Welcome to the official CQUniversity Student Blog – CQUniLife. This blog follows the experiences of a diverse group of CQUniversity students from different countries, studying various programs and at various campuses throughout Australia.
Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) are peer led online study groups available in first year units identified as historically challenging for students. Sessions are facilitated by senior students who have recently received excellent grades in the unit and have completed nationally accredited training. Since Term 2 2018, PASS has supported nearly 2000 students.
As a program that prides itself on providing leadership opportunities by recruiting students who undergo nationally accredited training to plan and facilitate sessions, we often see students who have been regular PASS participants apply for the role of PASS Leader in later terms. Two such students are Kylie (PASS Leader since Term 1 2021) and El-Dez (PASS Leader since Term 2 2021).
Keep reading to hear about the leadership opportunities PASS provides and why students should learn more about PASS.
Daniel Griffin graduated with a Bachelor of Digital Media in 2018 and has since launched his own Bundaberg-based graphic design business, Capillatus Creative. Daniel shares his top job interview tips to succeed in your job interview.
CQUniversity is participating in the 2022 Student Experience Survey (SES). If you’re in your first or final year of study in an undergraduate or postgraduate course, check your student email account to see if you’ve been selected to participate.
We strongly encourage students to participate in this voluntary survey.
This Saturday 27 June 2020 is Global Pride - giving the whole world a chance to join together to support lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex and people with other diverse genders and sexualities (LGBTI+). This also gives us a chance to reflect on the support offered at CQUniversity.
Dr Gemma Mann (pictured above) coordinates the CQUniversity Ally Program, and shares her journey, and how CQU is supporting the community.
Looking for a pathway into uni? Not sure if you know what you want to study? Maybe you’re interested in learning more about what is involved in tertiary education.
Bachelor of Education student, Indigo, explains why the Start Uni Now (SUN) program at CQUniversity helped her decide what she wanted to study before she left high school.
Are you on the hunt for the perfect Instagram photo? Look
no further than your local CQUni campus. Our campuses are full of fun ways to
brighten up your Instagram feed, with everything from natural beauty and
amazing views, to unique artworks and architecture.
Here’s a few of our favourite spots to get great
Instagram shots on campus…
Hello, my name is Krishna Sen, I am from a small town in Nepal called Chitwan and am currently studying a Master of Human Resource Management at CQUni Sydney campus.
I left home at the age of 15 for Pune, India after schooling for my higher study. I graduated from one of the renowned universities of India, Savitribai Phule Pune University and it was tough for me to decide what to do next. I wanted to do a masters degree but was confused from where.
Then I thought of Australia — one of the most popular destinations for international student and not once have I ever regretted my decision.
The annual Student Leadership Conference is a life-changing event that will boost your energy, inspire action, and ignite your personal leadership. Participate in empowering workshops, network with fellow CQUni students and staff and be inspired by our guest speakers.
The 2019 event will be held in Rockhampton from 5 - 7 November.
From 20-23 February, students and staff from CQUniversity were invited to attend the Ashoka U Exchange in San Diego, California. The event brought together Changemaker Campuses from all over the world and provided the opportunity to learn, collaborate and network with people passionate about social innovation. Four of our Change Champ’s - Mignon, Rohit, Bikesh and Tolu - were among the students who represented CQUniversity at the conference and are excited to bring their new-found knowledge and experience back to their campus and share it with fellow students.
Mackay Change Champ, Mignon, was excited to attend the Exchange where she could further learn changemaker competencies of empathy, collaboration, creative problem-solving, and systems thinking.
“We had options to attend either interactive spark sessions, workshops or big idea talks/presentations. There were also site visits to local social enterprises and organisations committing to social innovation and research as well as tours of the University of California San Diego Campus,” she said.
Tolu Akinsheye and Mignon Viljoen attend the Opening Keynote Presentation
The sessions they attended introduced new strategies and tools to activate changemaking not only in their personal life but in their studies and future career too. Melbourne Change Champ, Rohit, said that one of the best sessions was about changemaking through online education.
“Robin Dick (Program Manager for Social Innovation) spoke about iChange and his co-presenters explained how to bring the classroom format online, thereby making it accessible to anyone with an internet connection and is the format for the future of education,” he said.
CQUniversity Deans of Schools and Office of Social Innovation connect with students over breakfast
Other sessions included hearing from people about their changemaker journey, their experience in setting up social enterprise and social innovation hubs for students at universities, as well as how individuals can make commitments to activate more changemakers. The students also took a tour of the University of California San Diego campus - a Changemaker Campus committed to social innovation just like us!
One thing that stuck with Brisbane Change Champ, Tolu, was realising there is a difference between reading the story and changing it.
“I am more inspired and committed to social innovation in ensuring we make the world a better place,” she said.
Office of Social Innovation support Ashley Clarke (second from right) after her presentation
Sydney Change Champ, Bikesh, wanted to see the bigger picture of social innovation and learn about what is happening around the world.
“I gained a lot of ideas and tools in the conference and I have been thinking about how can I utilise them in my campus or in my life,” he said.
Bikesh Shrestha, Rhianna Wood, Tolu Akinsheye and Mignon Viljoen take a tour of the University of California, San Diego
With CQUniversity being the only Australian university accredited as an Ashoka U Changemaker Campus, the event also gave students the opportunity to see international examples of social innovation and social entrepreneurship. They were able to see for themselves just how much is already being done around the world and the positive social impact it is having on local and global communities. They were able to see inspiring, real-life examples of social innovation being used in different fields of study and how they can potentially do the same in their career.
Although the Change Champs were sad to be leaving Ashoka after having made new friends and connections with people who share our same passion for change, as well as hearing from so many inspiring social entrepreneurs and innovators, they were excited to bring all of this knowledge and new skills back to Australia to encourage more people to start their changemaker journey and realise just how many opportunities there are for change!
To check out more photos from Ashoka or to get involved in social innovation events and activities on your campus, like and follow us on Facebook!
You might be waiting to receive an offer for your dream university degree or perhaps you’ve already enrolled in the next term but what do you do while you wait to get started?
We all know it can be overwhelming starting university, it’s a big change in our lives – how do you even prepare? Well, we’ve put together a quick 7 tip guide on things to do before you start so you are feeling confident and ready on day one but most importantly excited.
Check out our list below and make time to chat to our student recruitment team at one of our online chat sessions with any questions you have.
