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Five Swinburne Online students headed to Canberra last week to meet with key Members of Parliament at a breakfast event to celebrate online education.
Swinburne University of Technology Vice-Chancellor Professor Linda Kristjanson hosted the gathering and the Minister for Education, the Hon Christopher Pyne MP, Alan Tudge MP and Swinburne Online CEO Denice Pitt and other dignitaries were also in attendance.
Five of our outstanding online students drove or flew to Canberra from different parts of Australia to join us and share their own experiences studying online.
The event was a great opportunity to show how online education has enabled these highly motivated students to progress towards achieving their tertiary goals,” Professor Kristjanson said.
Bachelor of Social Science (Criminology) students Brendon Wardle and Neda Nikol Luketic, Bachelor of Business students Jessie Bailey and Robyn Murphy and Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood) Alana Owens-Stewart were among the students who drove and flew from different parts of Australia to represent Swinburne Online.
This was the first time these students have met in person. Online student Alana said she was excited to meet her fellow students and felt honoured to attend the breakfast.
It was an awesome event, and I’m so grateful that I was considered and invited. It was great to talk about the importance of online learning is for those of us whom find themselves in places or situations that if it was not for Swinburne Online we would not be able to achieve a degree.
I know I can never express enough how much Swinburne Online has changed my life, and my family’s lives. It has made me a better parent, wife and learner. I feel very motivated to continue my hard work in achieving my ultimate goal at becoming a great teacher, Alana said.
The Parliamentary event was a moment to celebrate how far Swinburne Online has come with online education, which was made possible by the demand-driven funding system.
With online education, Swinburne Online have been able to expand access to higher education and include many students in regional areas who otherwise would be locked out of the system, which was only made more real by listening to the success stories from its students.