Bernice Datu

“I am originally from the Philippines, but I moved to Oman in the Middle East when I was 10 years old, I then moved to Australia for high school.  

In Oman, the expat community is quite small, so moving to Australia I got to expand my social networks and be exposed to a different environment. 

Open Day at UTS completely blew me away. It was so refreshing, I received information about the many opportunities available at UTS, the hands-on experience and everything that UTS specialises in.  

The way the subjects in my course are placed in my first year feel like I am receiving well-rounded learning. It’s a complete experience of studying, it doesn’t feel like you’re being taught just to pass but you are taught information that will help you in your future career. 

There are some group work in the labs and you are assigned a lab partner – this changes every semester. The practical work we do depends on the subject and equipment used, for example: in biology subjects we use a lot of microscopes and specimen to dissect, whereas in chemistry subjects we focus on chemicals and liquids. There’s a lot of apparatus that I’ve never seen before. 

I like the self-taught and flipped learning approach to studying in my degree at UTS. My lecturers provide a lot of resources and notes online for us to complete in our own time, these resources are always available and there is no pressure to complete the extra work. The resources help me gain a greater understanding of the information taught in class. 

I love the super lab in Building 7 – the science and health building. It’s an underground lab and massive space to work in and to completely immerse yourself to do science. It feels professional, there are no distractions and it is the perfect working environment for students. 

I’m really glad that I joined the Women’s Collective – it’s a safe space, something good and an immediate community for me to be in. I liked it so much that I have started going to the weekly meetings, I am also their social media officer, and I have been elected to be the convenor for 2018.  

I would like to become a peer networker because it’s just a great way to keep in contact with people. It could help me get more comfortable in my own skin, allow me to talk to other people and learn how to facilitate social gatherings.  

U:PASS is a really helpful resource for tackling the trickier subjects in my degree. The leaders are really cool and the have become my friends. 

I contacted the UTS: Career Hub because I wanted to do a science internship for my free elective. The Career Hub arranged for me to attend a pre-science internship workshop and I found that really interesting. The service also helped me update my resume and briefed me feel super inspired and confident to approach companies.  

I was very surprised when I received the Academic Excellence Award.  It made my mum and my grandparents who live in the Philippines really happy and excited for me. 

I would advise future international students considering UTS to really give it a shot. Because they don’t know how colourful or how great uni life at UTS can be. Unless you go and experience it for yourself, it’s going to be different in your mind. You may have your impressions of your thoughts of what you think UTS is, but it could be completely different. So it’s always good to just give things a shot and be open-minded about it.”