March 24, 2017

Bangalay opens its doors to families for the start of the academic year

Nestled among the gum trees and just seconds away from UOW’s Wollongong campus lies Bangalay – the University’s newest student residence. 

Home to a mix of students, the Bangalay accommodation facility was purposefully designed for postgraduates, including families and mature-aged students, with the first cohort moving in for the start of the 2017 academic year.

The 254-bed facility offers a mix of single and double bed studios or two and three bedroom units for students with families.

Postgraduate student Faisel Tubbal recently moved into Bangalay with his wife and four children, having spent the past four years in various UOW student accommodation facilities. He said the transition has been easy for his children, aged three, six, eight and nine.

“They (my family) found that the University accommodation is a very safe environment… they enjoy the family friendly facilities and kids activities,” he said.

Prior to his arrival at UOW, Faisel spent 11 years working for an Arabian Gulf petroleum company in the field of oil processing. He transitioned to telecommunications, completing postgraduate degrees in telecommunication engineering and engineering management at UOW. Faisel is currently undertaking his PhD, focusing his studies on designing a special type of antenna for use in satellite communications.

“I chose Australia to study and live because of the high quality of education and the cultural diversity,” he said.

In 2010 Faisel set his sights on Wollongong, leaving his home in Libya under government sponsorship, shortly before the death of his brother in the Libyan Revolution.

“Through my research I found that the University of Wollongong is consistently ranked among the top Australian universities for quality of its teaching, research, graduate employment rates and student experience.”

Bangalay is the result of UOW’s vision to provide modern, high-quality, on-campus accommodation for Australian and international postgraduate students, and is the first of two major accommodation expansion projects for its Wollongong campus.

The building is fittingly named after the tree whose bark was used by the area’s traditional owners, the Dharawal People, to create shelters.

All units are fully self-contained with their own kitchen and living facilities enabling independent living while also offering residents access to shared recreation, study and meeting facilities as well as landscaped outdoor communal, car parking and children’s play areas.