Language and Culture Studies
Posted by Stuart at 11:38 AM on April 25, 2004I haven't mentioned it here in a while, but every now and then I run a Google search to try to uncover my dream grad school program. This week, I found an interesting dissertation abstract from RMIT in Melbourne, Australia that sounded right up my alley.
The program at RMIT, strangely enough, is called "Language and Cultural Studies". This sounds moderately interesting to me, but it's not exactly what I was looking for. In this case, however, the program is under the "Education, Language and Social Services" department, so at least the "Education" aspect I am looking for is covered.
Drilling down I see some topics that I have found a new interest in, since moving to Thailand and starting to teach: "Globalisation and culture, cultural technologies, e-commerce, and education; Thai cultural studies; Cross-cultural and international education; International students; Immigrant and multicultural education; Ethnic communities..."
The interesting thing was that the dissertation I saw described an Intelligent Tutoring System, which is what I built for my Computer Science master's degree. So it looks like they take the "technology" part above fairly seriously, even thought it is an Education/Language/Cultural Studies program. Very promising!
So, I think I will do a little more research here. Does anyone have any experience they would like to share with RMIT, Melbourne, or Australia? Or any thoughts about getting a PhD at an Australian University? I can think of some pros and cons, but I am curious to know what other people think.
Dr.Chalinee Hirano, my boss, was granted her doctoral degree from Australia and had lived in such country for many years. She would be very informative source and consultant for you,Stuart.
Thanks for the advice and support y'all. I think getting a PhD is at least a year or two away, but at least I am starting to find a few places that I would enjoy attending!
- Stuart
Interesting courses there. I'm also shopping around for a Phd. program but my criteria is limited by location, Don't want to be far from family, which won't move with me. Can't give advice about Australia. As someone also considering to do a Phd, but holding back for several years, because I'm not totally convinced if I want to make academic life my career. Because that's only reason why getting a Phd, is justified. Otherwise, a lot of resources, money and time is spent. Since I don't have much of both, I've been thinking pretty hard. The other problem was that I'm looking for a multidisciplinary approach and faculty members that would support that. So far, my research into the faculties of the institutions I was interested in have been unsatisfying. Cultural studies is pretty multidisciplinary, the offside of that is that they could be pretty superficial. The way to check that out is to see the work that the university's faculty members have produced. If there are some who you feel think like you, go for it, if not shop elsewhere. You're committing yourself not only to a Phd programme but a 4-5 year dialogue with the faculty member's 'political' agenda. BTW, if you're only interested to learn for the sake of learning, the internet, and real life networking is a much richer source of learning.
it sounds so good,making Phd in Australia.I can not give such a benifit advice cos i'm just student in school. Good luck