Future aid workers/students doing international studies (1 Viewer)

[lalala trip]

Hello...this thread doesnt really fit anywhere but anyways, i would really like to talk to other people in highschool, and at uni that want to work in the international, non-government aid work sector. I am likely to be the only person at my school that wants to spend time overseas and pursue a career in this industry. What subjects are u studying at school? i am taking Aboriginal studies, modern history, geography, society and culture and visual arts next year (year 11) and i am likely to study international studies at uni, so it would be really kool if i could actually speak to students doing international studies...especially sydney students.

:wave: ​

 

[jonojet]

Hey. I am a bit confused about my own degree - and I'm about to finish my second year of B.Int.St. at Sydney Uni! I'm also interested in working with an NGO/aid organisation. So here's the low-down:

• Sydney Uni's B.Int.St. is very Political Science/Political Economy based.
• You have 4 compulsory 1st- yr subjects - Geopolitics, World Politics, Economics as a Social Science, and International Economy and Finance.
• You have two compulsory Political Science subjects - Applied International Studies and International Studies Practicum. For the first one, you choose a current topic and study it for a semester, the second one you do on exchange/internship (they recommend you do an internship or go on exchange).
• You then have to choose 2x Political Economy and 2x GOVT subjects.

Personally, I had really wanted to do two languages (French and Japanese) but because there are so many compulsory subjects, I had to drop Japanese. I think a big part of this is because it's only a 3-yr degree.

The other crazy thing is that Sydney Uni is introducing a B.Global Studies program - this seems to be exactly the same course except 1. administered by Faculty of Arts not Economics/Business and 2. compulsory language component.

I personally think the course isn't very comprehensive - it focuses on lots of trade and politics, but doesn't let you do stuff like languages and culture.

It seems like the UNSW course seems much better; instead of one generic 3-yr course, you get to choose a stream (languages, global, asian studies, euro studies), and it has a compulsory 1-yr exchange. UNSW has more language options as well, I think. But then I think I chose this degree 1. I wanted to get it over and done with in 3 yrs 2. A UNSW told me to go to Sydney Uni just before he got fired.

In terms of whether that helps with your aid career - I think it definitely gives you a perspective on the big global issues like development, poverty + inequality, peace and conflict, global institutions etc... I think you also need to give yourself that extra edge by doing work experience/volunteer work for NGOs.

So hope that helps!

J

 

[Chiisora]

Isn't the UAI for B International Studies like in the 90s range? I wanted to study that at university too but yeh, it seems to be based a lot on political and that type of stuff...

B International Studies @ UNSW = UAI 91.4 (2006)
B International Studies @ UniSyd = UAI 93.45 (2006)

I never knew they'd be in the 90s range... Must be quite popular...