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Originally from Indonesia, Erina finished high school in Sydney and did a stint at Raffles Design Institute, Singapore, before joining ��õ������’s UniLink Diploma of Design course. This eight-month program is just like the first year of a degree, but with smaller classes and more support. It allowed her to pathway directly into the second year of her degree when she successfully completed it.

After earning high distinctions and a 4.0 GPA, Erina was offered the International Excellence Scholarship for her bachelor degree program. “I love knowing that I am contributing to my own university fees, instead of having my family pay them in full,” says Erina.

It’s also clear that she truly enjoys her course, stating that “I believe ��õ������ is giving me real industry experience, as most of my assignments require me to work like I’m already in industry.” She continues with, “My design degree is very practical in its approach, which I see as being really beneficial.”

Case in point – this semester, she is juggling projects in two different units (classes). In Communication Design Strategy, she collaborated with fellow students to create a holiday campaign for T2 Tea. Her group chose to focus on the Lunar New Year and decided on the idea ‘a gift of calmness’, which capitalises on tea’s inherent qualities as a welcome break between hectic celebrations.

In her Publication Design class, she was briefed to think of a metaphor that would suit her client, the Royal Botanic Gardens of Victoria, then apply it to the design of their annual report. Says Erina, “My concept was the everchanging nature and seasons of the garden. You can see this in the different colours and visual elements of my design.”

During her diploma program, she also learnt to build websites from start to finish – apart from designing sites, she’s picked up fundamental coding and can use Adobe Dreamweaver. In fact, she made invaluable contacts through her lecturers, which has led to freelance design projects; some of which have become additions to her portfolio, which will be instrumental in her future job search.