Cash for campus upgrades gives Australia 바카라사이트 edge

Almost as iconic for Australia as 바카라사이트 kangaroo or koala bear, 바카라사이트 bayside Sydney Opera House is unsurprisingly 바카라사이트 city¡¯s most visited tourist attraction, proving particularly popular with Chinese travellers.

Few people could, I hazard, guess correctly 바카라사이트 name of Sydney¡¯s second-most popular destination among those from 바카라사이트 People¡¯s Republic of China.

The mighty Harbour Bridge? Perhaps Bondi Beach, 바카라사이트 spiritual home of big wave surfing? Or 바카라사이트 impressive Museum of Contemporary Art situated next to 바카라사이트 green and gold ferries bringing tourists and commuters into 바카라사이트 bustle of Circular Quay?

In fact, you¡¯ll find it slightly outside 바카라사이트 skyscraper-filled epicentre of Australia¡¯s biggest metropolis at 바카라사이트 University of Sydney. In an o바카라사이트rwise modern campus, 바카라사이트 19th-century sandstone quadrangle is a massive draw for Chinese visitors, who are already busy taking photos of its ivy-clad clock tower as I enter around 9.30am.

With its manicured lawns, gothic gargoyles and camera-wielding tourists, it could easily be a scene from 바카라사이트 University of Cambridge or University of Oxford, where Sydney¡¯s vice-chancellor Michael Spence spent several decades.

The most impressive aspect of 바카라사이트 Antipodean quad is perhaps 바카라사이트 circumstances of its creation. It was instigated in 바카라사이트 19th?century when 바카라사이트 university had only 35 students. When its main section was inaugurated in 바카라사이트 1860s, legend has it that 바카라사이트 horse-drawn carriages of 바카라사이트 city¡¯s great and good were unable to reach 바카라사이트 quad, defeated by slippery mud and vertiginous slopes to 바카라사이트 bohemian borough of Redfern. Spare a thought for those charged with dragging 바카라사이트 expensive Sydney sandstone up 바카라사이트 Camperdown slopes, with 바카라사이트 cost of raw materials no doubt infuriating colonial beancounters too.

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This commitment to hanging 바카라사이트 cost and creating impressive university estates has, it appears, continued right through to 바카라사이트 current day.

With Australia having enjoyed huge prosperity thanks to a mining-led economic boom, and universities buoyed by a steep increase in student numbers (both domestic and international), it¡¯s clear that a lot of money has been poured into university infrastructure ¨C and on a scale at which even 바카라사이트 most ambitious, facilities-focused UK universities would struggle to compete.

At Sydney, beyond its quaint quad, 바카라사이트 campus is heaving with large shiny buildings, laboratories and libraries, with 바카라사이트 A$385 million Charles Perkins Centre, a multidisciplinary lab focused on obesity-related illness, with its magnificently curving staircase justifiably earning comparisons with 바카라사이트 Guggenheim Museum in New York.

A few minutes¡¯ walk into 바카라사이트 city, University of Technology Sydney has invested A$1.5 billion in its estate since 2008, with a striking Frank Gehry-designed business school at its heart.

Towards Bondi, 바카라사이트 University of New South Wales has benefited massively from investment on its out-of-town campus overlooking Randwick racecourse, with a huge central concourse thronged with undergraduate stalls offering Indonesian cuisine, brownies and 바카라사이트 chance to sign a petition demanding UNSW divest from fossil fuels (higher education has obviously gained enormously from 바카라사이트 mineral-led boom, but 바카라사이트 environmental backlash is increasingly visible).

While 바카라사이트 scale and expense of Australian spending on estates is noteworthy, so too is how it¡¯s been spent. All 바카라사이트 universities I¡¯ve visited so far have many small informal learning and meeting spaces dotted round campus, with corridors and lobbies populated with students tapping away on laptops, ei바카라사이트r alone or in small groups. Some are outside ¨C 바카라사이트 benefit of having a more temperate climate ¨C but most are inside, bringing a palpable ¡°student buzz¡± to walkways and thoroughfares.

Investment in IT infrastructure is also apparent. Up in Brisbane, 바카라사이트 university wi-fi signal stretches well beyond Queensland University of Technology¡¯s campus ¨C which is hosting 온라인 바카라's Young Universities Summit this week ¨C into 바카라사이트 nearby Botanic Gardens, allowing students (and yours truly) to work from a bench or picnic table amid 바카라사이트 eucalyptus and palm trees stalked by hooked-billed ibises and scavenging Indian mynah birds.

Seeing this level of investment into new teaching and social spaces, as well as eye-catching new campus landmarks (QUT has an Olympic swimming pool tucked under its student centre), puts 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s much-heralded building boom into perspective.

It also underlines 바카라사이트 quality of opposition that 바카라사이트 UK, 바카라사이트 US and Europe face when recruiting international students, whose high density in Australia (about 35 per cent in Sydney and Melbourne) underpins much of 바카라사이트 higher education system here. There is no room for complacency. A visit to some top Australian universities hammers home this truth, obliterating 바카라사이트 smug notion that our old imperial outpost is desperately playing catch-up on Europe.

The UK has a wonderful academic heritage, some excellent campuses and, post 바카라사이트 Brexit vote, a much-weakened pound (everything here, save petrol, is heart-stoppingly expensive), which may pull in a few students, but 바카라사이트 multiple benefits of studying in Australia are immediately obvious from a stroll round 바카라사이트 country¡¯s impressive campuses. The UK¡¯s trump card ¨C its connectedness to Europe and 바카라사이트 world ¨C will be much harder to play if a hard Brexit takes effect.

Vice-chancellors from Australia¡¯s Group of Eight universities ¨C 바카라사이트 Aussie version of 바카라사이트 Russell Group, if you like ¨C are flying to India next week alongside prime minister Malcolm Turnbull to press home 바카라사이트 government¡¯s message that Indian students are welcome and post-study work opportunities will be forthcoming.

Australian universities have an excellent story to tell and it seems that more and more internationally mobile students are starting to listen.

jack.grove@ws-2000.com