Study tour of a lifetime
Seven students from around the globe recently won the chance to embark on a whirlwind study tour around Australia.
The Win your Future Unlimited campaign invited prospective international students to design a digital postcard illustrating how an Australian education could help them achieve their dreams.
The campaign, coordinated by Austrade, aimed to build awareness of Australian education internationally. It attracted 37,000 entries from 190 countries and generated 830,000 visits to the Future Unlimited website and a million views of the competition video.
Seven weekly finalists were chosen to join the two week study tour and came from a mix of countries including Indonesia, Brazil, India, Russia, Vietnam, Philippines and the USA.
The final winner was announced at a special ceremony in Sydney by Trade and Investment Minister Andrew Robb. Uttam Kumar from India won the prize of one year tuition in Australia along with return flights, accommodation, a stipend and the opportunity for an internship.
In Australia, Uttam plans to study a master’s degree in materials science focusing on the development of composites from renewable materials. As his states in his winning postcard, ‘I want to develop nature friendly materials which will replace harmful materials and help alleviate problems of environment pollution and will enhance environmental sustainability in the world. I believe Australia has the best universities in this field.’
As an official campaign sponsor, the University of South Australia was the second stop on a six city national tour. The finalists visited the University’s City West campus during the Adelaide leg of the tour and enjoyed a morning tea and campus tour.
The students were also given the opportunity to meet with University academics and students from their chosen fields. It was a valuable opportunity for the finalists to enjoy a focused discussion about their study interests with leading academics.
While the emphasis of the tour was very much on study in Australia, there were plenty of opportunities for the finalists to enjoy the Australian landscape, culture and wildlife.
The finalists contributed to a blog which followed the progress of their tour including images of their first encounter with Australian wildlife at Cleland Wildlife Park in the Adelaide Hills followed by an afternoon of strawberry picking.
No doubt the campaign provided memorable moments for the finalists as well as the millions of prospective students who followed the journey online, also with the dream of one day studying in Australia.
