FIFTEEN students of University of Wollongong (UOW) were blessed with the chance to study at the University of Cambridge as part of UOW’s student mobility programme.

This programme allows UOW students worldwide to take up unique courses, research opportunities, and cultural immersion experiences domestically and internationally to gain exposure while enhancing their academic experience.

At Cambridge, they delved into a special topic: Advanced Theory of Finance, and the students comprised two from UOW Hong Kong, two from UOW Malaysia, one from UOW Dubai and 10 from UOW Australia.

Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the third oldest university in the world and has produced some of the most influential figures in history including Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, and Stephen Hawking.

"The course for the 15 students was taught on-site at Hughes Hall, College of the University of Cambridge, from 4th July to 20th July," said Logeswary Mariappan, UOW Malaysia’s School of Business lecturer, who was assigned to be there and supervise some of the 15 students.

She added that UOW Australia’s financial economist Prof Alex Frino and Prof Steve Satchell, who is a fellow in economics at Trinity College of University of Cambridge, delivered the lectures and provided the materials and lecture slides. The course was assessed by Prof Frino on the mid-semester examination, assignments, and final examination.

Since Hughes Hall was established in 1885, Logeswary said UOW Malaysia's students marveled at the archaic architecture of the buildings which at the same time was internally equipped with modern studying facilities.

But more importantly, she said it was a rare opportunity for the UOW Malaysia students to collaborate with the other students from UOW's campuses around the world on their group assignments.

"I was proud to see that while supervising the student groups, UOW Malaysia students were on par with the students from Hong Kong, Dubai and Australia.

"They cooperated seamlessly to complete the tasks required by their professors," she said.

Meals -- breakfast, lunch and dinner -- during their almost three-week stint were served at the cafeteria of Hughes Hall.

There was a lot of bread, croissants and chips (potato wedges and fries). There was pizza and spaghetti regularly, with rice occasionally, but Logeswary recalled with a smile that the English way of cooking rice could do with a bit more improvement.

She said the UOW students were invited to attend a dinner at Trinity College and she admired how dinners at this prestigious university were daily events treated with honor and respect.

She said aside from her supervising the student groups, UOW Hong Kong's Toby Butt and UOW Australia, Robbie Gaudiosi, making the student mobility programme a truly international collaboration.

Logeswary said classes were held conference-room style in the Pavilion Room in Hughes Hall, at the end of the Wollaston Building.

Lectures were from 9.30am to 11am, followed by group supervision from 11.30am to 1pm. Then lunch at the cafeteria and followed by more supervision from 2pm to 3.30pm.

A mid-semester examination was held on July 10, followed by more classes.

On July 13, Prof Frino guided the students on how to complete their assignments, and Logeswary described how the professor made sure each student had a solid understanding of what was expected of them.

"The last examination was held on July 20, and the relief was clear on the faces of all the students.

"Some of the students headed back home straightaway, some holidayed in London and a few travelled to Paris and Amsterdam," said Logeswary, adding that the UOW Malaysia team spent a couple of days in London and returned to Malaysia on July 22.

This content is provided by UOW Malaysia KDU