{"id":4119,"date":"2024-07-12T09:00:58","date_gmt":"2024-07-11T23:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/?p=4119"},"modified":"2026-05-22T11:13:01","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T01:43:01","slug":"flinders-mates-is-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/2024\/07\/12\/flinders-mates-is-back\/","title":{"rendered":"Flinders Mates 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003366\"><em>We have a culturally diverse student group here at Flinders. The Flinders Mates program seeks to connect students to share and celebrate each others&#8217; culture. Stay tuned for 2026 dates and times.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>They say, \u201c<em>it\u2019s all about who you know<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Do you want to meet interesting people, expand your network globally, and learn new things? Then Flinders Mates is for YOU!<\/p>\n<p>As global citizens, building relationships and forming networks, as well as developing intercultural knowledge, awareness and understanding, are vital to interacting with our world.<\/p>\n<p>Flinders University is a proud host of around <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flinders.edu.au\/about\/fast-facts\/student-staff-numbers\">five thousand international students<\/a>, representing many different nationalities and cultural backgrounds. However, studying internationally at Flinders and in tertiary institutions across Australia can be a challenging experience. Social engagement, developing relationships, and community and intercultural understanding are fundamental factors for student success.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is Flinders Mates?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Celebrating the diversity of cultural groups here at Flinders, Flinders Mates is a student led program that connects domestic and international students for fun conversation, sharing culture and building friendships. These regular get-togethers are a great way to meet people from all over the world. Other benefits include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Deeper connection and community<\/li>\n<li>Reduced isolation<\/li>\n<li>Better cross-cultural communication and language skills<\/li>\n<li>Improved wellbeing<\/li>\n<li>Improved multicultural integration on campus<\/li>\n<li>Compliment of studies by enhancing understanding of other cultures \u2013 a vital skillset in a global workforce<\/li>\n<li>An overall better student experience at university<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Sessions are run by student facilitators who create a safe and informal space for people for connecting around conversation.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>OK, how can I get involved?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>At<strong>\u00a0Bedford Park Campus,<\/strong>\u00a0sessions are held during the first 4 weeks of the Semester, Tuesday from 12 to 1 PM, at Oasis Student Wellbeing Centre (J7 on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.flinders.edu.au\/content\/dam\/documents\/campus\/maps\/campus-map.pdf\">campus map<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>No need to register\u2014just turn up!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>I wouldn&#8217;t mind being a facilitator&#8230;.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For would-be\u00a0<strong>facilitators<\/strong>\u00a0this is an opportunity to enhance your global connections, grow your intercultural intelligence, improve your group facilitation and leadership skills, and gain\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/students.flinders.edu.au\/support\/careers\/horizon\">Horizon Professional Development Award<\/a>\u00a0points by volunteering over the university year as a Flinders Mates group facilitator. In addition to these transferable skills, facilitators may be offered professional training and development opportunities, to further increase employability!<\/p>\n<p>As one of our volunteers Eloise put it \u201cThe program is an excellent way for volunteers like myself to build connections, learn from a variety of people, and get experience talking to people. I have personally found it to be an exciting and fun way to meet people. Safe to say, I highly encourage all students to volunteer!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Please read and sign the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/oasis.flinders.edu.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Flinders-Mates-Position-Description_2023_form_sign.pdf\"><strong>position description<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and then complete the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/flinders.jotform.com\/230118905912856\"><strong>application form<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(alternatively downloadable from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/oasis.flinders.edu.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Flinders-Mates-Registration-Form_2023.pdf\">here<\/a>) to register your interest.<\/p>\n<p>For more information, please feel free to drop into Oasis for a chat, or email\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:oasis@flinders.edu.au\">oasis@flinders.edu.au<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Welcoming Universities<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Flinders is a member of <a href=\"https:\/\/welcoming.org.au\/initiatives\/welcoming-universities\/\">Welcoming Universities<\/a>. It is &#8216;network to inspire and support Australian universities to develop a culture and practice of welcome, inclusion and belonging within their institutions&#8217;. Flinders Mates is a tangible example of creating a welcome culture. If building your social network and expanding your cultural knowledge are desirable to you, we\u2019d love you get involved.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4183\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/71\/2022\/04\/flinders-mates-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1655\" height=\"2340\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/71\/2022\/04\/flinders-mates-2.jpg 1655w, https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/71\/2022\/04\/flinders-mates-2-212x300.jpg 212w, https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/71\/2022\/04\/flinders-mates-2-768x1086.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/71\/2022\/04\/flinders-mates-2-724x1024.jpg 724w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1655px) 100vw, 1655px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; We have a culturally diverse student group here at Flinders. The Flinders Mates program seeks to connect students to share and celebrate each others&#8217; culture. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":492,"featured_media":3788,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11966,81,11120,15107,19923,34,10432,42,19950],"tags":[10576,12937,14532,13669,9700,14533,328],"class_list":["post-4119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-flinders-services-and-programs","category-international-students","category-oasis","category-oasis-programs","category-participate","category-social","category-well-being-at-flinders","category-workshops-events-programs-resources","tag-conversation","tag-cross-cultural","tag-cultural-exchange","tag-domestic-students","tag-flinders-mates","tag-friendship","tag-international-students"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/492"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}