Journey of a lifetime for Indigenous UON student

Thursday, 9 October 2014

UON student Ren Allan is about to embark on this year's Aurora Indigenous Scholars International Study Tour. Along with 17 other high achieving Indigenous students from around Australia, Ren will be able to experience what postgraduate study would be like at a prestigious overseas institution.

Journey of a lifetime for Indigenous UON student

"Having such a great opportunity to go overseas and see some of these institutions is so exciting. I never ever thought I would get to go to Harvard, it just seems so out of reach but it's not – it's happening in a few weeks," said Ren.

The Study Tour will enable Ren to meet personally with academics at each institution to discuss courses and current research happening in her area of interest.

Ren Allan is a Kamilaroi woman of Tamworth and is in her final semester of a Bachelor of Social Science, majoring in Aboriginal Studies, Community Welfare and Human Services.

"There are lots of initiatives overseas for Indigenous people that I think we can learn from so I'm looking forward to seeing what programs and policies these universities have in terms of equity and what successes they've had. I'm also excited to meet the other Indigenous students and find out what kind of experiences they've had growing up," said Ren.

When recipients return home they have the opportunity to apply for postgraduate study at the institution of their preference and apply for a range of supporting scholarships offered by the Aurora Project.

"I'll definitely be putting an application in once I've decided which university I'd like to study at. I'm looking at Masters Programs in International and Comparative Education. If I am given the next part of the scholarship it would be money really well spent because I would try and help so many people achieve their goals and show them that education is not out of reach," said Ren.

"There's still so much that needs to change and it's important we have Aboriginal people working on Aboriginal programs because cultural competence and awareness is still lacking in so many areas," she added.

The study tour departs Australia in late October with participants vising the US, Berkeley, Stanford, Harvard, Columbia and NYU before heading to the UK to visit Oxford and Cambridge.

Find out more about the Aurora Project on their website.

Contact

  • Media and PR
  • Phone: 02 4921 7214

Related news