Careers counsellors experiencing Village life

Student Services

Fourteen school careers counsellors from key interstate schools recently visited the University of Adelaide to get a first-hand account of what Adelaide has to offer.

The counsellors, from Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania, also received a taste of student-style living with a night's bed and breakfast in the University's new state-of-the-art student accommodation, the Village.

The schools were selected on the basis of having either large populations of international students or a boarding school, both likely to have students more open to a move interstate for university study.

Coordinator of the event, Prospective Students Office Manager Adrienne Lovelock, said:

"School counsellors can be our best allies in helping secondary school students and their families to understand what the University has to offer. The choices students have to make about study and career directions are complex.

"Students coming from other states have additional things to think about - relocating and choosing a place to live that will suit them and help them succeed. If the people helping them to make those choices are familiar with the University and its offerings they can give much better support. Everybody wins.

"This event has helped us make much firmer connections with these key schools. Once you know each other, it is much easier to work together."
The counsellors heard from faculty staff members on programs of study, various general staff members on student services and they quizzed a panel of current students on their life as a student in Adelaide.

Jon Pollard from St Paul's International College at Moss Vale, NSW said the University seemed academically "very impressive", particularly the wide range of subject choices. And on the Village, he said: "It's a great facility for the students, very user friendly."

Others were also impressed with the Village. Josie Butera from Maribyrnong Secondary College at Carlton North in Victoria, said: "It had lovely chi! You could just tell by the students who we saw there that it's a lovely relaxed place with room to study and meet others and to retreat and study alone. The security was excellent, as was the entertainment areas and the location - so close to the Adelaide Market! We were made to feel very welcome."

Story by Robyn Mills