Study News

After finishing high school in southern Germany, Johannes Mayr headed to Australia to do something out of his “comfort zone”. He’s a big surfing fan, so the Gold Coast was an obvious destination. He has already surfed in France, and after he leaves Australia he’ll be doing the same in South Africa. But before that next adventure, he’s got an English course to finish at The Language Academy in Broadbeach.

"I get to speak English every day, which is better than if I did this course in Germany where I would have four hours of speaking English then switch back to German. Here you can reach a much higher level of progress and the teachers at The Language Academy are so helpful, it’s been a great experience."

Nene Onosa had just finished high school when she left Japan and flew to the Gold Coast earlier this year to enrol at The Language Academy in Broadbeach. In a way, it felt like coming home because she had spent time on the Gold Coast not long ago as an exchange student.

Now Nene has moved back in with her host family and has plans to study interior design. She’ll take a short break after her current course before studying at TAFE's Southport campus and then consider her future options beyond that.

In the meantime, Nene is enjoying the relaxed pace of life that the Gold Coast offers, which is miles away from what she was used to in Tokyo.

Ironwoman Harriet Brown has been opening up conversations in schools across the Gold Coast around female athlete health through a series of educational sessions to enhance school sporting excellence programs.

Harriet has been educating talented young sports women from Palm Beach Currumbin State High School, Miami State High School and Robina State High School Sports Academy as part of a wider program aimed at delivering an elite athlete curriculum to sporting excellence students.

Her goal from these sessions is to ensure girls who pursue their sporting dreams can better understand their bodies to support their training, performance and recovery.

Australia’s first sustainable vocational education and training campus has just opened at Robina on the Gold Coast. Contemporary environmental design and construction practices were utilised throughout the building, including 250 solar panels, sensor activated lighting, a rainwater-fed automated irrigation system, as well as recycled materials and ecological finishes.

Speaking at the launch of their fourth Gold Coast campus TAFE Queensland’s Karen Dickenson said the facility was designed from the ground up to be sustainable, including the suppliers and contractors who worked on the project.

“We’ve embedded sustainability into the building, in the construction, in the fit-out and into everything you see around you… even the course curriculum - they all have a story of sustainability. This will be a very memorable and rewarding journey for all the students who choose to study here,” the TAFE Gold Coast General Manager said. 

On 29 February 2020, a Japanese study tour group of one hundred and twenty students were heading home after having had an amazing Gold Coast experience courtesy of Australian International Student Tours (AIST). Sadly, this group would be one of the last to depart our shores before international borders closed the next day.

The bravery of the Australian and Japanese school principals and their students and parents is now evident as we look back in hindsight on the decision to go ahead with the proposed study tour. The students arrived home in Japan the next day in good health and COVID free, however a note from their principal awaited them advising that their school was now closed as the pandemic began to sweep the world.

Traditionally the trade industry has been a male domain, but increasingly more females are becoming attracted by the opportunities of developing their physical skills as a creative form of expression. And while it’s not uncommon these days to see a new generation of Australian women working within the trade sector that appeal has now broadened for female international students as well.

In the 2022 Certificate III in Marine Craft Construction course there are three South Korean women enrolled at TAFE’s Coomera Marine campus. Leanna Ha, Younghyun (Young) Kim and Sujin Kim didn’t know each other prior to enrolment, but have become firm friends since starting the course this year. All admit they were surprised to find that they weren’t the only Korean female in their class.

The Diploma of Applied Blockchain at TAFE Queensland is now eligible for JobTrainer funding, meaning any Queensland resident looking to develop new skills can do so for only $145.

General Manager of TAFE Queensland on the Gold Coast, Karen Dickinson said she is thrilled that this course will now be more accessible to students.

“This training is proudly delivered by TAFE Queensland under the joint State and Federal JobTrainer funding. This diploma isn’t just a Blockchain course, we are reimagining the way business should be done and making life easier.”

The Australian Government’s decision to reopen our international borders in late 2021 was a welcome relief for the education sector, particularly our international students who have been patiently and, in many cases, exasperatingly waiting for their opportunity to finally commence their studies onshore.

There are many thousands yet to make their journey, but some of the lucky few who were the first to arrive on the Gold Coast have kindly shared their insights into their experiences of the pandemic and their frustrations of not being able to study here.

Eight Gold Coast state high schools have joined together to share resources and teaching expertise to deliver free after-hours online masterclasses to Year 12 ATAR students this year.

The pilot project, titled Beyond the School Gates, will allow any student studying mathematics methods, chemistry or physics to access high level academic virtual tutoring with subject experts each week over a nine-month trial period.

The project is an initiative of the Gold Coast Secondary Principals’ Alliance, jointly funded by Study Gold Coast’s Education Vision Project Fund, and will culminate with project partner Griffith University’s Science On The Go team delivering free school holiday consolidation workshops during the June/July school holidays.