Starting at University

When you start university, you are moving into a new learning culture. This is true whether you are an international student, a mature-age student, or an Australian school-leaver. Obviously, you already know a lot about studying from your previous learning experiences, but you will probably have to develop some new approaches to study to suit the new learning environment.

On this page we will talk about some practical aspects of university life.

You should also look at our pages on

Getting to know people

Getting to know your lecturers and tutors

Getting to know your lecturers and tutors is important, not necessarily in a social sense (you probably won’t spend much time socialising with them), but in an academic sense. By this, I mean that you need to know what your lecturers value in academic terms. What do they expect of you? What do they want you to learn?

Some tips are:

  • Read your subject outlines carefully.Take note of the aims and objectives of the subject. Read through the course outline and the assignments. All of this will give you a good idea of what is important to the lecturer. Make sure, as well, when you do an assignment that you know exactly what the lecturer wants. Don’t assume anything!
  • Talk to other students, especially previous students in the subject. They can often help you to understand where the lecturer is coming from.
  • talk to your lecturers and tutors. The best time to talk to your teachers is in class. That’s one of the reasons why it’s important to speak up in tutorials. (See our page on Participating in Tutorials.) You can also talk to your lecturers out of class: most lecturers have a designated time for consultations with students. Unfortunately, lecturers who are responsible for several hundred students may not be able to spend much time with you individually.
  • find out how to contact your tutors and lecturers. They may not be on campus every day, so you will probably need a phone number and/ or an e-mail address.
  • let your tutor know if you can’t attend a tutorial.
  • use e-mail. Often e-mail is the best way to contact your lecturer.

Your tutor will be the academic you get to know best and he/she is the best person to talk to if you have a question. University teachers are busy people: they don’t have a lot of time to spend with individual students, but they are usually happy to answer your questions and explain what you don’t understand.

Tutors and lecturers set aside a period each week, when they are available to students. The consultation time might be noted in the subject guide, or posted on the teacher's door. If you are not sure, ask the administrative assistant. If you can't see the lecturer/tutor at this special consultation time, make an appointment through the administrative assistant. Do not just knock on the door and expect someone to be there for you outside consultation times.

And be careful not to pester your teachers. Students who do not take an independent approach to their study can be very irritating for lecturers (like whingeing kids). If you want to talk to your lecturer, work out your questions carefully beforehand.

If you need more help than the tutor is prepared to give you, talk to the staff in one of the Learning Resource Centres, the Academic Skills Centre, or to the student mentors in the Residences Academic Assistance Program (RAAP) if you live in one of the University Residences.

Getting to know your fellow students

You need friends at uni! Friends will keep you sane and happy, and friends will help you study.

Some good ways to make friends to keep you sane and happy are:

  • join a student club and/or society (ask at UCU). There are sports clubs (like the Outdoor Club and the UC Cricket Club); cultural clubs (like the Moslem Students Association); and professional clubs (like the Accounting Students Association). Hints:
    1. really get involved—volunteer to do something specific for the club.
    2. stick around after the club meeting and join in what people are doing—it could be something really cool.
  • join a collective such as the Women’s Collective or the Environmental Collective. (Ask at the Students Association)
  • accept invitations to do things with other students
  • ask other students to do things with you (go to the movies, have a coffee or a drink, share a meal...)
  • relax and smile.

Some good ways to make friends to help you study are:

  • get talking to the people in your classes—before and after tutorials, in the breaks
  • suggest that you could form a study group.

It’s very helpful to talk about your study with other students in your class. Talking over your lectures, reading, assignments and tutorials with others helps you to

  • make sense of the subject and understand it better
  • remember what you’ve been studying
  • develop your own ideas
  • do better in assignments.

Sharing ideas is a very good way to study—just be careful you don’t all hand in the same assignment!

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Establishing good study habits

It’s a good idea to set up some good study routines as soon as possible. You will probably break these routines as the year goes along— that’s part of the fun of being a student—but an underlying pattern of good study is essential.

Managing your time wisely is crucial. You will probably have relatively few hours of face-to-face contact on your timetable, and the hours get fewer as you become more advanced in your studies. This is to give you as much free time to study individually as possible.

If you don’t use your time wisely, you can easily fall behind in your studies, get stressed about your work, and be poorly prepared when it comes to the exams. The time management page on this site will help you to set up routines for managing your time.

Managing your notes is also important. You need good filing systems and you need to keep them well-organised. The most common system is to have an A4 file for each subject. Within that file, you can subdivide your notes according to each topic. Plastic sleeves or file dividers can be very useful for keeping things together. You will probably want to collate your lectures notes and handouts together with the notes you take from readings on similar topics. You may want to keep a day-to-day file for carrying around with you, and transfer your notes into a more stable filing system at home.

Some people like to use computer filing systems such as databases to collate their notes. You could use a program such as Filemaker for this. The University of Canberra also has a site licence for Endnote, a bibliographic package that is useful for all students, but particularly for those who are writing dissertations and theses.

Managing your health and fitness is also important. So it’s a good idea to get into some good routines of sleeping, eating and getting exercise. Find out more about how to keep fit and healthy at the University of Canberra on the UCU page, and on our page on stress management.

Managing your study space. For some good tips on managing your study space, look at our page on time management.

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Getting the things you need

Books

It is almost certainly a good idea to buy the main textbook(s) for your course. The Library cannot possibly keep sufficient copies of these texts for everyone, although the Short Loan section will have some copies of these texts.

These books may be expensive. You should reckon on spending on average $200/semester on books. Check which books are important to buy in your subject guide, or ask your lecturer or tutor. By becoming a member of the University Co-op bookshop for $20, you can get up to 15% discount on all the books you buy there.

If you’re lucky you may find a secondhand copy of your textbook in the UCU Shop or advertised on a noticeboard. Make sure it's the latest edition.

Stationery

Don’t stint on stationery. Well-made filing systems, good quality paper and good pens will make your life better and your study more effective.

A computer

Although UC has good computer facilities in Building 10, it will be very helpful to have your own computer at home, but you should think carefully about what sort of computer to get to suit your study needs. Your lecturers or previous students in your course may have some suggestions about what computer would be suitable for your needs. For more guidance, look at the computers at university page

A dictionary

All students, and particularly non-native speakers, are advised strongly to buy a good English-English dictionary such as the Collins Cobuild English Learners Dictionary.

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University of Canberra Student Support services

Reseach shows that successful students access student services. The University wants you to succeed and so there is plenty of support available. (This page opens in a new window.)

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