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Student Ambassador Blog Posts

Please note:

  • These posts were written in previous years by GSD students.
  • These posts provide a personal account of our students' experiences.

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Unique study abroad opportunity: Part 2

Melbourne skyline, Australia

Hello there!

This week’s post continues where we left off in another post, talking to Hollie Ryan (Politics, International Studies and GSD student) about her time at Monash. If you have not seen the first part of this, be sure to read ‘Unique study abroad opportunity: Part 1’ here.

This post, Part 2, looks at the academic and extra-curricular elements of studying abroad and we also get to hear about the exciting new project ‘Warwick Cup’ which Hollie brought back from her time in Australia and has just launched at Warwick.

What was it like studying at a new university?

Hollie: “It was good to experience teaching in a different country, trying out different styles and all new modules – some of which were assessed in novel ways, for example in my ‘Education for Sustainability’ module we created a lesson plan for primary school children about the problems associated with plastic and waste”.

Did you get involved in any extra-curricular activities whilst you were in Monash?

Hollie: “When I first joined we had an introductory week where I came across ‘Borrow Cup’ a free re-usable cup sharing system which cuts down on waste from campus coffee shops. The project was a student-led enterprise, supported by the university and its sustainability team. This meant I could develop managerial, leadership and public speaking skills, whilst being involved with something that I was passionate about and that was related to GSD.”

What have you taken from your experience at Monash?

Hollie: “I have brought a similar system to Borrow Cup back to Warwick called Warwick Cup. And, I have now been able to use this as inspiration for my dissertation which looks into the potential of reusable cup sharing systems in different environments and how these operate differently, to see if this is something that could be implemented on a wider scale”.

Overall, Monash University's campuses in Malaysia and Australia offer unique opportunities to study abroad as part of your second-year of study. I would advise exploring our Study Abroad page in your own time so that you can be fully aware of the excellent opportunities on offer.

Kristina Pugh

Final-year Single Honours GSD student

Friday 10 April 2020

Fri 10 Apr 2020, 09:00 | Tags: Study abroad