Program Details

Warning: Studying at James Cook University is not "SLU in an exotic location." The academic program, administrative structure and the grading more closely resemble the British university system than the American system. The subject lectures are, indeed, lectures rather than class discussions. Students are expected to progress through the semester independently. Australian universities are more vocationally-orientaed than liberal arts colleges and universities in the United States. It's unusual for Australian students to take subjects outside of their course of study, so there may be scheduling challenges if you plan to take subjects from different disciplines/departments.

A list of courses at James Cook University that have been pre-approved by St. Lawrence can be found here. Please keep in mind that these are just the courses that have been preapproved, but students may enroll in other courses as well, and seek approval after they have been accepted.

Definitions:

course of study - major

faculty - department or school (e.g., Faculty of Arts, Education & Social Science; Faculty of Medicine, Health & Molecular Sciences; Faculty of Science, Engineering & Information Technology)

subjects - classes

Semester I or Study Period I- February through June

Semester II or Study Period 2- July through November

Block mode - the subject, or components of the subject, meet outside the regular teaching schedule (for example, field trips on the weekend)

To view all the classes (or subjects) offered on the Townsville campus, go to the Townsville Subject Schedule. Please be mindful that Study Period I corresponds to SLU's SPRING semester and Study Period II corresponds to SLU's FALL semester.

To view all the classes (or subjects) offered on the Cairns campus, go to the Cairns Subject Schedule. The Cairns campus is particularly appropriate for tropical ecology studies.

Other helpful information:

• All subjects must be on the Townsville or the Cairns campus. The two campuses are 4 hours apart, so it is impossible to take subjects at both campuses.
• Students take 12 credits (three or four sujects), which must be endorsed for transfer credit prior to leaving SLU campus and approved by the appropriate department chair at JCU.
• At least one subject must have significant Australia content.
• Grades earned at JCU are converted to SLU grades using the standard Australian/US conversion system:

High Distinction = 4.0
Distinction = 3.75
Credit = 3.0
Pass = 2.0
Conceded Pass = 1.5
Failure = 0.0