Study life of Australian doctoral students in Melbourne University

Zhang Hao, Ph.D. student, University of Melbourne. In August last year, Zhang Hao, a master student of Beijing Forestry University, went to the Law School of Melbourne University in Australia to study for a doctorate. How does he feel after studying and living in Australia for nearly a year? Pain and happiness? .

China Youth Daily: Melbourne University is famous for its high-quality research and education. How do you feel?

Zhang Hao: As far as law schools are concerned, the faculty is relatively strong. The law school has allocated a research fund for each doctoral student to attend academic conferences or conduct research.

The University of Mexico attaches great importance to the empirical study of obtaining first-hand information from practice, and has very complicated and detailed norms and standards. All empirical studies must be approved by the ethics Committee. For example, for empirical research involving third parties, it is necessary to ensure that the research project will not affect the third party, will not waste the respondents' time, and will not put the researcher himself or the third party in danger. This system will avoid many risks, and also make students think more deeply about their own research.

Various auxiliary measures of the school are also in place. For example, the library of the University of Mexico spends nearly A $6.5438+0.7 million every year to buy various books and online materials. If the university doesn't buy a database, or can't find key papers, students can submit relevant materials to the library, and a special staff member will be responsible for finding relevant articles and sending them to students by e-mail.

Master students and doctoral students can also enjoy the cross-library lending service in Australia, and some majors can even borrow books from different libraries around the world. One of my doctoral students wanted to borrow a book, but the Australian library didn't have it, so the staff borrowed it from the library of a European university, and the school bore all the expenses of cross-library borrowing.

Shortly after I reported for duty, a librarian of the law school library asked me to meet alone to introduce the resources of the library. I thought it was just to show me around, but I didn't expect him to sort out a list according to my research direction, which resources are related to my topic and which resources can be obtained by other means. It feels very sweet and helpful.

China Youth Daily: Tell me about the doctoral education there.

Zhang Hao: Local students don't have to pay tuition for doctoral studies. International students usually apply for scholarships, but the competition is fierce.

The University of Mexico requires that doctoral dissertations should not be submitted within three years, and submitting them in advance requires a series of strict examination and approval. As far as I know, the vast majority of law school students submit their papers in three and a half or four years, and after submission, they have to go through three months of external review. So it takes at least three years and three months to graduate from the University of Mexico and get a doctorate.

Here, in the first year, we are called doctoral students. After the first year, we can become doctoral students. The law school needs to complete the first draft of the first chapter of the thesis, make a public oral report, attend the review meeting convened by the academic Committee and answer relevant questions. Each student is equipped with an independent academic Committee, which is responsible for evaluating academic progress and defense report.

China Youth Daily: Are there many locals who can speak Chinese?

Zhang Hao: I met many local people who are very fluent in Chinese. More and more Australians are studying China. There is an interactive study group for doctoral students who specialize in China. This group holds six seminars every year to exchange and interact with students who study China in various disciplines. This platform has existed for almost 10 years, which has helped to cultivate many high-level doctors who study China.

I feel that as long as people who have studied in China choose to study for a doctorate, most of them will choose to engage in comparative research related to China. I know an Australian classmate, whose doctoral thesis is about Dong nationality songs in Yunnan, China. Just by chance, she went to China and was attracted by the local music. At that time, she didn't even know Chinese, but after living in a Dong village for two years, she learned Chinese and Dong language. It took her five years to complete the doctoral program, which was very fast.

China Youth Daily: What do you think is the biggest difference between Australian youth and China youth?

Zhang Hao: Local students are more free to choose, and studying for a doctorate is more out of their own interests. Many local students studying for doctoral degrees in law schools have worked in related fields for many years, and only after finding interesting problems do they do full-time or part-time research. The average age of students studying for doctoral degrees in China is too young.

China Youth Daily: The number of people studying in Australia is increasing year by year. What advice do you have for these students?

Zhang Hao: The largest overseas student in Australia? Pain? It's psychological stress. There is a lot of pressure to study for a doctorate. The doctoral life of liberal arts is relatively independent, and it will not involve the participation and cooperation of many projects, but more of its own exploration. However, isolation and loneliness will be experienced by foreign students of any major. Autonomous learning ability and language ability are the same challenge. Pay attention to these two aspects of exercise before going abroad, and you will get twice the result with half the effort. There is also the ability to live. International students should take good care of themselves and reassure their families, which is also very helpful for coping with various pressures.