Ngoc Kim Anh Tang always pictured Australia as a very busy place, so when she came to Hobart and discovered a laid-back, uncrowded city, she was pleasantly surprised.
Being from the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi, Kim was used to a much more hectic lifestyle and said Tasmania was an unexpected but welcome change.
“Hanoi is very busy and bustling and I always imagined Australia was as well. But Hobart is quite peaceful, very chill and slow, which was a bit unexpected.
“But it was definitely a good thing. It’s made it easy for me to focus on my study. Studying in Hanoi was sometimes difficult because of the busy lifestyle but coming here helped me to stay focused on my goal.”
Before coming to Tasmania, Kim studied Business English at Hanoi’s Foreign Trade University (FTU), a public university established in Hanoi in 1960.
FTU is one of the best-known universities in Vietnam, offering a wide range of business courses including finance, management, and marketing. But Kim said her primary interest in studying was more about English than business.
“I just wanted to study English, I’ve had a passion for it ever since I was young,” she said.
“Another dream of mine was studying abroad, so when heard about the articulation program I was immediately interested.”
The articulation program recognises previous studies at FTU and credits those achievements towards other courses at partner universities elsewhere around the world.
(Photo: Son Tran)
While part way through her Business English course at FTU, Kim was offered the opportunity to study a Bachelor of Business Administration at the University of Tasmania. The three year course in Hobart (which is now studied as the Bachelor of Business with a Management major) was shaved down to a year-and-a-half thanks to her already-completed units at FTU.
“I was offered two options, one in England and the other one was the University of Tasmania but my preference was always to study in Australia, It has a great reputation for higher education and I’ve always heard good stories about the people, the weather.”
Because of COVID-19 restrictions at the time, she was unable to travel to Tasmania immediately, and instead started her University of Tasmania studies online from Vietnam.
She relocated to Hobart to complete the remaining 9 months of her degree in 2022. And while she was initially more interested in the opportunity to improve her English, she came to love her business studies and is planning to pursue a career in her chosen specialisation, management.
“I really enjoyed studying business, I feel like it is really practical for my future career. Now I want to be a business consultant when I go back to Vietnam, I am applying for some jobs in that field.
“I had two internship opportunities during my degree, working in human resources at Crowne Plaza Hobart, and Cumulus Studio. And I also had the chance to work as a casual staff member at the University as Student Success Leader.”
Kim is returning home to Hanoi after completing her degree and said she was confident her studies at the University of Tasmania gave her everything she needed to follow her management career path, as well as that intensive study of English she always wanted.
“Studying in a foreign country after doing the first half of my course at home was quite challenging but also rewarding. I got to explore my potential a lot.”
Are you considering coming to Tasmania to study with us? We’re sure you’ll love it here but if you want to find out more about our campuses, accommodation and the lifestyle in this beautiful island state, we have everything you need to know right here.