whySTUDYhere

''I am 17 years old. I live with my father and my grandparents. My mom left when I was 6 months old and I have never had any contact with her of even seen a picture of her. My father is a motorbike taxi driver. Sadly, he is a violent man and regularly beats me with whatever he can find. After my grandmother got sick, we had to sell the house to pay for her medical costs. My family now lives at an ancestral temple. Every summer vacation before the new school year starts, I work as a waiter or as a security guard to earn some money to help pay the remaining debt. Deep down in my heart, I always treasure my good fortune when I see some people who do not even have a roof to stay out of the hot sun or out of rain. They do not even have the means to manage full board. I came to KOTO with the hope of a brighter future for myself and my family".

"I am 19 years old. I was born in a family of 7 people: my grandparents, my parents, my 2 siblings and me. My father works as a construction worker. He is a violent man and addicted to alcohol. My mom does the hired jobs to get an unstable income and she burnt almost of that in to the gamble. My elder brother indulges in pleasure. When seeing my family's situation, I think that, there is no way out for me to be released from it but education. And KOTO has really given me that precious chance".

"The most enjoyable memory in the English Language Bridging Course would be the experience of cultural exchange. We come from different countries, we help each other and support each other, sharing life experiences."

I have always wanted to get out of my comfort zone and explore the world and the different cultures it has to offer. That was the main reason why I decided to come to Australia. Griffith University has been known to have the best mix of all cultures combined, which is why I decided to join Griffith.

Griffith has an incredible criminology department with high profile individuals to learn from. The academic staff have provided me with wonderful support to help me through my studies.

"Curtin was my dream university since I passed my undergraduate degree. I got to know from an education fair that Curtin is ranked on the top 1% of the world's universities, which attracted me a lot. There, the English Language Bridging Course gave me an opportunity to not only improve myself on academic skills, but also it taught me how to carry out multiple tasks at a time, handling stressful situations. If you're thinking about a career in Curtin University, you are leading yourself along the right path."

As a Griffith Mate, I was able to host and organise events where people from all over the world could come together. Seeing people having fun and new friendship being established brings me tremendous joy.

The University of New England is home to students from around the world, many of them with incredible stories about what led them to study in New South Wales.

At first, I really couldn't adapt to such a strange and stressful learning model as I had to complete some quizzes and difficult essays within the specified time. After completing these assignments, I had to review the lecture notes to get prepared for the final exam. Sometimes unprecedented learning patterns and language barriers made me feel helpless and stressful. But after some time, I found the shortcomings of my study and gradually found a learning method that was suitable for me.

       

"I don’t know anything about my father. My elder brother and I used to wander from place to place with my mother. It was a really hard time for us. When I was 8 years old, my mother sent us to a children's shelter. When I heard about the KOTO training program, I knew this was the right place for me.  I applied to KOTO in the previous intake but I was not able to demonstrate my determination. This year, after much thought and determining my life goals and was able to prove my strong motivation and commitment to KOTO and the studies, I was accepted. I feel so lucky to have been accepted this time. KOTO provides me with an amazing opportunity to create a brighter future for myself".

Overall, the environment and the staff at Griffith are very cooperative and accommodating. Moreover, different societies and services at Griffith are very helpful for a student to excel and solve issues.

I graduated at quite a young age from high school and I knew I wanted to study something medicine or biology related. However, I didn't want to start medicine just yet because I'm uncertain myself. I saw that Griffith is the only university that we didn't have to choose specific majors during Biomedical Science and keeps it pretty broad, rather 'specialising' only when continuing studies to a higher degree.

When I first arrived in Australia, I didn’t know anything about this new place nor did I know anyone. The orientation ceremony held by Griffith helped me a lot to learn everything I needed to know for my studies. The friendly support staff and mentors made a huge impact on my positive start to being a Griffith student.

The quality of the teaching staff is superb! My professors have first-hand experience in the fields they teach. They apply real-world problems in lectures to help students understand the theory.

"I will encourage other students to come to Northwest because they will learn what it is like living on campus, experimenting this new culture, and making a lot of life long friends."

Studying the Bachelor of Business (Finance) at UNE Sydney will help you to navigate the world of business focusing on core units related to the finance industries and occupations. You will develop skills in creative thinking and critical analysis, corporate and international financial management, banking and finance through to business law. You will be able to develop and lead ethical, social and environmental solutions to meet business challenges.

Griffith's support services have helped me with something that I personally have struggled a lot with - socializing and making new friends. Moving entirely alone to a new country was very difficult for me to adjust to, especially because I had no friends here and nobody to turn to when I needed help. Through Orientation activities and several Griffith Mates programs (volunteering day-trips and the Buddy Program specifically) have helped me meet new people and make friends, some of which are in the same courses as I am.

I completed two placements as part of my studies and one of them was as an elective in event management. It helped me a lot with networking and making new friends.

Maryville University - a second home and so far an incredible experience. Every day gives new opportunities to make new, long-lasting memories with faculty, staff, and other students. At Maryville I matter, I inspire, I get inspired, and I evolve. For each day that passes I see myself becoming more and more the person I aspire to be, and with the engaging staff and great diversity, there is always something to take away from each and every day.