International students return to Federation University, including Tamaua Moriati from Kiribati

So the international student decided to study a Masters of Technology at Federation University and has immediately felt at home in Ballarat, which has a similar sized population to her home country.

Ms Moriati is one of 257 international students starting their university courses at Fed Uni this month, alongside 580 international students who are continuing their studies.

Although she is the only Fed Uni student from Kiribati, she has met a student from the Solomon Islands and joins international students in Ballarat from many countries including India, China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, France, Bahrain, Malaysia, Philippines, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan and Zimbabwe.

They are studying a range of undergraduate and graduate programs including Social Work, Nursing, IT, Business, Biomedical Science, Biotechnology, Community and Human Services, Professional Accounting, Education and Engineering.

As the Omicron COVID variant arrived in Kiribati in January in the weeks before she left, Ms Moriati was concern her studies might be derailed ... again.

In early January there had only been a few dozen cases of COVID in Kiribati throughout the pandemic, but as Omicron surged the number jumped to 200 by the end of January and there are now more than 2800 cases and parts of the country are now in lockdown.

"Before I travelled we started having COVID and we were rushing everything because offices got closed down and we were trying to get everything sorted before we left," she said.

Ms Moriati and other students from Kiribati arrived in Adelaide in late January and completed quarantine before moving on to universities across the country.

"The rest of the students chose the cities to study ... but I wanted to come to Ballarat because I think the city life is a bit overwhelming for me. It's good to be here in Ballarat and it's very cosy and a bit cold but I like it," she said.

While Ms Moriati has quickly settled in to life at Fed Uni, living on campus and exploring Ballarat, she said some of her countrymen and women studying elsewhere were finding it more difficult.

"It's so friendly here ... but others (studying elsewhere) have mentioned their experience in their uni is a bit tough for them, but for me here I've found it very easy to communicate, to get assistance on different issues and it's very supportive."

Working as an IT supervisor for Kiribati's Ministry of Justice, Ms Moriati said the content of Fed Uni's two-year Masters of Technology related most closely to her work, which also swayed her decision to study here.

She applied for the two-year Masters of Technology course in 2020 but because of travel restrictions could not study last year.

"My work relates to most of the topics in the course and I want to develop more knowledge and skills in those areas because my previous study, when I did my undergraduate degree, I found did not particularly relate to the work I have in my country."

IN OTHER NEWS

Federation University vice chancellor Professor Duncan Bentley said it was wonderful to have international students back on campus.

Included in the 580 continuing students are international students who had returned to their home countries at the start of the pandemic but have flown back to Australia resume face to face classes in 2022, those who stayed here throughout the pandemic, and those who started their courses remotely while overseas during the pandemic and have come to Ballarat for the first time this month to continue their course.

"We are excited to welcome back our international students and the diversity and culture they bring to our campuses," he said.

"While this is a positive step, we don't expect the number of international students to return to pre-pandemic levels for a number of years.

"It's vital that we continue to focus on increasing our domestic student numbers and building partnerships with industry, government and the community to ensure we have a strong and sustainable university to serve our regional communities."

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