Florentina’s story

Florentina hails from Surabaya, a vibrant city in Indonesia. After two semesters of online learning, she moved to Australia in 2021 to continue her Master of Design course at Swinburne. 

“This course was my first pick when I decided to pursue a master degree,” says Florentina. 

When considering her university options, Florentina explains that she weighed four key factors: curriculum, research, lecturers and overall reputation. She particularly liked how Swinburne’s Master of Design course incorporates plenty of real-world projects, giving students the chance to build their professional experience while they study.

“The curriculum is a combination of industry projects, design research and final projects, which allow me to experience working with people of various backgrounds and enhance my individual design skills,” she says, referring to Swinburne’s Work Integrated Learning (WIL) commitment.

Florentina also enjoys having access to a whole library of creative software and digital resources. These tools allow her to broaden her skills beyond the curriculum of her degree.

“Swinburne is the first Adobe Creative Campus in Australia and has Design Factory Melbourne under its wing,” Florentina explains. “Having free access to the Adobe Creative Cloud and using as many applications as I want is like a dream come true. I can even learn how to make animations!”

For Florentina, it was equally important to learn about Swinburne’s social opportunities as these would help her settle into her new home with ease.  

“I chose Swinburne as my place to study for its multicultural and close-knit community,” she says. “As an international student, exploring, engaging, volunteering and simply making friends with many fellow students from different backgrounds is what makes our journey memorable and meaningful.”

Florentina says Swinburne’s student support services also exceeded her expectations and helped her feel welcome. 

“Two weeks before the start of my on-campus classes, the lecturer personally messaged and called me to make sure I understood the modules for my unit,” Florentina explains. “As for my fellow students, we are always respectful to each other. I even have best friends who I talked to regularly during online learning, and we became so close outside of classes. When I finally came to Melbourne, it didn’t seem unfamiliar.”