2020 VIEA Awards: Deakin wins for excellence in employability and career development

Deakin has been named the winner in the Excellence in International Student Employability and Career Development category of the 2020 Victorian International Education Awards (VIEA).

The award recognises excellence and innovation in employability and careers services to international students. This is a great achievement which highlights the exceptional quality of Deakin’s careers and employment service DeakinTALENT.

Over the past five years, Deakin University has invested in making careers and employment support a central part of the student experience. This approach contributed to a significant increase in student engagement with Deakin’s guided career services, from 7% in 2015 to over 25% in 2019. In addition, 50% of Deakin’s 63,000 students accessed DeakinTALENT’s digital services in 2019. DeakinTALENT has also been named the most popular careers service in Australia for four years running, as voted by graduate employers.

Deakin’s VIEA awards entry showcased DeakinTALENT programs and services including the Deakin International Student Careers program (DISC), FreelancingHUB and the Virtual Recruitment Journey. This wide range of offerings ensure students can access work experience opportunities, career development workshops and employment support services from before they start their degree and even after they graduate. As a ‘digital first’ careers service, DeakinTALENT was able to respond quickly to the impact of COVID-19 in 2020, transitioning the full suite of programs and services online. Deakin even launched a new initiative last year – the Virtual Recruitment Journey. This allows students to experience an authentic virtual recruitment process from application to interview.

“Over the past five years, Deakin University has invested in making careers and employment support a central part of the student experience.”

The VIEA awards are an initiative of the Victorian Government (Study Melbourne) to support the international education sector and raise awareness of the sector’s benefits to the wider community. Provider awards are open every two years, and Deakin also won the Excellence in International Student Employability and Career Development category in 2018 for the Australia-India Business Forum. This reflects Deakin’s ongoing commitment to new and innovative programs that support student careers and employability.

Five Deakin students were also selected as finalists in the student and alumni award categories. Deakin College student Somethea Siek was nominated in the International Student of the Year – Vocational Education & Training (VET) category, PhD student Shruti Verma was nominated for International Student of the Year – Research and Australian student Christian Bayfield was nominated for Victorian Student of the Year – Internationalisation. Deakin had two finalists in the International Student of the Year – Regional category; Nikhil Krishnaprasad and Mehzabin Elma. This is an impressive achievement and recognition of the quality of our students – you can read more about the Deakin nominees on the VIEA website.

For information about studying at Deakin and to view the many degrees on offer, visit our international student page.