International Students Australia

International Students Australia - Sydney

University can seem like an alien culture.  When it is overseas, it is doubly hard.

Macquarie University has the highest percentage of overseas students of any university in Australia.

So Ying, a Chinese-born student, Tim, her Australian husband, and Jason Bolster founded “Coffee Club.”

Having been a Chinese student herself, Ying knows the how bewildering arriving in a new culture can be.  She went looking for what she calls “her Australian family.”  Now that she really does  have an Australian family (she and Tim have a two year old son) she is keen to support others.

The leaders serve how they can.  Coffee Club introduces Australian culture and teaches English, blending chat, games, activities and supper.  When people needed help finding jobs, Jason wrote a booklet about finding work and they ran a CV-writing workshop.  When a student was homeless, she moved in with Tim and Ying.

Latin American regulars, Carlos and Diana, say, “We started coming to learn English, but we came again because of the friendship.”  This of course is what Coffee Club leaders want.  Says Tim, “They teach Jason and me Mandarin.  Chinese New Year and Australia Day coincided this year. 

We explained one while celebrating the other.  Chinese New Year and Mid-Autumn Festivals are our two biggest events.  They get over 40 people each.”

Coffee Club meets at 7.30pm every Friday at Morling College, 120 Herring Road, North Ryde.  Monthly, they have dinner at a leader’s home, where the cooking and the billiard table prove popular attractions. 

Jason B.

Combining their own campus culture, sport and recreation with high-quality education, Australian Universities are the ‘go-to-place’ for any student interested in studying abroad.

With well over 100 clubs and societies at Usyd, for instance, Campus life represents a broad array of student interests. Considering some of these organizations are as specific as ‘Writers Society’, finding, and networking with, other students with similar interests is never too difficult either.

Sport and recreational facilities, moreover, also bring extra-curricular and other activities to a student’s place of study. After or during a tiresome day of lectures and classes, students, with ease, can play a game of pool with friends, dine at a restaurant on campus or even work out at the Uni gym.

In terms of education, lastly, Australian universities are nothing short of stellar. With universities ranking as high as 16 in the world’s top 100 universities list, overseas students will be happy to know that they can travel abroad while retaining a good, if not better, education.

Jevon S., Australia