Isuru Hewaparakkrama joined Asian International School in Colombo in 2008 after sitting for GCE O/L examination at Leeds International School in Panadura. He passed London GCE A/L examination with excellent results including two A grade passes offering Accounting, Mathematics, Economics and Business Studies. At school he was not a “book worm”. He was an excellent [...]

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I am enjoying studying at the University of Melbourne says Isuru

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Isuru Hewaparakkrama

Isuru Hewaparakkrama joined Asian International School in Colombo in 2008 after sitting for GCE O/L examination at Leeds International School in Panadura. He passed London GCE A/L examination with excellent results including two A grade passes offering Accounting, Mathematics, Economics and Business Studies.

At school he was not a “book worm”. He was an excellent badminton player and received school colours for badminton from Asian International School. He also took part in chess, basketball, tennis, carom, cricket, swimming, table tennis and athletics at school participating in competitions too.

The only child in the family he was focused on studying abroad at tertiary level from young days. He had a choice in selecting the country where he wanted to study and after many consultations with a number of organisations selected Australia as the country he wanted to study in. Why University of Melbourne we asked him? His answer was that he wanted to be a graduate from a top university and to have an internationally recognised degree. He further said “Being the top university in Australia, I had high expectations and it certainly lived up to it. University of Melbourne is a wonderful place for anyone to pursue their higher studies. I am really happy I chose University of Melbourne to study. It’s a great atmosphere to do your studies with other extra-curricular activities. Yeah, more than half of the students in Uni are international students and there are so many special events available for students each week. Usually, these events are organised by various clubs and societies”.

Asked about the method of teaching at the uni he had to say this. ”I am studying Commerce in which the teaching is divided into lectures and tutorials. In lectures, they give a basic understanding of the subject material and we will be expected to do a bit of research and reading during non uni hours. After that, all the material we were taught during the lectures and the additional work we do will be needed to apply to answer the tutorial questions before the tutorial. This approach is fairly different to how we study in SL”.

Isuru says that the first few months were tough. We all get really home sick which makes it difficult to do studies to your potential. Also, it is certainly challenging to adapt to the new city, new people, new culture’s etc. and at uni, it’s a different learning experience. Having said that, he had not taken too long to completely settle down and living at Uni lodge in Swanston, Melbourne had made it a bit easy.
“My course has been challenging so far, but I am getting used to how to prepare myself to do the assignments and exams well. So I am coping with the course much better than I did in my first year.

The facilities at the uni are more than adequate for research and study, with student lounge, counselling, help desks and vast libraries. The academic staff is exceptional. The lecturers and tutors are very clear and concise when they present the course material to us. Also, the feed back we receive on our assignments are very detailed and tells us where we have to improve which is really helpful” he went on to add.

He spends his weekends playing tennis – in fact he plays at competitions at the Uni winning the Men’s advanced singles competition last semester – and basketball and watch movies. He had already traveled to Adelaide to watch the Sri Lankan cricket team play in the finals in a tri series against Australia in March 2012.

Isuru thanks Edlocate for showing him the way to brighten his future. Contact Counselors at Edlocate Colombo (011 5219129) Kandy (081 5631583) and  Jaffna (021 2228060) offices for inquiries regarding admission to University of Melbourne and  18 other Australian universities or University of Auckland in New Zealand in February 2013.




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