Caroline Hon – A Satisfying Challenge

Caroline Hon’s professional life has been born out of a history of international education. After undertaking her senior years of secondary school in Melbourne, she went on to complete the final year of her degree in accounting at RMIT – as part of the twinning program set up by Metropolitan College in Malaysia. Undoubtedly, this has informed her choice to enter and continue her career in the transnational education sector. Remarkably, she is one of the longest serving staff members at Swinburne University’s Sarawak Campus.

“I’ve seen Swinburne grow from really tiny to what it is now. It has been an interesting journey”.

Caroline has played a significant role in the development of the institution. Although she started off as a Finance Manager at Swinburne twelve years ago, her career path to date reflects the opportunities that working in such a fast changing environment as transnational education has offered her.

“When I first came here, we didn’t have a HR department; we didn’t have facilities or an IT section – it was all a combination of little bits and pieces. Then as we grew, we became more structured. All these areas have now grown to become their own units. Now I’m overseeing them. Understanding IT facilities, libraries etc. is different and new to me – I don’t learn that in audit at all”.

“I don’t think that I imagined myself to be where I am right now from when I first joined”.

Currently serving as the Director of Administration for Student and Corporate Services, she initially came to Swinburne as she “wanted a different challenge”. Certainly, this is what she has received; as she has faced and overcome a myriad of obstacles during her professional career at the university.

“The challenge for me has been the physical building of the campus. I’m involved in the planning, and deciding the furniture and the space. Also, the construction business is male dominated, so being a woman adds to the challenge as it involves arguing or disagreeing with contractors or architects. But at the end of the day, that is something to be proud of”.

“My challenge as a non-teaching staff is getting academics involved and getting them to participate. I don’t want a top down approach; I want them to tell me what they think in terms of what the university is moving towards”.

Evidently, Caroline’s commitment to her job in the education sector has helped to shape her role and position at Swinburne University, Sarawak. Her devotion is highlighted by her understanding of all her professional experiences as positive ones; despite the obstacles she has confronted in terms of living and working in a transnational environment.

“Every day there are always different things – especially when students are around. There has been a lot of personal satisfaction. I do learn a great deal”.

“When I look back, there is a sense of pride. I am proud of myself. It has been a really satisfying challenge”.