professional photography courses in Australia

I am keen in pursuing professional photography course in Australia or NZ. I

would be thankful if any gentleman can provide information regarding good

institutions in these two countries which impart degree course in

professional photography.

R S Rawat, New Delhi, India

Try the universities that have art schools. The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) is one of the best known. Its website is www.rmit.edu.au and you will need to navigate the links to the photomedia department. The Australian National University in Canberra also has a photomedia department - www.anu.edu.au and then follow the links to the art school and photomedia.

You could also try the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) but I don't know for sure.

Griffith University in Brisbane has a faculty called the Queensland College of Art (QCA) with a Bachelor of Photography.

They are very good. Probably the will take over from RMIT as the best in Australia. QCA is particularly good for photojournalism and photo art practice with some amazing lecturers in those fields particularly. RMIT probably still beats them at commercial/advertising though as that seems to be their primary focus.

On the other hand RMIT's photography department is very close to bankruptcy and is phasing out their dark rooms for educational purposes for future students (ie those enrolled from 2007 onwards).

By comparison, QCA is going strong and expanding their technical scope to include traditional, experimental and digital practices. I have a feeling they could bare to do more digital education though which is a concern for me as I will be studying there soon myself. (This is a concern that is common to most of the universities doing photography in Australia though - too much beauracracy, too slow to change.)

I guess it's just a matter of your own preference/interests. As far as I understand it though, QCA and RMIT are the top places to go in photography.