Charles Sturt University

I highly appreciate the female professors facilitating lectures and simulation clinics at CSU. We get straight into hands on training in the first year of university. CSU is a small campus in Orange with essential facilities that can be improved. There are also clubs such as the Student Dental Association, Bushwalking and Outdoors Club… with openness to inaugurate a new club or group (i.e. A Canadian Club). The close-knot student body is something I love about the campus. The room for improvement in resources and facilities for food, fitness, and professional networking, to name a few are factors that can be progressed.

Charles Sturt University is a small university but a very supportive one. You feel like a part of family when you come to campus. There’s always a plethora of clubs and activities to cater to everyone’s interests. As scary as it sounds, moving away from home to another country… Charles Sturt University supports you through it all. There are always other international students just like you in your cohorts who support you and make the journey an enjoyable one! The program combines foundational biomedical science with hands-on clinical training.

CSU’s Orange campus boasts well-equipped learning facilities and a lovely environment for studying dentistry. Though Orange is a small town, it’s a recognized foodie spot and there are plenty of amazing hikes to explore nearby and in the Blue Mountains. The campus makes up for its limited sporting facilities with lots of social sport opportunities (e.g. run club, tennis, and oztag). The OSRC provides great support to students and catered events are a regular occurrence (e.g. sausage sizzles and pizza nights). The instructors support students actively throughout the learning process and hands-on training is structured to help students develop a wide variety of hand skills. One major draw-back as a first-year student is that there are no open hours to practice drilling in the simulation clinic, so we are only exposed to it once a week. The Student Dental Association runs a number of events through the year to encourage networking among students, staff, and professionals beyond he university’s gates.

Campus is small and nice. The people here are very nice. I like class sizes and most of my instructors, however this uni doesn’t allow dental students to come practice hand skills / drilling teeth on their own time.

Like: people and can build strong friendships and closeness with faculty. Dislike: location, very small campus/town. Like: instructors and pace of first year. Organization of classes is not the best.

Like: – Simulation clinic begins in the second semester of the first year. (with clinical practice coming up next year) – Small class size – Additional assessments are often provided If you fail any material – The cost was cheaper than other Australian universities Dislike: – it was very difficult to get courses exempted, and the requirements seemed very arbitrary (I did eventually get 4 courses exempted halfway through the semester) – Many professors have quit in recent years (including this year) the result is that the school is understaffed. One professor have left during the middle of the semester. This causes confusion and issues for learning content – Their is a high expectation for self learning with minimal resources/guidance given. – The expectations for examinable knowledge is very unclear – Very few techniques have been formally taught in our clinical practice settings. (we are expected to try things and figure it out on our own) – Since the school is small, there is not a lot a lot of recreation facilities (i.e. rock climbing wall and squash courts, both of which were staples at previous universities that I have attended.