Krishan: This is a Vegemite sandwich. It's actually not that bad.

Jack: I love sports, I love music, and they're two massive parts of the Melbourne culture.

Seija : There's different cuisines everywhere. Everyone's from everywhere. It's amazing.

Krishan: Melbourne is a very lively city. There's always something happening around.

Shamil: I've met people from more than 90 countries at RMIT.

Sharon: The lecturers, they're willing to help the students when the students have difficulties in their assignments.

Alisha Mane: You can contact them anytime you want. You can email them.

Zerui: There's a lot of supportive programs. It helps me a lot.

Chalitha W.: I was scared, to be honest, before I moved here. So, I wish I knew that it was this fun and this laid-back.

Alisha Mane: RMIT is in the central business district in Melbourne.

Krishan: It's great to get to from any part of the city.

Seija : You can go down the stairs. There's a massive supermarket down there.

Jack: So many cafes, restaurants, bars.

Alisha Mane: There are many banks around in the city as well.

Krishan: Trams are really easy to catch, especially if you're in the city area, which is free.

Shamil: This is a myki card. This is used for public transport across Victoria.

Chalitha W.: If you're coming to RMIT for the first time, you can get free airport pickup service.

Shamil: I attended the orientation a day after I came here, so I would say I was jetlagged. I'd probably recommend three, four days earlier.

Sharon: I say in a student accommodation called Atira La Trobe. It's a four minutes walk from RMIT city campus.

Krishan: I live a 15 minute walk from MIT. I live down on Flinders Street.

Alisha Mane: When you're an international student you get 20 hours a week to work. That manages my expenses for the month.

Krishan: I found a part time job. I used to work in McDonald's.

Alisha Mane: I work at a cafe at Parliament Station.

Sharon: It's a Lemington. I've never tried it before. Oh, this has jam in it.

Krishan: Aldi is less than five minutes walk from RMIT. You can get everything there for really, really cheap prices.

Chalitha W.: It was so easy to open a bank account.

Krishan: Every bank you go, they're very helpful.

Jack: This is a meat pie. But you have to be careful, because they can be very hot and very messy.

Krishan: There's this Malaysian restaurant called Laksa Bar, which we like going to.

Zerui: I like the restaurant in David Jones. They have nice hot chocolate.

Jack: I'm a big fan of Asian food, so Japanese and Korean, and there's absolutely no shortage of that, especially around RMIT.

Alisha Mane: AFL footy ball. I've tried to kick it a few times.

Chalitha W.: I got to meet Ken Richardson, a fast pacer from Melbourne Renegades, when he came to RMIT.

Shamil: RMIT offers strips and tours across regional Victoria.

Sharon: I've seen koala, kangaroo. Like they jumped to you. I think that's cute.

Alisha Mane: I just finished my master's in July, so now I'm going to look for my full-time job in my field.

Shamil: I see myself graduating as a finance graduate.

Alisha Mane: When I made new friends, I think that's when I got actually into the habit of living here.

Seija : Melbourne as a city is becoming home to me.

[Start transcript]

Hi, I'm Vinisha, and I just recently graduated from my Master of Marketing from RMIT. What attracted me to study in Australia was because of the cost effectiveness and the university rankings. I also heard a lot of good reviews from students here. During my Medibank internship, I worked with the overseas partnerships team, designing communication material for international students like myself. The great thing about doing this internship was I met so many people and got to work on so many projects.

My hope for Vinisha has already come true. She has been successful in securing a permanent position at Medibank in a marketing team, and I'm so proud of her she's done so well.

RMIT has prepared myself for a career in Australia and I feel a lot more confident. I've made these industry connections and I've learned so much from my lecturers and really understood the foundations of it.

[End transcript]

Walk and Talk City Campus

[Start transcript]

[Music]

[Lily]

Welcome everyone, my name is Lily and today I’m going to give you a tour of RMIT’s city campus.

Being right in the heart of Melbourne, there are a ton of trains and trams they can take you where you want to be. Right next to our city campus, we have the beautiful State Library, where you can come study and get inspired.

[Music continues]

Melbourne is super well known for its food and coffee scene and there are a ton of places to eat and drink on campus. So, you’ll never run out of places to try. And Standing Room is one of my favourites. Thank you.

If you’re looking for advice on applying to study, pathways to different programs or just important days to remember, then Study at RMIT is the place to go.

RMIT was founded in 1887. So, some of our buildings, including this one, are heritage listed and an important part of Melbourne’s history. Let’s keep going.

[Music continues]

So, right now we are heading down Bowen Street, which is where all kinds of Uni events happen. So, if you are heading to orientation, to an expo or meeting up with one of our many student clubs, chances are you’ll find yourself here a lot. No matter what you study at RMIT, there is a collective group or a club that will be perfect for you. Woodworking, jujitsu, hip-hop, you name it.

So, there are a ton of cool places on campus to hang out and relax. Or if you’d like to shoot some hoops, a basketball court. [Cheering and applause]

At RMIT, we recognise the unique culture and contribution that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people bring to our community. So, I’m here with Kaley from our Ngarara Willim Centre.

[Kaley]

At Ngarara Willim, we provide a safe space for Indigenous students to come and get together on a social and educational level. We also provide cultural needs as well. And also, we have tutoring for Indigenous students to come and have some free learning experiences. And we also have social events for students to get together and become a mob as well.

[Lily]

So, this is our multilevel library off Swanston Street. We’ve got high-speed Wi-Fi, computers, helpful librarians and plenty of spots to chill out with a book or study. In fact, there are over 50 dedicated study spaces on campus.

[Music continues]

Let’s head into the Campus Store. The Redbacks are RMIT’s official sports team and this is their mascot. Go Redbacks!

So, we’ve just arrived at Job Shop, where any of our students can come to talk about all things career-related. So, the staff here can give you advice on resume or cover letters, find job opportunities, career consultations and info on industry and mentoring advice.

RMIT Connect is the place for current students to seek advice on timetables and enrolment, help with tech set-up, university exchange and other global experience programs and heaps more. If you book an appointment, they’ll even send you a text, so you don’t have to wait.

So, this is RMIT’s Medical Hub, where you can book an appointment with one of our GPs for a range of health services. And don’t forget, bulk billing is available to all students enrolled at Australian universities.

[Music continues]

So, behind me is building 80, where business students spend most of their time. It also has over 80 learning and teaching spaces.

So, this is building 100, our Design Hub, home to all things architecture and design. Let’s take a little look. So, this is our Design Hub Gallery, where talented students showcase their work.

If you’re a fitness nut or just like riding your bike to campus, this is our dedicated bike hub, where you can store it securely throughout the day. You just need a student card to get in and out.

This is building 94, where you’ll find Carlton Library and our vocational design and screen and media students.

We’ve reached our advanced manufacturing precinct, where loads of cool research takes place, bringing together design and engineering. They do a lot of specialised 3-D printing here. In fact, Australia’s first-ever custom-made spinal implant was made right here.

Let’s finish off the tour at one of my favourite RMIT locations, The Capitol Theatre. Maybe they’ll be showing a movie.

Just off Swanston Street is one of the most important cinemas in Australian history, The Capitol Theatre. It was designed by Marion and Walter Burley Griffin and constructed in 1924. It’s been recently reimagined by RMIT as a hub for culture and education and hosts live productions, screenings, talks and workshops.

I hope you enjoyed the tour of our beautiful city campus. And remember, if you have any questions about studying, our friendly team at the Study at RMIT Centre are more than happy to help you out. We’ll see you soon.

[End transcript]

Interview with Vidita Sharma, 2022 RMIT graduate from the Bachelor of Communication (Journalism).  

[Duration] 5:18

My name is Vidita Sharma and I am from India, a state called Punjab and I came here to study Bachelor of Communications specialising in journalism from RMIT University.

I love Melbourne. This is something I keep telling my family and my parents as well. I feel like I have had the opportunity to build myself from scratch here. Like, be it making contacts, making friends, doing work or internships or anything. Like obviously it's been with the help of the people around me and the internships that RMIT, the staff, my tutors, my lecturers and everyone has helped me get is some of the best I would say. I had the opportunity to work at ABC, which is I think, a big platform, a big company in Australia and worldwide as well.

Some of the qualities or skills that I've learned throughout these three years, one of them would be, a big one would be leadership. I think a lot of the roles that RMIT offered me included leadership. Everyone who was involved in those opportunities, they were always supportive being like, okay you can do this, yeah, and I think that's how I learned that I can actually you know, lead a team or be good at this.

My tutors have been my everything throughout these three years. They have been my rock because I don't think I would have had better or supportive staff than what RMIT has offered me.

My first year I was, I was a part of like the hockey team. The there was like something called the SYN Media Student Youth Network. I was a part of that, and then I got enrolled with RUSU and like Indian Club and everything because I think there are so many communities that RMIT offers, so you have a lot of options to you know, pick and choose from. So I would say just, yeah, go for it.

My dad's support has been the biggest factor for me reaching the end of my degree I would say, and my dad's support obviously and my sister's and my mum's. The main reason why I chose journalism is because of my mum. After high school, I was just gonna, you know, do something, literally just like try to figure out something in medical, maybe something like a doctor. You know, that's what I was thinking. But my mum was like, you're pretty decent at public speaking, why don't you try journalism? And I was like, maybe, and that's how I got into it. But I think the motivation wise, throughout the three years, my dad has been my biggest supporter, be it the internships that I've done, be it the involvement with RMIT, the different opportunities that I've gotten. I think he was the first person I used to call and be like, look, this is what I've done. Look, I'm on RMIT's page, look I'm on their Instagram. And I used to receive like big paragraphs on WhatsApp from him, like I'm so proud of you, look at this! And I think those were the things that pushed me through these three years and I'm super grateful for that. Them seeing my life here is something I think I was looking forward to and they're enjoying it as well, yeah.

There's too many emotions. There's so many emotions, because just before coming here, I was taking photos in my gown, the graduation gown and I was like all smiling and like oh my god, I'm graduating. My sister was like okay, pose like this, pose like that. I'm like, wait, let this moment sink in, because yeah, I am not ready to leave this place yet.

So I was a little nervous. It was nerve racking. I was shivering I would say, before I stepped onto the stage. But once I got to this stage, I greeted the person who was giving me the testamur. And I think it went so smoothly and yeah, it just, it felt like a dream come true. When I was on the stage just looking at everyone, all my classmates cheering for me. So that was, that was yeah, that was just wonderful. I think I'm at a point where I can call Melbourne home. And I mean, India is going to be my home always, but a different place in a different country, I would say Melbourne is my home.

So after graduation, I'm looking for a job now. So I've been applying to a couple of places and yeah, I think the next steps for me is trying to get a job. I'm not yet looking at Masters but I probably will in a year or two. Look at Masters once I've got some experience in my hand and you know, I've worked somewhere. So I think that's the plan for now, but who knows how it might change.

[Music]