The University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia enjoys a global reputation. Its employer satisfaction ranks 26th in the world; its academic reputation ranks 36th in the world; and it is in the 45th place in the QS World University Rankings. It has 8 faculties, 1 Canberra campus, 47 schools, 125 UNSW and external centers and institutes, 18 community universities, 4,328 school visiting scholars, union school scholars and affiliated school scholars (equivalent to 64 full-time scholars), and offers a broad range of academic courses such as arts and design, social sciences, environmental science, business and economics, engineering technology, law, life science, medicine and science and technology. It is home to approximately 60,000 students, of whom over 20,000 are international students, accounting for up to 33%. It has 300,000 alumni and 6,228 staff members (equivalent to 5,745 full-time workers).

A team of Shanghai Jiao Tong University paid a field visit to the departments of UNSW, including the Foreign Affairs Division, the International Student Development Department, the Short-term Student Exchange Department, student organizations, the Employment and Career Development Department, the Psychological Counseling Center, the Study Center, the Student Development Department, the library, the Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Department, the On-campus Student Accommodation Department and the Confucius Institute.

2.1 International Student Development Department

The International Student Development Department is led by the director of the department, and has five consultants for international students who manage workshop, curriculum and one-on-one mentoring, two staff members for Australian Government Scholarship winners who manage affairs relating to such winners, one project operation officer who manages student communications and organization and guide to new students, one IT coordinator who manages data and statistics and visa-related data uploading, and one administration officer who manages administration.

Job description:

One-on-one consulting services: personalized consulting services (similar to interviews between teachers and students) relating to student academic performance, visa, friendship, family and emergencies. Problems normally can be resolved by the consultants, such as those relating to course selection, study time management, family and friend support, participation in student organizations, and ways and channels of acquiring information. Students suffering psychological problems would be referred to the Psychological Counseling Center; those having academic performance problems would be referred to the Study Center; and those having employment problems would be referred to the Career Development Center.

Workshop: topics include guide to new students, communication skills, life in Australia (including sport, food and culture), work culture, self-promotion, the culture of Australian Aboriginals, healthy relations, female health and well-being, and making friends; it often involves 10-20 people for interaction, feedback, communication and discussion.

Symposium: topics include job hunting abroad, job hunting in Australia, pre-graduation preparation, cultural power, visa and affairs relating to the Australian Department of Home Affairs (officers from the department to be invited); it often involves 100-130 people, featuring the presentation of consultants for international students or keynote speakers.

Discussion group: 2-3 local students volunteer to organize discussion groups, and publish topics for discussion on Facebook to attract international students; it often involves 6-10 students, where international students can hone their language skills, develop a better understanding of the culture and make friends while local students can improve their public speaking skills, organizational skills and communication skills by volunteering to participate.

Australian Government Scholarship Program: the admissions department determines the scale of the scholarship winners: 130 in 2017 and 135 in 2018. The program provides services such as airport pickup, check-in and registration; opportunities to participate in the welcome activities organized by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; one-on-one academic performance regulation to remind students of unfinished education and provide academic support; student engagement to offer students bank accounts; contact with students prior to admission to inform them of academic arrangements including the curriculum; and prior notice to students of their school information, including instructional management, contact details of professors and course selection. Students planning to travel abroad are required to report their plans to UNSW, including accommodation information, and UNSW would notify scholarship winners of the application for the culture mentor program.

Introductory Academic Program is funded by the Australian Government, and the Australian Government Scholarship winners across all universities and colleges in the country are required to participate in the program five weeks ahead of the university opening day. 30% of the program is dedicated to culture, 40% to study, including paper writing, critical thinking, public speaking skills and library resources, and the remaining 30% to UNSW’s services.

Program operations: developing “My Guide” for new students that contains the campus maps, activities and resources; and the Newsletter is sent to all international students via email on a weekly basis.

Culture Mentor Program: it has 50 mentors, including 25 local students and 25 international students; students have to apply and get interviewed before being allowed to join the program; there are three days of training, and 20 hours of volunteer work are required for each academic term; it provides campus tours, beach walk and barbecue; every mentor has to communicate with 4-6 international students; it is certified by the UNSW Advantage; internal activities would be held; and culture mentors have their own offices that are open to international students for study and chat without booking. All international students can apply for the program, and mentors would be assigned based on such factors as academic disciplines and age.

2.2 Study Center

Staff and positions: 4 full-time advisors (specializing in different fields such as education, engineering, sociology and arts, often PhD holders or post-doctors); 3 part-time advisors (PhD holders, post-doctors or graduates who have signed official contracts with UNSW); and 15-17 students for administration such as answering phone calls and handling appointments. Various meetings of UNSW are accessible to full-time advisors for UNSW policy discussion and not to part-time advisors. They provide services to all the students of UNSW (including undergraduates and postgraduates, local and international students, and preparatory undergraduates).

The Study Center provides courses with credits. Courses are customized to each school that often evolve 10-odd students. The courses cover critical thinking and paper writing, etc. And for paper writing courses, students are required to write papers and submit them to an advisor who would read and give comments, and they have to provide the revised papers for the advisor’s comments again, which lasts an academic term.

Workshop: topics include public speaking skills, how to write your first paper, how to collect information, how to listen, read and take notes, how to do academic reading, how to write summary in a paper, how to write a report, how to write literature review, sentence structure, grammar, critical reading and critical thinking. Each workshop lasts one hour and a half with a specific topic. Each week, 10 hours are dedicated to the workshop (usually in the first half of the academic term, in particular for the first-year students).

2.3 Short-term Student Exchange Department

Students for short-term exchanges can obtain 1,000 Australian dollars worth of scholarship, and are eligible to apply for loans from the government. The department manages visa, insurance, admission, airport pickup, one-on-one consulting service, and course conversion consulting service. Its consultants provide services based on different regions such as Europe, Asia and the Americas. It also provides post-program evaluation, scholarship review (40% for academic performance, 30% for leadership and 10% for student organization participation) and STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result+Learning/Reflection).

2.4 Accommodation

Good planning and details. The UNSW’s 2025 Strategy has been repeatedly revised at hearings multiple times and has become a strategic plan for UNSW. The International Student Development Department has two days dedicated to planning every year for discussing detailed information. The student activity schedule provides exact dates. And the activity schedule published at the time of UNSW opening is the shadow program with exact time and locations.

IT application. International students have to make appointments or consult via email, and advisors can see all the information of the student who makes an appointment, including academic performance and visa. The system records the appointment for coaching, and all the coaching history can be seen when one makes another appointment next time. The staff of the email and calendar system can see the schedules of all the people in a team. Meeting invites are issued with clearer and accurate information, and emails are correlated with the schedule. The details of a meeting would be sent to the faculty and students of UNSW via mass emails with confirmed time usually one month ahead of the meeting. The appointment system Eventbrite can be used to book activities, calculate the number of participants and raise online questions. The information of various departments can be shared, and different information is available to people with different permission.

Abundant online resources. The information and services of all departments can be searched on the official website of UNSW, and a majority of the information is presented in videos, animation, interviews and 3D. Some information is sent to specific students (such as first-year students, international students and students on an exchange program) via email. All the notices of UNSW are sent to all students via email.

Internship and part-time jobs. The tuition fees of most students are not provided by their families but paid by loans. Almost all students start to work for part-time jobs at Macdonald’s since high school, and can either work as interns at companies or apply for part-time jobs after entering college. They would sign formal contracts and be paid based on different levels, and extensive internship experience would be of great help to employment.

A well-organized support system. Campus police: the immediate help button is installed across the campus, and the campus police would immediately show up after the button is pressed. Legal support: the Legal Affairs Center provides students with free legal advice on lease contract and labor contract, etc. Academic support system: the Study Center helps revise papers and schools provide tutors for course support. Employment support: CV revision support is provided to students. Support to female students: there are many female-related workshops to teach female students how to protect themselves and fight for their rights and interests. Support to students aged under 18: students under the age of 18 have to either be accompanied by their parents at school or sign a guardianship contract with their universities according to the Australian law. The student advisors meet students every two weeks, and student apartments are checked on a daily basis. Support to students with disabilities: there are dedicated access and lectures for students with disabilities. Support to special groups: there are support teams dedicated to gay and lesbian. Psychological counseling: there are 10 full-time and 9 part-time psychologists.