School of Forestry

Australia/US student, staff, and faculty exchange

The Australia/ US International Student, Staff, and Faculty Exchange is a cooperative agreement between Southern Cross University School of Environmental Science Management and Northern Arizona University School of Forestry.

Broadening forestry studies horizons

A growing national trend in undergraduate education is the internationalizing of curricula. It is widely suggested that students with some level of international experience have better job opportunities and maintain a life-long interest in global affairs. Many universities now offer study abroad programs and maintain international student offices that serve both non-US students studying in their university and US students who study abroad.

Exchange agreement

In 2004, Southern Cross University (SCU), New South Wales, Australia, and Northern Arizona University (NAU), Flagstaff, Arizona, signed a student, staff and faculty exchange agreement to achieve a mutually beneficial broadening of perspective about issues in our respective countries. Since both SCU and NAU have forestry programs, it seemed natural for our faculties to use the exchange agreement as an opportunity to internationalize aspects of our forestry teaching.

Exchange agreement elements:

student, staff, faculty exchange
equity of support between institutions
non-discriminatory
annual selection and nomination by each institution
student pays: travel cost, room and board, medical insurance, passport/visa, course fees at their resident institution
student pays: tuition to home institution
student employment
at NAU- Australian students can work for NAU up to 20 hours/week
at SCU- US students can work any job up to 20 hours/week
faculty/staff retain host salary
faculty teaching/workloads are negotiable