I’m Deeba Master, and I’m USQ student.

I’m German by ethnicity, I was born in Germany. I really like the culture, we have a lot of traditions of respect, I guess you could say, especially for older people. The way you address people, the way you deal with people. It’s a very warm culture, kind of like the Greeks and Italians I guess, with the...great history I guess, over thousands of years. I’ve been living with my mother since I can remember, and she’s been really supportive of my studies through uni, which have included a Bachelor of Biomedical Science, and then my Honours on top of that, and now a Graduate Diploma of Psychological Studies. I like psychology. It’s a bit tricky because it’s so abstract compared to black and white pure sciences, but I’m sure I’ll make it. Yeah, there’s lots of support out there. My support system at the moment consists of my mum and my sister. If mum wasn’t there I probably wouldn’t be able to study as effectively as I do now.

Deeba’s Mum: As a person who has also studied at the University of Southern Queensland, I got...I did my Post-Graduate Degree and my Masters Degree here, and I want to say that lecturers at the University of Southern Queensland are fantastic. They are really, really supportive. I am very, very, extremely proud of Deeba and I am very lucky that she is still living with me. She has chosen to stay for a while, and I feel very lucky. And that is the honest truth. She is very, very serious about her studies. She always...that comes first. Maybe second, the first is her beliefs.

Deeba: I’m a member of the Baha’i faith, and it’s very important to me. Basically it’s a religion about unity. I would say the Baha’i faith is a major, major contributing factor. We believe in, in essence, lifelong learning. We believe in the sciences, and the promotion of education. We believe education is key to a lot of the world’s problems today. For me, science, whether it be psychology or bio-med, either one can be used to serve humanity. So I thought, ‘psychology is the way to go, coz I can deal with people’. I think...I think I’m likeable! And yeah...
I think I’d make a good psychologist because I can warm up to people easily and I can listen, but I also like giving advice, so...yeah, I think this is a great area for me.

USQ is quite good because everything is on-line, and I’m at the computer anyway, so...it’s easy. Sit, click, click, click, stare at the screen. There are recorded lectures which are awesome. You just sit in the comfort of your own home, watch the lecture anytime you want, not worrying about, ‘oh, I’m sick, I missed that lecture, what can I do about it?’. There is also on-line discussion groups, and that comes in real handy when you’re doing your assignments. So for the last two assignments, for example, the lecturers have gotten on there and left feedback for the students. You can just type to them, they’ll type back. I found even just emailing them, or calling them, they’re always happy to answer.
If you go to another university in bigger cities, I often wonder how students get the support they need, because there’s so many of them clumped together that...how do the lecturers get the time to answer all these questions? But at USQ they’ve got a bit more time to spend with the students. They even get to know your name. One of my lecturers has been happy to be a reference for me if I got for a job or anything, so I’ve got him on my resume. I guess they stay a part of your support system, even after you have finished your studies. Yeah...