Indonesia – Emma

Student: Emma
Course: Bachelor of Health Sciences / Bachelor of Arts
Program: Trimester exchange 2024
New Colombo Plan Scholar

My 11-month New Colombo Plan Scholarship program was nothing short of life-changing and has inspired me to pursue a life-long career in inclusive and impactful children's education. Studying a full-time semester at Universitas Gadjah Mada in Yogyakarta, Indonesia offered an immersive opportunity to experience on-campus life in Indonesia while studying International Relations and Indonesian Language units. Studying abroad in Indonesia, including a 3-week intensive Language Course in Salatiga, Indonesia, allowed me to utilise my Indonesian language skills in daily life, and form real friendships with Indonesian friends. My passion and motivation to become more fluent in Indonesian has only deepened since living in Indonesia, also extending to a new curiosity to explore Malay language as I temporarily lived in Malaysia during my NCP program too. I closed my NCP Scholarship with three months of intensive Indonesian language training, speaking exclusively Indonesian for six hours a day with native Indonesian teachers from throughout the archipelago. This language training component of my NCP program challenged me academically and socially, and I am so proud to have learnt so much during my time at Wisma Bahasa in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The self-growth, resilience and cultural competence gained throughout my Deakin-supported NCP program also empowered me to undertake a credit-bearing health promotion internship abroad in Indonesia.

I have now returned to Australia for my final year of my Bachelor of Health Sciences/Arts with a passion for promoting children's education for culturally and linguistically diverse communities in Australia, while aspiring to pursue a postgraduate teaching qualification (and certainly return abroad too).

Learn more about studying abroad with a New Colombo Plan Scholarship