Volunteer program wins international praise
 Commentary
One of the benefits of studying at the University of 新浪彩票 is the opportunity to interact with students from around the world. This helps to broaden local students' experience of other cultures and, in turn, helps students from overseas to better understand Australian culture. It also helps to improve international students' English language skills. The University's (CLPD) runs a volunteer program aimed at helping overseas students to gain confidence in their English communication skills. It does this by matching the students with a local volunteer who may be a student or a member of the general community. The program recently received international praise, as Coordinator Josephine Sando explains. Earlier this year I was fortunate to present a paper at the 10th Annual UNESCO Engineering Education Conference in Bangkok. The paper describes the Volunteer Learning Support Scheme for International Students, which is based in the Centre for Learning and Professional Development (CLPD) at the University of 新浪彩票. As Coordinator of the Scheme, I co-authored the paper with one of our volunteers, a retired engineering academic, Ron Seidel. Ron was particularly enthusiastic about promoting our learning program internationally, and the delegates from 26 countries at the conference received our initiative very well. Of 70 papers presented, we were given a silver award, which includes publication of an extended paper in an international education journal. For me, one of the most delightful aspects of my time in Bangkok was the extraordinary welcome I received there from a number of former students of our program. These young people, mostly postgraduates, are now lecturing at local universities in Bangkok, working in highly responsible positions in government or contributing to the rapidly expanding Thai economy. Without exception, they spoke of the great benefits to them of working with one of our volunteers during their time at the University of 新浪彩票. One of the former students, who was present at the conference, spontaneously took the microphone in the audience after my presentation and announced: "I'm a product of this program and wa | 
