New club will be playing K-Pop
The Illawarra Steelers Club will become the home of the first official Asian nightclub come this weekend.
Launching on Friday night, the club event titled ‘S-Party’ will be embracing the internationally popular K-Pop music genre event, to cater to the increasing Asian community in the South Coast.
The event will be running on a fortnightly basis. Samara Gardner has more:
Audio: Samara Gardner
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Asian bound exchange students to see rise in funding
A new government program aimed at increasing the number of students undertaking exchange in Asia seems to be having mixed effects at the University of Wollongong.
The ASIANBound grant program sees exchange students now receiving up to $2000 more in loans when applying for Asian countries rather than a non-Asian country. But according to a recent survey undertaken at the university, not all students found the extra money to be a major factor, even when receiving an additional $1,000 to assist with the cost of learning a language in preparation.
Gemma Laurie, International and Communication student, is thinking of doing exchange in Spain. The 18-year-old said despite the financial help she just wouldn’t be able to comprehend learning an Asian language.
“Learning Spanish is hard enough, it’s one of the easier languages but I wouldn’t go somewhere where I couldn’t speak the language, that’s one of the biggest influences.”
Dion Mcleod, second year PHD student, agrees. He completed exchange in Canada and knew about the grant but said the biggest influence in deciding a place for exchange was definitely the culture.
“I did consider it, but in the end I thought Canada would be easier. I would be a lot more comfortable being in a culture similar to Australia than being completely out of the blue for the first time.”
But for James Penman, fourth year Civil Engineering and Commerce student, the Asia OS-Help loan would be an absolutely big influence over students considering international exchange.
“It really turns a slight possibility into a reality,” said the 22-year-old, who would also learn an Asian language if it meant he got the supplementary loan of $1000. “It’s just another skill to have especially because of Asia Pacific Region’s importance to Australia.”
Despite applying for exchange in the UK, James said the only thing stopping him from applying for Asia would be the application deadline. If the opportunity were available in his first or second year, he would really have considered it.
“I did know about the grant and I was looking into it, I would even consider it but because of my circumstance I can’t.”
Words: Roseanne Scott
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Understanding the Illawarra Committee of International Students
The I.C.I.S has been established in order to assist international students in settling into campus life at the University of Wollongong. In this video, we speak to current UOW students who volunteer for I.C.I.S and hear what they personally think of the committee, and how it benefits all involved.
Video: Angelique Lu
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