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Profiles
Graduates in Political Science talk about their study in the Department and their subsequent careers:
I never set out to become a reporter. In fact, during my five years at Melbourne University, I was intent on becoming an academic. Life in the politics department has that effect on people.
When I arrived in Australia from Canada in 1985, the politics department was a small, somewhat overlooked part of the Arts Faculty. Within a few years it had grown into one of the most dynamic and popular departments on campus - and not without reason.
About the time a new generation of academics joined the department and began introducing courses which reflected the intellectual debates of the 1980s. Gender issues, post modernism, social movements and Asian studies added spice and interest to the once staid study of political science.
For me, it meant I could combine my personal journey through young adulthood with my academic interest in Chinese and Communist politics. I completed an Honours degree in Women in Chinese Development, took a year off and promptly began tutoring in the department to pay some bills. About this time I also turned my experience on Farrago into paid causal work on a suburban newspaper.
I returned to study in 1989 to complete a Masters degree, but by this time have discovered that journalism paid more and promised more excitement than academia. After completing my MA at the end of 1990, I accepted a full-time job with the Leader Newspaper Chain, where I quickly climbed the ranks to become a chief political reporter. After spending a year investigating Camberwell Council (and winning several national awards) I was offered a job on The Age.
What does all this have to do with studying politics at Melbourne University, you ask?
Well, heaps. Arts degrees may be less sought after on the job market, but they teach you valuable research, lateral thinking and writing skills. Studying politics gave me an enormous advantage when it cam to understanding the machinations of Victorian politics, industrial relations and social policy. And when I was appointed education reporter in 1993, I was able to draw on all my contacts developed during my years in the department and on campus.
I have never regretted my time at Melbourne University nor my decision to study politics. And while I am planning to begin a PhD in media soon, I know that my strong grounding in political theory will serve me well in my future work and study.
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I completed a BA/LLB (Hons) at the University of Melbourne in 1992. In 1993, I undertook a Bachelor of Letters degree at the School of Political Science, Criminology & Sociology, comprising a variety of third and fourth-year subjects in European and International politics. These subjects, coupled with my studies in international law, human rights and public law and fluency in three foreign languages (Greek, French and Italian), provided a solid basis for my current work as policy/research officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
I joined DFAT through their graduate intake program in 1995. Since, then, I have worked in two distinct areas of the Department: the West Europe Branch, involving research, analysis and evaluation of political and economic developments in West Europe and the European Union and their implications for relations with Australia and including day-to-day aspects of bilateral relations; and the Regional Security Section responsible for looking after the ASEAN Regional Forum, the primary forum for security dialogue in the East Asia Pacific, and regional security developments important for the formulation of Australian security policy. Some of my day-to-day activities include the preparation of ministerial submissions and correspondence, cables, ministerial and official speeches, possible parliamentary questions, records of conversation and general briefing material, attendance and reporting on meetings and the developments for foreign policy. In addition, I have from time to time acted as Liaison Officer for visiting Ambassadors, senior officials and politicians.
My studies in Political Science have been very effective in equipping me with the sorts of skills and knowledge required to carry out effectively the duties of my present work. They have been the basis from which I have been able, with experience, to develop the skills and qualities that are essential for policy and diplomatic work.
My husband James and I are currently on training in preparation for our first posting as diplomatic officers in our mission to Tehran, where we will spend some two and a half years living and working in a difficult and extremely challenging environment. Representing Australia in one of some ninety diplomatic missions overseas in a vital part of our work at DFAT and one to which I look forward with much anticipation.
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I always wanted to be a teacher, but then I discovered politics! After completing my Education degree I enrolled in a MA preliminary (just like Honours), and then a MA. After completing a year of my research on Australia-Japan relations, I realised a visit to Japan would be a big help to my thesis. I applied, and as accepted, to the Japanese Governments Japan Exchange Teaching Program, and departed for Japan in July, 1995. My background in politics and Australia-Japan relations was an important part of winning a job with Mombusho (the Japanese Education Department).
The past year has been one of the most fascinating and memorable of my life. Living about an hour from Tokyo I have been able to complete my thesis with contributions from officials and government representatives at the forefront of Australia-Japan relations. I am teaching for 3-4 hours a day, and have ample time to immerse myself in Japanese culture and language (I didn't speak a word when I left). And what of the future?
Well, I've thought about journalism, government and business but at the moment life is a little too exciting for a 9-5 job. I hear there is some great teaching work going in Barcelona and London, so who knows! Whatever the case, with strong undergraduate and MA degrees in politics behind me the world is the limit.
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Until May of this year, I was studying for an MA in International Studies and tutoring in Australian Foreign relations for Derek McDougall in the Politics Department when I interrupted these studies to take up a job with a new Leader of the Opposition, Kim Beazley, MP after the Federal Election on March 2.
I began studying at Melbourne in 1989 with a Bachelor of Commerce in Macro-and International Economics, later defecting to the Arts Faculty, where I studies German Language and Literature, completing my Honours at the University of Hamburg in 1992.
After a two-year stint working as a consultant in Melbourne, I returned to the University in 1994, this time to undertake some politics subjects on the way to an MA. My undergraduate politics studies included International Relations Theory (now World Politics in Transition), Russian Politics and Society, Psychoanalysis and Social Theory and ICEPIC.
My Masters research is focused on German Foreign Policy since unification in 1990.
As with most jobs, I found my way to it by a process of elimination: The idea of working as a political staff was mentioned to me about three years ago by a friend of the family who I had approached for some career advice.
My job is National Security (Foreign Affairs and Defence) and Trade Advisor to the Leader of the Opposition, but in practice it includes additional responsibility for Foreign Aid and Immigration as well as anything else on the anything else on the got at the time (for example, I am advising on gun control at the moment).
I spend about 20% of my time writing speeches, both public and parliamentary and together roughly equivalent to a 3000 word essay every 10 days, 20% on correspondence for the Leader, another 20% on general policy and media coordination between the Shadow Ministry and the Leader's office (this is really my core duty, or at least the one thing I really must try not to stuff up), 10% in meetings with visitors and the balance of the time doing my reading.
For anyone contemplating this line of work, politics is a very good course of study. As simplistic as press releases and media sound-bites may sound, there is a huge amount of analysis which goes into preparing them - analysis for which your politics subjects will prepare you very well. In addition, a thorough knowledge of Australian political history is virtually a job requirement and as with most jobs today, a fair knowledge of economics is also expected, no matter what position you are in.
Melbourne University is a highly respected institution in Canberra - a large number of MU graduates make their way into the glamour departments of the Commonwealth Public Service and onto Capital Hill. A Melbourne University degree with a political science major and good results will stand anyone in good stead.
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