Julie Bishop and Naomi Flutter visit Scotch

Hon. Julie Bishop, former Foreign Minister and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party and Naomi Flutter, Executive General Manager, Corporate Affairs of Wesfarmers are two remarkable women who have held significant leadership positions over their working life.

In an extraordinary opportunity, two of our Year 12 students, Reuben Westerman and Sam Wolf, had the honour of meeting these women to learn about their journey after graduating secondary school and how early decisions laid a pathway to a career that perhaps neither of them envisaged at the age of 17.

Ms Flutter represents the Australian National University (ANU) as the Pro-Chancellor and is an ANU Economics and Law alumna, and Ms Bishop recently became ANU's 13th Chancellor and the first woman to hold this role. Together, these two women are a formidable force in ensuring Australia's leading university holds its own on a global stage. ANU has well-established exchange programmes with top-ranked universities in 39 countries, with many of their graduates earning postgraduate places at prestigious universities, such as Harvard or Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

When discussing the important next steps following Year 12 graduation, both women relayed that choosing the right university and performing well in your chosen course is critical to future success. This is a very salient point when we consider that research indicates that, on average, Australian students travel further to secondary school then they do to university, suggesting that more of our students are choosing tertiary education based on convenience of location over best education. This, combined with the announcement from the federal government that studying a Humanities degree will now cost you just over $40,000, compared to "job relevant" degrees such as those in the field of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), which are half the price. As the global economy faces significant challenges, choosing the right pathway beyond secondary school seems to be more critical than ever. Understanding the universities that offer the best degrees for your chosen pathway, the support you will receive throughout your degree, and the opportunities for post-graduate studies should, at a minimum, be a significant consideration.

Ms Flutter said studying at ANU had been a transformative part of her life that expanded her horizons and redefined what she thought excellence to be, putting it on a global scale, rather than a more local one. Ms Bishop shared with the boys the vision for ANU in terms of teaching, research and societal change. ANU values equity and diversity and is committed to equal opportunity for all staff. For our Indigenous students, this commitment means the potential for high-performing students to receive scholarships covering much of their living expenses, tuition fees as well as three flights home a year, recognising the importance of connection to family and land. In addition, these students are supported through ANU's Tjabal Indigenous Higher Education Centre.

ANU is clearly a leading university and we are delighted that many of our students have taken the opportunity to pursue their studies there.

At the moment , the following OSCs are studying at ANU:

Jack Banfield (OSC'19): Arts (International Relations) and Music (Composition)
Max Belcastro (OSC'19): Arts (International Relations)
Daniel Buchhorn (OSC'19): Politics, Philosophy and Economics, and Languages
William Smith-Gander (OSC'19): Actuarial Science
Felix Jones (OSC'18): Bachelor of Politics, Philosophy and Economics
James Naylor-Pratt (OSC'16): Mathematics
Rafe Harrison-Murray (OSC'18): Bachelor of Politics, Philosophy and Economics