Students graduate the 2015/16 ISLA program
4 August 2016
Congratulations to the students who have just graduated from City of Sydney's 2015/16 international student leadership and ambassador (ISLA) program.
Graduating students attended a reception ceremony at Sydney Town Hall on Tuesday 2 August 2016. It was wonderful hearing the incredible stories from students who participated in this program.
The ISLA program
The ISLA Program aims to give international students the skills to become community ambassadors who can strengthen engagement between international students and the local community and actively promote the City’s services and initiatives to other international students currently living in Sydney and to prospective students in their home country.
The 2015-16 program involved 30 international student ambassadors from 15 countries representing 13 Educational institutions participate in an 18 month program.
The program provides leadership, communication, cultural intelligence, project management training mentoring and project management experience to leaders in the international student community.
Getting involved
The reception ceremony recognised the contribution of the international student ambassadors for their volunteer work for the City, for other international students and wider communities. During their term as the City’s International Student Ambassadors, the students were involved in planning and implementing a number of events to help international students meet new friends, get to know more about the City and build the leadership skills of youth leaders in the communities. Some examples include:
- journey to the Centre of Sydney tours for newly-arrived international students
- international student networking events
- an employment panel to provide advice and support to other international students to find jobs; and
- a Youth Leadership Conference for both local and international student leaders to develop their leadership skills.
The Student Ambassadors have also assisted the City in promoting and running a number of key events such as the Lord Mayor’s International Student Welcome Reception, International Education Sector Forum, the City’s information booth and workshops during university, TAFE and colleges’ Orientation Weeks, Living in Harmony Festival and Youth Week. They also volunteered for other community projects including the Salvation Army Couch Project Launch, China Studies Centre Moon Festival and the Children's Festival. The ambassadors also participated and provided input into the City’s policy development such as the Safe City Strategy, Social Sustainability Strategy.
In total the ISLA team volunteered for over 35 events for the City of Sydney’s international student and other initiatives, as well as helping out other community organisations, contributed nearly 6500 volunteer hours as a team.
In the words of student ambassador Julius D. Delino, “Don't be afraid to communicate, explore the services offered by the City, make a lot of friends and grab every opportunities that comes around and Enjoy your study and stay in this awesome and great city called Sydney.”
We congratulate all students who graduated this week!