UWS honours local Vietnamese community
The University of Western Sydney has hosted a special dinner to celebrate and honour its strong bond with the local Vietnamese community.
People from a Vietnamese background represent the fifth largest group of students at UWS, and the University is proud to provide the opportunity for members of the community to gain the skills and expertise they need to reach their full potential.
To celebrate this special relationship, hundreds of community members gathered at the Fairfield RSL for the dinner, where they heared from special guests including Acting UWS Vice Chancellor Rhonda Hawkins, Andrew Rohan MP, and Lana Nguyen, a second year UWS medical student born in Penrith to Vietnamese refugees.
"I've always lived in Greater Western Sydney, and studying at the University of Western Sydney was a natural choice for me," she told the audience.
"Becoming a doctor has always been a dream of mine, and I've been lucky enough to receive a Vice-Chancellor's scholarship and a Campbelltown City Council medical student scholarship to help me focus on my studies and achieve the best possible results."
"The Bachelor of Medicine / Bachelor of Surgery program at the University of Western Sydney was designed to create doctors who train and work in the region, which gives me the chance to repay the community for all it's done for me and my family"
Former Human Rights Commissioner and current Director of UWS Equity and Diversity, Dr Sev Ozdowski, told the dinner that Vietnamese students are a crucial part of the University of Western Sydney student population.
"The Vietnamese community make a big contribution to our vibrant student population, and they reflect positively on the entire Greater Western Sydney community," Dr Ozdowski said.
"Since the arrival of Vietnamese migrants in the 1970s, the community has proved remarkable at taking full advantage of the opportunities in Australia to achieve social mobility through education."
"We are proud of our students and their parents, and this dinner is a small but important way to say thank you."
Other special guests at the event included:
- Mrs Barbara Perry, Member for Auburn;
- Mr Nick Lalich, MP Member for Cabramatta;
- Ms Dinh Tran, Registrar of Family Court of Australia;
- Mr Tony Issa, Member for Granville; Mr Justin Taunton Councillor;
- Mr Hà Thắng, Vice President (Organising and Planning), Vietnamese Community in Australia (NSW);
- Mr Dýõng Học, Vice President (Culture and Education), Vietnamese Community in Australia (NSW);
- Professor Andrew Cheetham, Interim Vice-Chancellor, UWS;
- Associate Professor Minh Nguyen, UWS.
The UWS Vietnamese Dinner was the first of a set of community events aimed at celebrating the largest culturally and linguistically diverse communities of Greater Western Sydney, namely the Vietnamese, Chinese and Indian communities.
UWS is proud to be one of the most culturally diverse universities in Australia, with more than 100 ethnic backgrounds represented in the student population, and over 20 per cent of staff coming from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
Ends
30 July 2013
Mobile options:
