Southern Cross University’s branch campuses and training company Social Agility have once again joined forces to launch the school’s Employability Skills Program, a series of career-building workshops focused on teaching international students a lot of unique business and interpersonal communication skills relevant to today’s modern but ever-evolving Australian workplace.
Participants are set to learn critical and creative thinking, communication as well as collaboration skills. The program’s defining feature is its emphasis on the Australian workplace culture and work ethic. It is tailored especially to international students who have had minimal job experience and whose first language is not English. The program will see students:
- Participate in career-building and life skills workshops designed for international students
- Gain insight from and build relationships with real Australian businesses
- Work as interns shadowing senior executives of global companies in Australia
- Develop a business pitch to be presented to various market leaders.
The partnership between SCU and Social Agility began in 2017. International students who participated in the 2017 program attest to its effectiveness and highly recommend it to their fellow students. MBA candidate Magdalena Opalinska shares, “For me, because I’m not a native [English] speaker… this program [pushes] you to communicate well and to be successful not only in the safe environment of university, but in going out there, [working] with real businesses and real people.” Fellow MBA student Nitin Karunakaran puts it more simply: “They can learn a lot from this particular program.”
The Employability Skills Program officially begins in April. Interested SCU Sydney, Melbourne and Perth students may sign up for spots at their campus’ reception on a first-come, first-served basis.
