The City of Greater Geelong is supporting international students in our region with a series of new Study Geelong initiatives aimed at addressing hardship and feelings of isolation resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
As part of its $5.2 million COVID-19 Community and Economic Support package announced on 30 June, the Council has allocated $133,000 for programs to assist international students.
A new International Friends Program is a supportive platform for international students in Geelong, and local community members, to build connections, share interests and enjoy cross-cultural exchange.
An international student is matched with a local person/family for 12 weeks to get to know each other and share culture. International Friends is not a live-in hosting program.
The program aims to match international students with a community member or family, based on interests or area of study, reduce isolation for the students and create connections in the local community. The program has a risk assessment and plan, agreement form, code of conduct and orientation etc built into the program.
Here is a comment from one student:
As an international student, we often don’t get chance to interact with local communities. This program is an excellent platform that connects international students with local communities, helps to learn about the local culture, lingo and better local knowledge.
Further information here with applications due by March 7.
We would love to meet some of these students and give them the opportunity to learn about the Geelong community – and maybe we could interest them in playing hockey!