The authors are Jamie Freestone and Mathew McGann.  Between them, they have 15 years of tertiary study at different institutions, in various faculty areas, in a mixture of full-time and part-time study, at graduate and undergraduate level. They know many international students from various countries and have vast experience in talking to and interviewing foreign students about their experiences. They are both members of the Australia-China Youth Association (ACYA) and the Federation of Indian Students of Australia (FISA) as well as having personal contacts with the administration of the National Union of Students (NUS) in Australia.

Jamie Freestone
Jamie has studied sociology, English literature and economics and is still involved with the Australian National University (the ANU). He also studied at the University of Wollongong. He has experience as a radio presenter and also been the editor of the ANU’s newspaper, Woroni. He is also a qualified high school English teacher and has worked as one for several years. Along with Mat, he runs a successful business which produces informative podcasts for universities.

Mathew McGann
Mat is a PhD candidate in theoretical physics at the Australian National University (the ANU) and has also completed a Graduate Certificate in Commercialisation from the ANU. He has in total five years experience as a lab demonstrator and as an undergraduate tutor.  Mathew is a keen public speaker and has experience in running a Toastmasters club. He is also interested in business and is an active member of the Canberra entrepreneurial community. Along with Jamie, he runs a successful business which produces informative podcasts for universities.  

The guide is valuable because it contains the kind of information that you simply can’t find anywhere else. A lot of what you need to know before coming to study in Australia is freely available on the internet. For example, you may wish to know what Australia’s climate is like. It is extremely easy to get that kind of info on the internet. But, you may not know what kind of clothing it is acceptable to wear in different situations in Australia, given the climate.

That’s the kind of info we strive to provide in the guide: the stuff that you can’t get anywhere else. We are sure that the information we provide is useful and will help you make friends in Australia, improve your marks at university and save you money.

The guide is for anyone coming from another country to study in Australia. It is probably best suited to people from cultures that are vastly different from Australia’s. This means that someone from China, India, Japan or Vietnam will probably get a lot more out of the guide than someone from Germany or France or the USA. Students from Western European and North American countries will still find valuable information in the guide and won’t be disappointed with a lot of the hints and suggestions we make. But, they may find that a lot of the information may overlap with their experience from their own country.

The guide was written mainly with Asian students in mind and indeed it was mainly Asian students we consulted when we conducted research in our preparation to write it.

Currently the guide is not available in any bookstores or through any provider other than this website. You can order it using a credit card, paypal account or other trusted payment method.   Once the payment is processed, you will immediately be able to download the guide.  

You will be able to download the ebook and audio immediately after your payment is processed.  If you have problems, email deliveries@ozunisurvival.com.au .

If you are not satisfied that the guide has improved your time in Australia and saved you some money, we offer a full money back guarantee for the product ($59.95)  simply contact refunds@ozunisurvival.com.au .

We use the trusted Australian online merchant service ezimerchant to organise and process our orders.  This service allows us to provide a secure means of processing credit card or account information that we could not do by ourself.  If you decide to buy the guide, you will be redirected to the ezimerchant checkout domain ezimerchant.com/checkout/ .

The guide is currently only available in English, but we are in the process of having the handbook translated into Mandarin. As soon as this is accomplished we will be adding that to the package.

If you find a factual error or a typographical error in the handbook, please email errata@ozunisurvival.com.au and the authors will correct the mistake. It will be added to an errata page and will be amended when the second edition of the guide is published.

The guide has useful information and hints about these issues, but you will need to consult the appropriate government websites (as listed in the handbook). There is no guaranteed method of obtaining Australian citizenship or obtaining permanent residency, but the authors have been as honest as possible in giving all the advice we can on improving your chances. Buying the guide will improve your chances but will not ensure that you get permanent residency or citizenship in Australia.

Yes. If you follow the advice given in the guide you will find that you get the most out of your subjects. There is advice on mathematics based subjects and how best to study for those and also advice on how to impress your teacher.

There is also advice on humanities based subjects and how to go beyond what most students will do. We also give useful advice on presentations and oral tasks. All of these hints are based on the authors’ wide and varied experience at university in Australia.

Yes. It is a word-for-word reproduction of the handbook, apart from some alterations that had to be made for reading out information given in tables in the printed book.

The audiobook can be downloaded when you purchase the pack.  They are in compressed mp3 so that the file is not too large to download.  You can play them on your computer, burn them to a CD, or you can transfer the mp3s to your ipod or phone to listen to at your convenience.

The audiobook is narrated by one of the authors, Jamie Freestone. He was born in Australia and although he speaks quite slowly in the audiobook (to make it easier to understand) the accent he uses is a fairly typical Australian accent with typical Australian pronunciation of words.

We have included 17 bonus audio files that you can download and then load onto your iPod or Mp3 player if you wish. They are between two and ten minutes in length and contain extra helpful information that isn’t in the handbook or on the audiobook.

The podcasts include information of two kinds: (1) information that is very timely and therefore was not permanent enough to put in the handbook; for instance we talk about the current state of politics in Australia (as of January 2011); and (2) content that was particularly suited to audio rather than written format; for instance we include some sample bits of conversation.

The content that is very timely will be updated independently of the guide, so that we may add new podcasts before then next edition of the handbook becomes available.

The content that is specially suited to audio is designed to give people an opportunity to hear two Australian voices (the two authors)  in casual conversation with each other. We also include some extra useful hints like how to speak in a job interview, good ways to begin presentations or speeches and some recordings of common phone calls students may need to make.

We also have some content that is specifically useful for Chinese students, including a frank and honest discussion of the perception of China in Australia.

Like the audiobook, these podcasts can be downloaded once the pack is purchased.  The bonus podcasts are separate mp3s that can be listened to on you computer, burned to CD or transferred to your ipod to listen to on the move.  

As mentioned above, the content in the podcasts was either of a kind that could only be expressed through voices (e.g. tips on speaking) or was very current or timely (e.g. what the biggest political issues are in Australia in 2011).

The podcasts were recorded in a studio as a series of discussions between the authors Mathew McGann and Jamie Freestone. They are casual in nature because they are supposed to give you an idea of typical Australian voices conversing in Australian English.