Country Education Foundation has provided Forbes and Parkes aspiring university students a chance to tour Charles Sturt University campus open days.
The Country Education Foundation of Australia (CEF) has made it possible for dozens of aspiring country university students to see a university campus, with fully subsidised trips to three of Charles Sturt University’s campuses for their open days in August.
Thirty-four students took advantage of this amazing opportunity provided by the CEF, which covered their costs for transport, accommodation, and meals in partnership with Charles Sturt University.
The opportunity allowed students to visit Charles Sturt’s Wagga Wagga, Albury and Bathurst campuses, with 16 students checking out Wagga Wagga, eight students seeing Albury, and 10 students experiencing Bathurst.
CEF transported students from many different towns, including Forbes and Parkes, to attend the open days, to experience what university life is like at Charles Sturt.
Kelsey Mann and Cameron Frogley from Parkes High School, Clarissa Azzopardi, Hunter Kriedemann and Laura Jones from Red Bend Catholic College, and Grace Barbary and Czarah Saladino from Forbes High School, took part in the Wagga Wagga trip.
Students took the opportunity to learn about each campus, the courses they offer, and all other benefits of studying there.
CEF Manager of Partnerships Hilary Matchett, who organised the trip, said, “CEF are excited to partner with Australia’s leading regional university, Charles Sturt University, to give the opportunity to regional students to access their Open Days across three of their campuses.
“Students made the most of experiencing all that Charles Sturt can offer, from hands on learning in their state-of-the-art labs and facilities, to chatting to academic staff about course options, and accessing affordable and vibrant on-campus accommodation options”.
These experience camps offer more than a chance to see a university campus; they give regional students the chance to connect with like-minded peers, hopefully to then become friends for life.
In a separate program through its department ‘Three Rivers Department of Rural Health’, Charles Sturt has partnered with CEF for the last five years to offer scholarships to students studying a health-related degree at Charles Sturt. Students awarded grants by their local CEF foundation, from 18 local CEF foundations across the west are eligible to apply.
The CEF is a national for-purpose organisation that helps rural and regional youth aged between 16 and 25 access post-school education, training and employment through grants, scholarships, support services and resources.
Since 1993 CEF has awarded over 7000 individual grants and scholarships totalling over $15 million, with over 400 volunteers across its network of local foundations working hard to provide local students the support they need.
For more information on the CEF please visit www.cef.org.au or phone 1300 652 144.