The University of Adelaide has set up a programme to support international students and welcome them to the city once they begin their studies there. As part of the scheme, called ‘Experience Adelaide’, international students will be paired with a local university community member. University community members are made up of graduates or staff members, and they will help students adapt to Adelaide life, by taking them sightseeing around the city or inviting them round for dinner – not bad, eh? And to make things even better, any costs which may incur during these activities will be covered by the community member. What’s not to like?

International students will meet their University host during a welcome reception at the start of the semester. From there, it’s up to them to work out a time and place for their next meeting to happen and how often they’ll catch up after that.

Previous international student, Rogers, has found this program to be very beneficial during his time studying in Adelaide.

“I am personally very happy with my family. I can say this has been the most successful program I have been involved in… They [the volunteers] have been so good to me, they are like parents and always willing to know how I am going with my studies.” Says Rogers, from Uganda.

The connection between Rogers and his host family was so strong that he and his wife even named their newborn baby after one of the volunteers.

“We decided to name [our baby] Malcolm to express our appreciation to the family. Malcolm hosted us for the last 3 weeks in Adelaide and this was so helpful as we needed some kind of support with the little baby.”

Rogers is planning to publish something about how successful the program was for him. He said, “I feel like not recognizing the great things I got is being unfair to the project.”

Family volunteer, Malcolm, was full of praise for the scheme and said that Rogers was not the only person to profit from it, “My family and I can also say that we think that we have benefited more from the scheme than the students with whom we have been partnered... They have truly opened our eyes and expanded our horizons to help us understand a small glimpse of what it is like living elsewhere in the world.”

Excited about the prospect of studying in Adelaide? Have a look at their institution page now.