Recognizing the efforts of international students, the City of Sydney has honored a group of 30 students from 12 different countries including India, for clocking in over 6,500 hours of voluntary work aimed at promoting the interests of international students in Sydney.
The group was part of a council-run program aimed at strengthening the international student community, building their leadership and networking skills and engaging with the local community.
Business student Piyush Joseph who is originally from India’s capital city New Delhi, was handpicked along with another Indian student for the 18-month long award-winning program in 2016.
Mr Joseph who has conducted two leadership conferences and various other cultural events for international students under the program told SBS Punjabi that the experience was the biggest learning curve of his academic journey.
“In the beginning, we underwent rigorous training sessions in leadership and networking, met a number of government stakeholders and engaged with many freshly-arrived international students.”
“After being trained, it was then duty to share those skills with the other students. We organized various events to bridge the gap between the students and the local community of Sydney”, told Mr Joseph.
Nikhil Patel, the only other Indian-origin student ambassador under the program feels there is an urgent need to encourage the Indians studying in Australia to undertake voluntary work that one can do only when he or she is a student.
“Indian students come here, and immediately start looking for jobs to make ends meet. But don’t just run after the money, you have come here to learn so engage in some sort of voluntary work that only students can do…you have your entire life to make your career”, added Mr Patel.
Australia is the second most preferred international education destination for Indian students across the vocational, higher education and school sectors.
