Campus director Alistair McCosh said the dinner was an opportunity for people who had arrived in Warrnambool to understand they were not alone.

“There was a lot of conversations and networks were made,” he said. “The number of nationalities surprised us. There was people from Pakistan, India, Thailand, the Phillipines, America and Egypt.” He said there were students from primary and secondary schools, South West TAFE and Deakin.

“You just don’t know who is in the region. We asked all the principals from around the schools to invite the students and their families.”