International study tour lets students experience life at Deakin

Deakin University’s School of Information Technology hosted 23 students from China’s Southwest University (SWU) and Inner Mongolia Normal University (IMNU) during a two-week study tour in August. 

The students from SWU are studying software engineering and the IMNU students are studying games design. During their visit the students spent time at Deakin’s Melbourne Burwood Campus and two Geelong campuses, to enable them to experience what Deakin can offer. The students participated in a tailored academic program to give them an introduction to various areas taught by the School of IT including virtual reality, games development, website building and interactive media. 

Dr Xiao Liu, Senior Lecturer (International Partnerships) in the School of IT, said ‘the benefit of the study tour for our partnered universities in China is tremendous’. He said the study tour helped students feel more confident about living in Australia because they ‘know there are so many students who are on the same pathway and there are so many Deakin staff here to help them’.

Feedback from students on the tour included being excited to see ‘such a beautiful country’ and enjoying ‘first-hand experience of what will the life be like if we are going to study in Australia’.

There are currently 63 students from SWU studying with the School of IT and it is anticipated students from both SWU and IMNU will apply to study at Deakin next year.