Preyaan Ray grew up in India and has since begun his undergraduate study with the University of Newcastle, studying a combined Bachelor of Business and Bachelor of Commerce. We spoke with Preyaan about his experience with the University and how he is finding his program so far.

How did you find out about the University of Newcastle?

I found out about this prestigious university through attending an expo hosted by Global Reach in my home city, Kolkata. I met a representative from the university there, who went to a great length to tell me all about the university, the city and the university life here which impressed me and made me consider studying at the University of Newcastle.

Why did you choose to study at the University of Newcastle? 

The University of Newcastle is one of the highest-ranking universities in Australia and is among the top 175 in the world, at the same time it offered me a very generous scholarship along with the opportunity to enrol into a double degree programme with attractive majors of my choice. I did have a lot of offers from other universities but University of Newcastle, just appealed to me. They were always quick to respond to my e-mails and the global office team was just wonderful. Also, after having travelled across all the major cities in Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Gold Coast, Cairns, etc) I liked the idea of living in a quiet and peaceful city like Newcastle, which provided me with decent career opportunities as a major city would.

What interests you about your degree? What are your passions?

I absolutely love my program. I love how broad it is and the huge range of courses, relevant to the industry it offers. My particular degree provides me with a good knowledge of all aspects of the business & commerce such as marketing, HR, Accounting, Economics while providing me to specialise in anything one of these I want.  I have a great passion for finance & international business, in particular cross-cultural negotiations and logistics. Both of these are my majors. Very recently, I found my calling in the academics and am considering doing an honours and PhD in my relevant area.

Did you attend any industry engagement workshops? How did you find this experience?

The Newcastle Business School quite often organises such workshops and fortunately there continuing to do so during the pandemic. Therefore, I had to opportunity to attend some of these events, specially related to one of my majors (Finance) and gained a lot of insight and experience through actively engaging with actual industry experts

How do you find the University facilities?

I primarily study at the NuSpace more as all the courses offered in my program are taught there. I absolutely love the facilities our university offers for its students, personally for me I use the finance lab quite often for my assignments and for accessing professional software’s like factset to perform financial market analysis.

Did you receive a scholarship to help financially support you during your time at the University of Newcastle? What impact did receiving the scholarship have on your journey?

I am a recipient of the Indian Excellence Scholarship, which provides with a scholarship of $15,000 annually. It has helped greatly to financially support my education and was one of the main reasons why I chose this Uni, as it offered the highest scholarship to me.

It has made me worry a bit less about what courses I can study, and I have the freedom to do any course I want to as it makes University definitely a lot more affordable, considering international students pay a huge amount.

How has your time studying at the University of Newcastle positively impacted your career outcomes/opportunities?

Greatly, I have met so many people from the relevant industries through industry relevant events and the university gave me the opportunity to run PASS for accounting and economics which provides me with a lot of transferable skills to use in my career ahead. Also working with Uni in various roles have taught a lot about how organisations as huge as our universities work and develop myself as a person and my skills. The courses are so great in my program as quite often the course coordinators bring guests, who are quite often industry experts. This helps us students greatly gain knowledge which up to date with the actual industry and learn outside the classroom.

What are your career goals once you graduate?

Work in an investment bank, financial services industry. Also considering doing honours and PHD to become a professor someday.

What advice would you give to an international student considering studying at the University of Newcastle?

Just do it! It’s a great Uni and city to be in. However, make sure you are financially stable, keep an open mind to experiencing new things, new cultures and have a positive attitude towards meeting people and making connections. Connections is what helps your building your career here in Australia.

Find out more about the Bachelor of Business / Bachelor of Commerce

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Preyaan Ray

Preyaan Ray discovered the University of Newcastle whilst living in India and hasn't looked back since! Find out more about his study experience.

I absolutely love my program. I love how broad it is and the huge range of courses, relevant to the industry it offers.