Gwilym Price can’t sing the praises of the University of Wollongong enough.
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And it’s not because he received the University Medal for achieving top marks in the School of Chemistry, during one of Wednesday’s graduation ceremonies.
Price, who graduated with a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Chemistry, “thoroughly enjoyed” his UOW experience.
Part of his time at UOW included a six-month study stint in the Netherlands.
Price enjoyed the trip immensely as he got to travel and see a lot of Europe.
“I also got to see the different education systems and the different culture to the learning, which was interesting,” he said.
“I think education is considered a standard in the Netherlands. Everyone does a degree, normally a masters degree, so they take it very seriously.
“It is quite different to a place like Wollongong where it is not uncommon for people to turn up to class with no shoes on.
It is quite different to a place like Wollongong where it is not uncommon for people to turn up to class with no shoes on.
- Gwilym Price
“Most students from the Netherlands will turn up dressed quite smartly, as if they are going to work.
“They also are into lectures and enjoyed having discussion with the academics rather than just sitting back and listening to the lecture.
“If they didn’t understand something they'd definitely put their hand up and generate discussion, which was interesting.”
Price, who grew up in Gerringong but now works as an environmental scientist for a consultancy company in Canberra, was also part of a UOW research team who spent three months conducting fieldwork in Antarctica.
“We were part of a team which wrote environmental guidelines for the Australian area of Antarctica,” he said.
“But we have also been working on developing a tool that can assess pollution over a long period of time, without having to do lots of tests.
“The Antarctica trip was basically about testing that tool.”
Like Price, Dr Myrto Mavilidi also studied in the Netherlands.
But it was in Greece that Dr Mavilidi, who graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy from the School of Education, completed her undergraduate studies.
“I changed tack and quit my job after my bachelor degree and then headed to the Netherlands,” she said. “When I finished my master, my supervisor suggested I come to Australia.”
Dr Mavilidi’s research looked at enhancing pre-schoolers’ learning by incorporating movement into the classroom.
“We design programs that include task-relevant physical activity. So the activities the children were doing were actually relevant to what they were learning,” she said.
Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
