Queensland partners

The Brisbane Universities Languages Alliance (BULA) is an Australian-first alliance between Queensland's three largest universities to expand higher learning in a range of Asian and European languages.

The partners in the BULA are The University of Queensland (UQ), Griffith University (Griffith) and Queensland University of Technology (QUT).

If you are a student of one of these three universities and your degree allows you to take language courses as electives or to major in a language, you will be able to study any of the nine languages that are taught by the BULA, no matter which is your home university. The major or electives will be credited back at your home university.

The languages available are: Chinese, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian and Spanish.

How does it work?

If the language of your choice is not taught by your home university you simply apply to cross-enrol at the university that teaches that language. Applying to cross-enrol is as easy as filling in the online application form on the BULA web portal. Your home and host universities will liaise to process your application and guide you through the process. You will then enrol at the host university for your chosen language course.

UQ students

As UQ already teaches eight of the nine languages in the BULA, UQ students would stay at UQ to study these eight languages. UQ students only need to cross-enrol to study Italian, which is taught by Griffith University.

QUT students

QUT teaches Mandarin so you simply enrol at QUT to study Mandarin. UQ teaches Korean, Indonesian, French, German and Russian so you would apply to cross-enrol at UQ to study these languages. Spanish and Japanese are taught by Griffith University and UQ, so you can choose between these two universities. Italian is only taught by Griffith University so you would apply to cross-enrol at Griffith to study Italian.

QUT majors are based on the standard UQ majors but they are shorter. UQ majors are composed of 8 courses, while QUT majors are composed of 6 courses. QUT majors are available in all streams. The first four courses are compulsory. They are the core language acquisition courses in the first and second year. After two years students can choose to study third year language acquisition courses or select from a range of courses suitable for their level. 

Griffith students

Griffith University teaches Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and Italian so you would simply enrol at Griffith to study one of these languages. You would apply to cross-enrol at UQ to study any of the remaining languages: Korean, Indonesian, German, French and Russian.

Students of other universities

You can apply to cross-enrol at any of the three universities to study any of the nine languages, but you cannot use the BULA online application form because this form has been designed for students of the three partner universities. You would first need to apply to your home university for permission to undertake cross-institutional study at another university. Then you can apply to cross-enrol at the university that teaches the language you are interested in. You can complete your application form on the website of your home university. 

Non-university students

You cannot cross-enrol if you are not a university student. If you wish to study one of the languages that is taught by UQ, you can apply for non-award study. If you wish to study a language that is taught by Griffith or QUT you should contact the relevant university.

Information for current BULA students