News

From burnout to balance.

UTS College — Fri, 01 May 2026 00:58:46 GMT

The Diploma of IT Outstanding Graduate prize had always been a goal for Ina Song. “I was aiming for it,” she says, “so I was very happy. It meant a lot to me because I had tried so hard.”

How Wai found his purpose.

UTS College — Fri, 01 May 2026 00:33:33 GMT

Wai Yan Myint Tun doesn’t check his email very often. Every now and then this can lead to confusion – like when we contacted him for an interview. We wanted to chat with him about his Outstanding Graduate award.
“I was so surprised. I didn’t know about the award because I hadn’t checked my email for a few months. I thought you’d emailed the wrong person or something,” he says.

Future health professionals win generous Medibank scholarship.

UTS College — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 04:49:21 GMT

Two talented international students are the latest winners of the Medibank International Education Scholarship, which is awarded to the top performing student in the first stage of UTS Foundation Studies, and the highest performing student from the first stage of any UTS College diploma program in a single semester.

Social butterfly Souad flies high.

UTS College — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 04:35:10 GMT

Souad Cheikho remembers the moment she received her offer from UTS College. So does her mum. “I was over the moon,” she says. “It was night-time when I got the email. I screamed out of happiness. Mum was like, ‘What on earth are you screaming about?’.’”

UTS College welcomes first intake of Cambridge International students.

UTS College — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 04:09:29 GMT

UTS College has marked the launch of Australia’s first university-embedded Cambridge International senior secondary offering with a special event, welcoming the first cohort of students into its Cambridge International at UTS College program.

Ramya follows her heart

UTS College — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 05:10:35 GMT

Student Ambassador Ramya has been fascinated by the human heart since she was a child. “I remember drawing a little stethoscope and a heart when I was in pre-school,” she says. “I really want to be a heart surgeon. Open-heart surgery helped my grandfather live much longer. He passed away a few years ago, and it really hit me then that this is what I want to do.”

Ramya has many fond memories of her grandfather. She says, “When I was little, he’d let me play on his scooter and he taught me how to meditate. I remember he used to buy me little chocolates and little pastries. And he’s the one who started me thinking about medicine. He was always saying, ‘doctors do this, and doctors do that…’”

A different way to do first year
Having just completed Advanced Science (Pre-Medicine) at UTS, Ramya began her studies with a Diploma of Science at UTS College. She says, “I wanted UTS, because I wanted the opportunity to study Pre-Med, but Advanced Science required a 95 ATAR. I didn’t know what to do – I had no clue after high school. But my best friend told me about UTS College. It turned out to be the best thing I could possibly do. I think it’s really just a different way to do first year. We learned the same content, and you get straight into second year of the degree. It was perfect.”

Ramya enjoyed the smaller environment at the College. “The atmosphere was so friendly,” she says. “I didn’t expect to have a strong circle of friends in my first year, but making friends at the College is my favourite memory. After every lab class, we’d all get together and go to UTS food court for chips. Every time. That three-hour lab is very full-on, so I always looked forward to that.”

For Aurelia, a nervous start leads to lifelong friends

UTS College — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 04:57:32 GMT

Looking back to her first day at UTS College, Aurelia says, “I wish someone had told me not to be scared.” She had just arrived in Australia, having completed Year 10 in Indonesia, to start UTS Foundation Studies. “I was afraid I wouldn’t find any friends.” She remembers the moment she took things into her own hands. “We were at Orientation. The hall was big and there were lots of students. Then I thought, ‘You know what? Let me just go and say hi.’ And I made my very first friend.”

Aurelia made her next friend in her very first class. “It was English,” she says, “and I sat next to this girl, and we introduced each other. Then in Week Two, I asked another girl, ‘Can I sit here because I want to charge my laptop’, and we introduced each other at the table. And now we’re all still friends. We go out every weekend. Making friends is my best memory from UTS College.”

That circle of friends reflects the diverse student population at UTS College. Aurelia says, “My College friends are from all over the world. We like exchanging. Sometimes we teach each other about our language or culture. And sometimes we just go somewhere together. For example, I brought them to an Indonesian restaurant, and they loved it.”

It was easy to make friends in the welcoming environment at UTS College.

Making a smooth transition
Now in first year of Bachelor of Information Technology at UTS, Aurelia chose UTS Foundation Studies as an alternative to completing high school in Jakarta. “I knew I wanted to study at UTS, and I’ve had my eyes on this degree since learning about IT in high school,” she says.

When Aurelia was looking at places to study, her sister – a UTS alumna now working in design – encouraged her to consider UTS. “She told me UTS is a good choice if you want something that’s more practical, and that was me,” she says. “I love how practical my course is and how I can solve real-world problems.”

Aurelia loves the hands-on, practical approach to IT at UTS

Starting with UTS Foundation Studies helped Aurelia transition from high school to university. She says, “For me, it was a way to ‘test’ the university environment. There’s lots of support, like having Peer Mentors. My Mentor was so nice. It was easy to talk to her. We’d have a meeting every single week and I could talk about things I was experiencing. She gave me advice and talked about lots of things that helped me settle in as an international student.”

There were many other helpful resources. “I always recommend Studiosity for essays because it really helped me get a good essay grade. I was so scared about writing essays in English before I came here, but we learnt so much in our English course. Now I’m at UTS I have lots of subjects that need me to write an essay or report, and I can look back at all the documents from Foundation. It helps so much. Sometimes I even do a split screen of my previous essay and Foundation notes.”

A surprise win
Aurelia certainly made good use of the help available at the College. Not only did she win a Dean’s Merit Award during her first semester – she also graduated from UTS Foundation Studies with an Outstanding Graduate Award. She says, “I really wasn’t expecting to win it. As soon as I saw the email I called my Mum. I was like, ‘Mum, Mum! I got this award!’ I told all my family about it, and they were really supportive. I was so happy.”

The support of her family has always meant a lot to Aurelia. She says, “They’re all really inspiring. I look up to them a lot – my Mum and my sister and my brother. Any time I have something I don’t understand, I can just ask them. And any time I felt down, they’ll say, ‘Don’t worry. You can do it. Just take breaks. Sometimes it’s okay to feel down, but you need to get back up. I saw my sister completing her degree with lots of sweat and tears. She’s currently in Sydney so I can talk to her every time I have concerns or questions.”

A calm, steady approach
Aurelia has come a long way since she arrived here as a nervous sixteen-year-old. “I want to say that being an international student, packing my life into just one suitcase, is not an easy thing. I was scared. There were many things on my mind. ‘What if I can’t get a good grade?’ ‘What if I can’t make friends?’ ‘What happens if I’m not comfortable here in Sydney?’ ‘What might go wrong?’ But I tried not to let those thoughts take over. I always told myself that it’s okay to take breaks sometimes. I don’t have to push myself every single time. It’s okay to wind down and just go out for walks and do things I love. For example, I love drawing, so I’ll just take some time to draw while I’m watching a movie. Just calm down, and then you can get back into it.”

She still maintains that calm, steady approach at UTS while giving herself the time to embrace campus life. “I do lots of volunteering,” she says, “and I’m an ambassador for UTS Women in Engineering. I go to lots of networking events now because I want to meet industry professionals. Especially if they’re working as a software developer or in other IT jobs. I’m also in the Lucy mentoring program. My mentor is helping me set goals to achieve my target of being a software developer.”

Aurelia says she’d like to encourage others to take the leap and become international students. “Come here. Enjoy the learning process because when you learn here, you’re not only growing in a personal way, but also as a professional. You become more independent,” she says. “Just don’t be scared to say hi to someone, starting from Orientation. Because you never know. They just might be your best friends for the rest of your life.”

Find out more about UTS Foundation Studies>

Supporting a strong, sustainable future for international education

UTS College — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 01:58:12 GMT

UTS College welcomes the Australian Government’s new measures to manage the growth of the international education sector. This focuses on quality, integrity and student outcomes.

The changes, outlined by the Minister for Education Jason Clare and Minister for Skills and Training Brendan O’Connor, are designed to strengthen the system for the long term and ensure international students receive the high-quality education and support they deserve.

At UTS College, these principles are already at the heart of what we do.

This week, the government signalled an openness to growth, with an additional 25,000 new international student places announced within the tertiary system (295,000 places in 2026 - up from 275,000 in 2025). This will be very welcome news to parents and prospective students overseas, and to the education counsellors who support them. Mainly it signals reliability. The Australian Government promised sustainable growth and is supporting that. This is in contrast to some of the policy uncertainty in the USA, for example, which is making decision-making difficult for students and parents overseas.

Our Foundation, Diploma and Academic English programs are purpose-built to prepare Australian and international students for success at UTS and beyond. Our students choose UTS College to join a community of ambitious, curious and globally-minded individuals, and to gain an education that opens doors and leads to real opportunities. We are committed to maintaining the integrity of the international education sector by ensuring those ambitions are met with the care, support and academic excellence they expect from a world-class institution.

Australia’s reputation as a global study destination has been built over many years by institutions that deliver value, build trust and put students first. UTS College supports the Government’s efforts to ensure that reputation continues to grow. We remain focused on delivering the best possible outcomes for every student who chooses UTS College.

Morwenna Shahani
UTS College CEO

Six things to consider when selecting HSC subjects

UTS College — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 08:59:43 GMT

With HSC subject selection occurring across NSW, year 10 students and their parents may be struggling with the decisions they are making around what to select for the final years of study at school. Here are six things to consider when selecting subjects and sources of information to help with that process.

South East Aboriginal Arts Initiative

UTS College — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 08:33:57 GMT

The purpose of the South-East Aboriginal Arts Initative is foster engagement among staff, students and other stakeholders of UTS Insearch and Indigenous people, knowledge and culture, through Indigenous art. This has been achieved by using our campus space for the installation and viewing of Indigenous works.