Certificate III in Commercial Cookery
Certificate IV in Commercial Cookery
Diploma of Hospitality Management

“Studying at the Gordon has changed me most notably in my approach to work ethic and has taught me to persevere even more throughout my day to day life. Beyond this, being a student at the Gordon has boosted my confidence to thrive in the workplace. My technique has improved, with many thanks to all the staff and the expertise, the advice and support I received from them has been so relevant and for that I’m so grateful. It has encouraged me in striving for accuracy and precision in what I do, as well as trusting my instincts or intuition in a specific moment, for these new acquired attributes, I cannot thank the Gordon enough.”

I am Javid, an Afghan refugee, currently studying a Bachelor of Vision Science/Master of Optometry at Deakin University. I was born and raised in a refugee camp in Iran. From there, my parents and I fled persecution, and we sought asylum in Australia. Australia is a great multicultural society and you don’t feel isolated. With only basic literacy and numeracy skills, and no English, I enrolled at a secondary school and managed to access around three years of formal education, before getting the scores I needed to get into university. My dream was always to become a medical doctor.

I got to know about Deakin from an information session I attended towards the end of my VCE year (2016). Deakin course advisors and the Scholarship team were the guest speakers at the information session. I consider myself fortunate to have attended the session. I was surprised to learn that Deakin University is committed to giving exceptional experiences to students from all around the world.

Paying International student fees for a tertiary course that I wanted to undertake was out of reach for my family. I had little or no hope of being able to pay these fees and so there was a time that I thought I would not be able to go to university.

The Deakin Scholarship team told me that there are many scholarship offers for not only Australian students but even for Internationals. They advised me to apply for a Deakin Humanitarian Scholarship, and I did. During the application process, I was assisted by the Deakin International Admissions team, the process was quick and easy.

Once I was accepted into the Bachelor of Vision Science/Master of Optometry, and offered a scholarship, I was immensely proud and excited, but also worried as I didn’t have a network of friends or family who lived in the near the Geelong Waurn Ponds Campus (where the course was located). I needn’t have been so concerned. As it turns out, I was offered a lot of support, and everything was very positive for me. On my first day at University, my course advisor greeted me with the following: “Welcome to your university, where you will spend your next best years of your life, here at Deakin”. It made my day!

During orientation week (O-Week) I met many other international students. It was great feeling connected to others who had a similar journey. To add to this, the Peer Mentor program, which enabled me to receive one-one mentorship was invaluable.

My peer mentor made my settlement in university life quick and smooth. He informed me about the bigger picture of university life and helped me to manage study and enjoy my time as a university student. Deakin’s student societies are another great community to be part of it. I got a chance to meet like-minded students from all four corners of the world, get motivated, and set goals for future successes.

Now, as a Deakin student and recipient of the Deakin Humanitarian Scholarship, I feel so proud knowing my study capabilities and goals are catered to by one of the finest Universities in Australia and the world. I was amazed once I realised that Deakin is one of the top ranked Universities in the world. With less than 50 years of establishment, Deakin offers Medicine, Engineering, and as many as 400 additional courses.

As an Optometry student and only halfway through trimester one, I see myself one step closer to my dream of becoming a medical doctor and an Ophthalmic surgeon. My goals are to work and design more affordable intraocular lenses for the disadvantaged people, Indigenous Australians, and for people in developing countries.

Coming from a war-torn country, where the health system is crippled, I am working hard to become a medical doctor in the future. Ultimately I hope to work with an organisation such as Medicins Sans Frontiers (MSF), giving hope to people at risk of blindness and assisting them to access affordable cataract and trachoma treatments. I also want to develop bionic eyes for young children, helping those unfortunate children who have lost vision as the result of land mines and suicide bombs.

I am grateful that my circumstances have not prevented me from studying in my chosen field. I hope that with the assistance of Deakin University and my own determination and hard work, my dream of becoming an Opthalmic Surgeon will become reality.

There are several things I love to talk about in life: family, food and Australia. A year and a half ago I decided to depart on the adventure of a lifetime and so I packed up and moved from the small town of Otterburne, Manitoba, Canada to Geelong, Australia. In my mind I had decided that if I was going to go anywhere, I wasn’t going to go just half way across the world, but rather, all the way! So now I am a second year medical student at Deakin University and I have completely fallen in love with Australia.

To be honest, I had always been a homebody; however, after living in a small town for most of my life, I decided to see what else was out there. I had always wanted to become a doctor and I decided to mix my passion for medicine with my newly discovered passion for travel.

At the Deakin University Waurn Ponds Campus

After many hours researching on the internet and filling out what seemed to be a million applications to different universities in Australia, I was accepted into the Deakin School of Medicine’s Bachelor of Medicine Bachelor of Surgery degree. To be honest, there may have been some screaming and jumping on my bed when I found out. For me, going to Deakin University just made sense. The staff at Deakin that helped me with my application process were so helpful and supportive. I loved that the Deakin School of Medicine was rurally focused and put a lot of effort into recruiting students from a variety of academic backgrounds, cultures and countries.

"For me, going to Deakin University just made sense. The staff at Deakin that helped me with my application process were so helpful and supportive."

Some beautiful views at my campus

So several months, a costly ticket, and one very large suitcase later, I was off to Australia! Coming to Australia has been the most amazing and terrifying experience of my life. I did not know a single person, so it was a big adjustment getting settled. However, it took very little time for me to make new friends. Australians are such welcoming people and everyone that I met helped me feel at home.

Australians are such welcoming people and everyone that I met helped me feel at home. The best part of living and studying in Australia is the weather and the beaches. Coming from the middle of Canada, where there is no ocean and it’s horribly snowy and cold for 5 months of the year, it still amazes me that I can just go to the beach and walk in the ocean at any time of the year.

The surf coast just past Torquay

When I’m not studying, there are so many things to do, whether that be going to the surf coast, exploring nature, going into Geelong or Melbourne. There are so many good cafés and restaurants in Melbourne, and there is an amazing Canada Day celebration every 1st of July! It’s also so easy to travel within Australia and I have visited both Tasmania and Perth so far.

Vineyards along the Tamar River, just outside Launceston, Tasmania

Watching the sun disappear into the ocean at the iconic Cottesloe Beach in Perth, Western Australia

I still have 2.5 years left in Australia, and while there are days that I miss home, I have never regretted my decision. The experiences I have had studying at Deakin and living in Australia are some of the best I have ever had. I cannot wait to see what the rest of my time at Deakin has in store for me!

Hi everyone, I’m Madihah Husna Mohammad. I came from Malaysia and I am pursuing a Master of Architecture at Deakin University. Before Australia became my second home, I worked in Malaysia with my degree in Architecture from International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). I had heard a lot about Deakin at that time, as it is a great choice for students who want to pursue study in architecture. When I first came here, everything was far more fun than I expected!

Remembering the experience of when I first stepped onto the land of Australia was that I was full of excitement. I can still clearly remember when I was picked up by a Deakin staff member from Melbourne Airport and he showed me around Geelong city. My first impression about the city and the country was that it was absolutely enthralling. It is a clean city, and has a great view of the waterfront. I also had opportunities to explore all the beautiful scenery here in Melbourne.

Being an international student, I have found no difficulties in making new friends and adapting to the culture. I feel no alienation here and it overwhelmed me because being a Muslim, and wearing a ‘hijab’ wrapped around my head, this foreign environment actually welcomed me. In fact, with a smaller number of Muslim students here, it surprised me to find out that the university actually had proper prayer rooms and there are even taps provided for us to take our ablutions.

Being an international student, I have found no difficulties in making new friends and adapting to the culture. Living my life here in Deakin, I have found that the people are very helpful and always support the students, particularly the staff, lecturers, and my classmates. When I had difficulties in my life, the International Student Advisers helped me a lot. Whenever I have problems in my assignment writing, I sought help from a study support consultant and the writing mentors at the library. The lecturers are always friendly and they would always greet me enthusiastically whenever I was in the school. My new friends here also made me enjoy my time at Deakin. The language barrier is not a problem.

Since stepping off the plane last year, I’ve learned that all my initial fears and worries were unnecessary. Being an international student in a hijab has not deprived me, because living and studying at Deakin University is very multicultural and it is a welcoming society indeed!