Kate Goodridge-Griffiths - Master of International Relations
Before moving to the University of Melbourne I had grown up overseas. Whilst I was 13 and living in England, I was offered a life changing opportunity to travel to the other side of the world for a school exchange.
Tell us a little bit about yourself before you came to the University of Melbourne
Having come from a tiny village in the local forest foothills, I was absolutely amazed by the wide variety of cultural, educational and social opportunities available in Australia. When I finished high school I typed 'best university in Australia' into Google, and the University of Melbourne came up. I called up my exchange host family, applied for a Bachelor of Arts, and a decade after my first trip I’m still having a great time and meeting amazing people in Melbourne!
How did the 110 Scholarship help you with your studies?
One thing I didn’t fully realise before moving to University were all the additional costs involved. For students living away from their families, meeting these costs often involves making serious educational sacrifices. If we work too much our studies suffer, but if we spend all our time studying we can’t support ourselves. It’s also crucial to save, as the nature of casual work means that when we get sick, we have no income at all. As well as textbooks and learning supplies, simple things like transport costs, food, medical and renters insurance and student union fees can all really add up. The University provides amazing opportunities to study abroad and take language courses or summer schools, but if you work every day just to cover basics, all these enrichment opportunities seem worlds away.
Since receiving the 110 Scholarship I have been able to stop trying to (unsuccessfully!) juggle working and studying to such extremes. I have been able to really knuckle down and focus on my final semester of my Masters. Instead of always trying to catch up, I can come to classes fully prepared and have time to reflect and take in everything we are learning. I’ve definitely noticed a dramatic increase in my grades, and am now back on track to graduate with first class honours. I have also used the scholarship to help pay for night classes in Arabic (!انا لا ازال اتعلم), apply for a summer program with the United Nations, and purchase on-line programs and materials to help with presenting my research at post-graduate conferences.
What are your ambitions for the future?
Next year I hope to start a PhD here at the University of Melbourne. In my Bachelor of Arts, I was able to take two different majors, Islamic Studies and International Relations. Through undertaking such varied coursework and moving into research for my honours year, I have learnt that there are many misunderstandings about the perceptions and realities of Islam in Australia. I feel that there is a gap in the literature addressing the causes of and potential solutions to many of these modern misconceptions, and would like to undertake further research to help bridge this gap.
Kate received the Faculty of Arts 110 Scholarship in 2016. To help us support students like her you can donate to the scholarship online or contact Monica Hanns for a giving form at monica.hanns@unimelb.edu.au or +61 3 8344 2638.