organization tries to force you to sign a contract for accommodation site unseen? Certainly in the private market even the more unscrupulous agents wouldn’t get away with trying to force you to sign a contract for accommodation you hadn’t even seen. I have no idea if this dodgy practice continues to this day. One issue which I intend to research in more detail at some point is exactly how laws governing tenancy and rental accommodation apply to students staying in Campus East and elsewhere in university provided accommodation.

So what are the different blocks at Campus East? I might not have recalled this exactly correctly, the blocks A, B, C, and D are all fairly similar. For each group of five rooms, there is a small common area that may have some simple furniture or a kitchenette. There is also a bathroom area with a separate toilet and shower. The differnet blocks have nicknames I think A&B are “Hospital”, D is “Alcatraz”, and I think C is for the postgrad students (not sure if it has a separate nickname). The older blocks have different room layouts and the different parts are called “slums” and “trenchtown”.

One issue is that there are some students who just want to party, play loud music etc, and misuse alcohol or drugs. This can start to really bug you when you are trying to study or get some sleep. Also it can sometimes have tragic consequences, I believe this incident happened some years ago but it was told to me by a reliable source. Some Campus East students had been drinking excessively and then decided to drive their motor vehicle back to Campus East. Unfortunately a Swedish student was walking back to campus and was killed by these idiots. Campus East has a whole lot of rules and regulations regarding this kind of behaviour but they are not always obeyed unfortunately.

If you can’t study due to excessive noise, you can complain to someone, and get the music turned down, but it starts to become annoying if you are a serious student.

There used to be American exchange students staying at Campus East, I have no idea if they still stay there or not. I remember reading some time ago, that some American Universities stopped sending students to Australia as the students who applied to go to Australia were just interested in partying and less interested in any sort of cultural or educational experience. Sorry to resort to negative stereotypes, but my observation is that American exchange students tended to be among the worst offenders for out of control drinking, and partying (although the Australians usually gave them some good competition). They have been known to start food fights in the cafeteria which resulted in thousands of dollars of damage. (Food fights seem to be a uniquely American phenomenon). Other incidents involved urinating off their balcony onto other students, and also cleaning up vomit using the communal vacuum cleaner. I could go on, but you probably get the picture. Part of the problem, no doubt, was that University of Wollongong didn’t have exchange programmes with elite colleges like Harvard, Princeton or even high ranked state universities, rather the exchange students tended to come from notorious party schools.

Apart from the American exchange students (who may or may not now be extinct at Campus East), there is a mix of students from a variety of other different cultures. If you thought after high school people wouldn’t be so cliquey and that people of all different cultures would mix and be friendly, well welcome to the real world. Much of the student population quickly divides itself into groups based on ethnicity, nationality, or other lines. Nonetheless not everyone is like that, and I made some good friends there, although I have since lost touch with all except a handful (mostly students doing the same course and also staying at Campus East).

Campus East has a lot of rules and regulations, and generally expects high standards of behaviour from students. As you might expect adherence to the rules and regulations doesn’t always take place, and over the years there has been lots of irresponsible behaviour. Unfortunately the strict rules that are applied to students are not always applied to staff. While most staff are quite friendly and helpful, on more than one occasion I found them extremely rude and lacking in professionalism. Some of them appear to dislike their jobs and sometimes take it out on Students, this can also be an issue elsewhere in the University. If this happens to you, you may like to complain to the appropriate person, although I wouldn’t hold your breath waiting for a response.

One staff member who I found to be extremely rude and aggressive to myself and many other students was the driver of the shuttle between Campus East and the University. The name of the staff member was Danny Boskovski, he has worked at Campus East for a long time. Unfortunately despite his long history of aggressive behaviour he continues to be employed at Campus East. I have many memories of his reckless driving, and being rude to students. One evening I went to get on the bus at the university to get a ride back to campus, however the bus was packed full of students and quite noisy as some social function had been on. He obviously said something to me which I didn’t hear because of the ruckus on the bus, the next thing that happened was that he flew into a rage and starting screaming at me about how he told me the bus was too full, and he was going to make another trip, and how he was going to throw me off the bus. What a psycho. Despite a number of complaints over the years his employment at Campus East persists. If you have issues with this driver I encourage you to complain to the University itself rather than within Campus East. Also it would be good if the transport service adhered to all New South Wales traffic regulations, other than suiting themselves regarding what laws are complied with.

One other thing that bugged me about Campus East was that they tried to run the campus a bit like a touchy feely social experiment at times. At other times they regarded students as having infinitely deep pockets wanting a charitable donation for something every second week.

I suppose I should try and end on a positive note, one good thing about staying at Campus East is that there may well be other students doing the same course as you, who can provide advice or assistance. Well enough about Campus East. I shall make some comments on my course.


Informatics at Wollongong.

Personally I wouldn’t really recommend students study informatics at Wollongong (or anywhere else for that matter). After a peak in IT jobs during the “.com” era, the number of IT jobs in most western countries has been falling, along with salary and working conditions. If you are from one of the countries where jobs have been created in IT due to outsourcing, it may still be worthwhile to undertake this course. I shouldn’t be too cynical, but it is my belief that if you are going to spend a lot of time and money at university you had better invest your time and money in a subject area that has the following characteristics

- difficult to outsource due to the fact that the person has to be in Australia or due to the fact that the knowledge involved is relatively specific to the Australian Environment. Some examples might be Law, Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing, Teaching, Engineering (related to infrastructure or perhaps high value manufacturing), Accounting, Dentistry, Optometry, etc

- Access to the profession is restricted due to legal / regulatory requirements (this restricts entry and keeps salaries up, also prevents jobs being easily outsourced)

- Historically has provided a reasonable income and levels of prestige. Now although the market place can change and new professions appear, I think history can provide a valuable guide as things don’t change anywhere near as quickly as you might think. So don’t be fooled by glossy brochures and overly optimistic projections about what the job market will be like into 10 years. Sure emergent technologies in areas like biotechnology, nanotechnology etc will no doubt result in new jobs, but I tend to think most of those jobs will be concentrated amongest PhD’s in overseas research labs. I can’t see there being 10,000s of jobs created in those areas in Australia.

Unfortunately I think informatics fails to meet any of these three criteria. That isn’t to say there aren’t high paying jobs out there, but certainly the number is not that great, and everyday I pick up the newspaper it seems someone is outsourcing their IT jobs to Mumbai or Manila or some other far off place.

It is worth noting that mathematics is also part of the Informatics faculty. The department of mathematics offers the usual courses in Algebra, Calculus, Differential Equations, Probability and Statistics, and so on. I have no reason to believe the department is in anyway deficient, but I would be inclined to avoid majoring in mathematics as a stand alone course as I don’t believe there are many jobs in this area. If you want to be an Actuary or work in Quantitative finance, there are some programmes that include topics in Finance and Insurance under the “Bachelor of Mathematics and Finance”, in my opinion this would be a better course of study. Again though don’t expect to get a high paid quantitative finance or actuarial job on the strength of your UOW bachelor degree alone, you will need at least a good masters degree from an appropriate university to go with it. Personally I find studying mathematics puts me to sleep, so I wouldn’t tackle this area unless you really love maths and are in it for the long haul.

By now you are probably thinking that you should just study something interesting like Psychology. I did some psychology papers, despite any inherent interest the subject may hold, university courses seem to all share the ability to make any subject rather arduous. If you are going to sit through some dull lectures, and churn out some ultimately meaningless assignments, better to do something that might have a reasonable chance of paying off. Similarly I’m not suggesting you should rush out and study law if you have no interest or aptitude in that area or anything so drastic, rather I’m suggesting that you need to balance your interests and abilities with what qualifications have a reasonable chance on delivering a return on your investment.

With the end of the “.com” boom and increase in outsourcing many students have smartened up and enrolments in informatics courses are falling. Of course periodically various self serving individuals try to make out there is a shortage of staff in this industry. What they really mean is there is a shortage of staff highly trained and experienced in exactly the technology they are using at the moment and willing to work for peanuts. If you use these criteria then there may well be a shortage of IT staff.

So after starting this section on a sour note what is my advice to you? If you are not that passionate about informatics probably you should study something else, if you are really passionate and can’t imagine not studying informatics then you should still do it however you should try and broaden your education as much as possible, perhaps by doing a conjoint degree or including useful business courses in say business law, accounting, finance in your degree.

To a greater or lesser extent 95% of programming and IT related jobs are in business and involve implementing business processes or in someway supporting business operations. Only a relatively small number of graduates will go on to work in hard core technology areas like writing a new operating system, or building a new search engine or similar.

Also be sure to take a look at as many statistics you can find about the size of the job market and how easy graduates are finding it to locate jobs. Fortunately the Australian government provides some relatively useful information about graduates course experiences, starting salaries and so forth

What graduates earn and where they go after graduation
http://www.gradsonline.edu.au/

reports also available here
http://www.graduatecareers.com.au/content/view/full/24

I found the course experience questionnaire data here
http://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/content.asp?page=/policies_programs/graduates/index.htm

but it may need some additional data crunching to obtain useful information.

Within the IT area UOW offers both Computer Science and “Information Technology”. In the broader sense IT includes both “computer science” and “information technology”, and that is how I use the term in this document. I don’t have an exact definition of the difference between the two study areas at the UOW, but computer science originated more from the science / maths faculty and information technology originated more from the business faculty. Computer Science involves more lower level consideration of progamming languages, algorithms and so forth, whereas information technology is a higher level more conceptual consideration of how information systems are used in a business environment.

I chose Computer Science, so how do I rate the course content and quality? Well I have taken some units at a variety of different universities so I think I’m reasonably well placed to make a comparison. Overall I think UOW did do a reasonably good job or delivering the courses. Some universities haven’t been able to transition from an old style culture where the lecturer doesn’t care about the course quality or how up to date the courses are, and students are expected to be grit their teeth and be grateful they have an opportunity to study there at all. I have to give credit to the UOW in this regard as I do think that from the top down they are making an effort to deliver student/customer focused education that is relatively up to date. That is not to say that there isn’t some variation in quality and that some things couldn’t be done better, but on the whole I think the courses are of relatively good quality.

Looking through the current syllabus for the informatics department, I see the emphasis for the computer science degree is on developing fundamental programming skills, and building knowledge in the areas of algorithms, data structures and systems development. If you intend to be a programmer in my opinion this is an appropriate syllabus. Within the Computer Science degree students then can choose a major from
Digital Systems Security
Multimedia and Game Development
Enterprise Systems
Software Engineering

Personally I would avoid Multimedia and Game Development, not because I have any reason to believe it is a poor quality major, but because the game industry is notorious for sweatshop conditions. Nobody in the game industry is over 30 because they have all burnt out by then. Better to do something like Enterprise Systems or Software Engineering. Also as mentioned previously I would strongly advise you to do a double major such as for example Electronic Commerce which enables you to complete a variety of useful commerce papers.

In Conclusion then while I don’t think Computer Science is necessarily the best choice in courses , I think the UOW overall does a good job in delivering the course. Now you may experience some issues with the course from time to time, but I can almost guarantee that no other university in Australia is significantly better in this area, and there are plenty that are significantly worse.


Wollongong University in General

One thing to remember about the University of Wollongong, is that everything is relative. As I mentioned previously, no matter what issues you experience, you will no doubt experience similar issues at other universities. So while UOW is not the perfect university, no university is, and I think that overall it rates a solid "B".

It may not be as prestigious as some universities, but the more prestigious universities will tend to be more arrogant and less student focused. Also the courses at more prestigious universities are in my opinion often too theoretical and never get to the point with the lecturer often going off on a tangent. Now perhaps an argument could be made that the brand name from one of the more prestigious “group of eight” universities would be worth more on your CV, that may be true, or it may not, only you can make that decision. For me personally I would consider that issue very carefully if you are in that position. Keep in mind that while UOW may not have the prestige of the University of Sydney or the University of New South Wales it is still well regarded by employers. On the other hand if it is your intention to become a high flying lawyer, maybe studying law at somewhere like Sydney University would give you more opportunity to rub shoulders with the future elite. Similarly if you are enrolling in an MBA for example, a more prestigious university might result in better networking opportunities even though the quality of the course may not necessarily be better. On the other hand in most occupations a few years after graduation, most people don’t care that much where you studied or even what your average grades were.

From speaking with other students most were reasonably happy with their courses, I only met a few who were really annoyed. Some MBA students wished they had studied at a more prestigious university. Some other students who were doing coursework masters felt their was too much overlap with their undergraduate studies. This reinforces the importance of doing as much research as possible before deciding on a university.

It is worth pointing out, that relatively recently the university did get raked over the coals with one of its teaching degrees getting refused accreditation. The rejected course was the “Bachelor of Early Childhood Education”, and the course was described as “being of poor quality, ... a number of the early-childhood units were more at the level of TAFE study than university standard”.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23421865-421,00.html


I almost forgot to mention the physical environment at the UOW. I found the campus to be quite pleasant, with plenty of trees, grass and open space. When stressed out by an assignment, I often enjoyed a walk around the campus to get some fresh air.

The university also has a recreation and aquatic centre as well as the usual clubs and societies. It seems that there is a club and society dedicated to almost every activity and country of origin.


Tips for survival

Here are some really quick tips off the top of my head for survival and success at university.

- Plan your course very carefully. Make sure you will have all the subjects and pre-requisites to complete your degree. Ultimately it is your responsibility to make sure your course of study complies with all the necessary regulations. Also keep in mind the requirements for any professional accreditation you may want to subsequently undertake.

- Don’t think taking hard subjects is somehow more virtuous. I would avoid courses people say are difficult unless you really need them.

- Choose a broad range of courses. Try and include as many business courses as possible to go with that arts, science or engineering degree. This will help you avoid boredom, as well as broaden your education. In truth few jobs have extremely exacting requirements for particular courses. More important is a solid knowledge of the fundamentals and your own attributes.

- Plan your time carefully, get a diary and pencil in assignment dates, test dates and so forth. Set aside time for regular study. Avoid getting behind at all costs, as you will struggle to catch up.

- Stay organized ! You don’t need a fancy time management system or expensive software or electronics, but you do need to manage your time. Personally I use a diary to schedule my time, and record important dates. I also use an old exercise book to keep a “to-do” list for each subject I am studying.

- Don’t try and combine full-time study with excessive part-time work, you won’t really have time to do both. If you really have to work a lot, it may be better to spread your degree over a slightly longer period.

- Try and eat properly and lead a balanced life. Develop a routine of regular study. Don’t get into a habit of slacking off, nobody is going to force you to do anything, so you do need to develop some self discipline.

- When lecturers set exams, nearly all of the questions are going to be on the topics the lecturer regards as the key ideas of the course. Also lecturers are also unlikely to be especially innovative when it comes to the questions themselves, or the style of the questions. Get copies of previous years exams at the beginning of the semester. Look at the topics asked, look at the style of question, use this information to focus your study. Make sure you know the topics in the exam well, make sure you can answer that style of question. Sure the exam may not be exactly the same, but unless the emphasis of the course has changed drastically, it will be pretty similar, and any changes to the style of questions is unlikely to be substantial.

- Don’t feel you need to do all the assigned readings and learn every topic covered. Focus your effort on learning the core ideas and being able to answer exam style questions. If you have any extra time, then you can do some additional reading for example.

- I recommend producing study notes during the semester that summarize the key points, and have example questions. Then at the end of the semester you won’t need to stress too much, as most of your learning will already be done.

- Some people will say you should try to go to every lecture. I say don’t bother unless the lecturer is particularly good. The big problem with lectures for me is that I have a very short span of attention. My mind wanders off and then I lose track of what’s happening and then I'm completely lost for the rest of the lecture. This is especially problematic in hard core subjects like maths or electrical engineering. Also the lecturers pace rarely matches your own, sometimes they go too fast and you get lost, sometimes they go over something you already know and you get bored. In short I don’t think lectures are a good way of conveying information. If you don’t find the lectures that helpful, and you have a good handle on the syllabus, key dates etc then feel free to spend the time reviewing by yourself in the library. Use the time wisely though, don't just slack off.

Summary

I hope you enjoyed my review of the University of Wollongong and studying informatics there. In summary I give the university a solid B