PALs for life in education
There
was plenty to smile about at the recent graduation ceremony for the 2004
University of South Australia’s Preparation Program for Adult Learners
(UniSA-PAL) students, where family, friends and teachers were celebrating
the graduates’ successful completion of the program and the beginning of
their first weeks of study for university degrees.
UniSA-PAL is an innovative program that, since its inception in 2002, has helped mature age students enter tertiary education. From last year’s class of 28 students who completed the program, 27 were accepted into university degree programs, with the remaining one deciding to leave it as an option for the future.
Lauren Dundon completed last year’s program at Hamilton Adult Campus and is now studying nursing at UniSA.
“I’m so glad I took the plunge and followed my dreams through UniSA-PAL,” Ms Dundon said.
“A UniSA-PAL friend and I are already making plans to travel when we’ve finished studying. We want to work as volunteer nurses in Africa. My options are really opening up – becoming a nurse is like getting a plane ticket!”
Mohammad Al Raddy, another successful graduate of the program running at Thebarton Senior College, is now studying a double degree in International Studies and Business at UniSA. After moving to Australia from Iraq only two and a half years ago, he found UniSA-PAL really helped him understand Australian society and culture, and improve his English.
He also hopes he can use the knowledge he acquires during his degree to help bring eastern and western civilisations together.
“I think there are some missing connections between eastern and western people – I would like to connect the two cultures and ways of thinking, and even help people coming to Australia,” Al Raddy said.
A driving force behind the program’s inception and now adjunct researcher with the Hawke Institute, Professor Eleanor Ramsey, says the program is like no other in Australia and is certainly one of UniSA’s many success stories.
“We’ve contrasted it with similar courses and the reason the Commonwealth Department of Education funded my research is that the outcomes are so much better than for thousands of students in dozens of courses throughout Australia,” says Prof Ramsey.
“I always know the UniSA-PAL students will succeed because I’ve looked at the statistics. We get astounding results, not just from UniSA-PAL students during the program, but when they go on to university.”