26 October 2019
A 20-year-old UniSA Vietnamese student with a passion for law and volunteering has been named South Australia’s joint International Student of the Year.
Thien Khoi Tran, who hopes to use his law degree on graduation to help rehabilitate prisoners, was announced a joint winner by StudyAdelaide on Friday 25 October, alongside Flinders University student Alessandro Sereni.
Thien Khoi was one of six UniSA students in contention for the honour at the 2019 International Student Awards.
His outstanding academic record – averaging high distinctions in his Bachelor of Laws (Hons) and Bachelor of Marketing course – and extensive voluntary work within UniSA, his local Enfield community, the YMCA Youth Parliament, SA Bar Association and Rotaract Adelaide, impressed the judges.
Among his voluntary activities is sponsorship director for UniSA’s Law Students Association, helping to secure student grants. He also volunteers at UniSA’s Open Day and Orientation Day and is the current president of the Vietnamese Students Association of Adelaide.
“I love volunteering and participating in student activities and other events around Adelaide. It excites me to see the international Vietnamese student community here becoming more cohesive and supportive,” he says.
“Adelaide is a beautiful place to live and study I always find something new to interest me.”
Five other UniSA students were also honoured in the following categories:
Grace Mak (Master of Occupational Therapy) won the Sporting Excellence category and TEDxUniSA won the Student Event of the Year.
Academic Excellence: Sulakshana Kumari Jayasekara (Bachelor of Laws (Hons) and Bachelor of Business - Economics, Finance and Trade; Carolin Reichherzer (PhD in Computer Science); and Milan Paudel (Master of Engineering - Water Resources Management) were all highly commended.
Community Engagement: Phuong Mail Dinh (Bachelor of Business – Tourism and Event Management) was highly commended.
His Excellency the Honourable Hieu Van Le AC, Governor of South Australia, presented the awards to the winning students during a function at Government House.
Media contact: Candy Gibson office +61 8 8302 0961 mobile: +61 434 605 142
email: candy.gibson@unisa.edu.au
