Flew from Melbourne to the Gold Coast and met a limo driver, Kevin, who took me 2.5 hours inland, up the mountains to Toowoomba and USQ. Kevin, a 71 year old former plumber, is sent frequently to pick up American students and other study abroaders when they arrive. Students love him. As Kevin said, he loves the Gold Coast b/c “Places like Melbourne have 4 seasons in one day.” We drove west, through deep pink bougainvillea bushes, gardens of potatoes, horse farms, and to the top of the first mountain range (really, more like hills). Toowoomba sits atop them.

University of Southern Queensland
8,000 or so students study in Toowoomba, one of the bigger regional cities and the “Garden City” of Australia. About 10% are international students from countries around the globe. 1,000 Sudanese refugees have been resettled in Toowoomba, giving the city a reputation for being accepting and generous. Campus is a 10 minute busride outside the city. Compact and grassy, it also houses a Japanese garden, playing fields, and offers student apartments on campus.

Academics
USQ is well-known for its distance learning (not of interest to study abroad) as well as its music, theatre, climatology, and molecular biology programs. Their theatre/performing arts is connected with the regional theatre in town, the Empire Theatre, which brings pretty high flying acts to town. Faculty has won some excellence in teaching awards for a few years in a row now. Classes are smaller compared to many universities, with 40-50 in a lecture and 10-20 in tutorials.

Student support
USQ International is in the middle of campus and helps students with cultural settling in as well as academics (tutors are available). Their “Friendship Scheme” matches students with local Aussie families for various lengths of stay, and many excursions to Sydney, Brisbane, and the Gold Coast are available thru the office.

Housing
There are 3 residential colleges on campus that offer meal plans, as well as one apartment complex next to campus that have fully furnished pads, with 3-5 single bedrooms. The latter are what I toured.

Why study at USQ?
I’ve been asking myself what would draw a student to study so far inland, not in a major city or on a beach. Here’s what I see:
The cost of living at USQ 20-25% lower than bigger cities.
There’s no pollution, very little crime, and beautiful countryside/gardens.
The city is big enough to have major amenities, but small enough to give students an authentic Aussie experience w/very little of a tourist feel.

Finally saw the stars (haven’t yet due to rain or the haze of city lights) as I drove back to the Gold Coast to my abode at the Cancellor Apartments near Bond University. As we pulled up, Kevin, the driver, told me that this entire area was swampland only a few years ago. Now, it’s a cement and palm tree high-end living, shopping and eating strip. Beautiful, and inorganic.