hay dude's and dudette's..
i've just found your discussion, so i thought i'd throw a reply into the mix of things (and i wanted to say hey to my new class mate for 2006, 'mg_syd').
Just on what (^0^) was saying abt comparing uni's for the design fac. --- I'm not sure abt courses such as graphic and textiles, but for industrial design it basically comes down to maths. Industrial design at UNSW is a wicked course, but it is heavily focused on maths and physics (more so then other uni's); compared to UTS which of course does have maths/physics but is slightly more focused on the aesthetics of design. The thing is people keep over looking the University of Canberra which has become well known for producing some damn talented students and can possibly become the No. 1 university for industrial design in the years to come (esp. now since both UTS and UNSW have boosted their student intake) - the thing holding canberra back would be their ridged course structure (esp. with them not having an individual concept-based final project).
i hope i've been a little helpful, its just that my brother completed industrial design at UNSW a couple of years ago, so he helped me on deciding the university.
Cheers, and congrats on your offers =)
P.S---- if i can warn ppl to just keep away from the Uni of Newcastle for industrial.. if its not for the uni's poor focus on such things as computer rendering... let it be for the fact that the degree is now or will be a TAFE course lol.