Tamagawa University Internship
In December 2025, OZiHOUSE welcomed 10 students from Tamagawa University for a two-week internship program designed to provide hands-on experience in the hospitality industry in Melbourne, Australia.
During the program, interns worked closely with OZiHOUSE staff across multiple departments, as well as residents and host families. Through these interactions, students strengthened their English communication skills and gained valuable exposure to real workplace environments in a foreign country.
Learning Through OZiHomestay
Six interns were placed with OZiHomestay, working alongside our Homestay Coordinator, Isabel, to understand how homestay services operate, particularly for relationship management.
As part of their experience, interns visited host family homes across different neighbourhoods, engaging in conversations with both host families and students currently staying in homestay accommodation. They observed and documented the student journey from public transport access to the home, room conditions, and shared facilities, capturing photos and video footage from a resident’s perspective.
A key takeaway from this experience was that homestay is about much more than simply providing a place to stay. Host families often find a strong sense of fulfilment through naturally supporting students’ English development and participating in cultural exchange, while also learning from the students themselves. For international students, especially those arriving in a new country without local support networks, living with a host family can ease the transition, helping them feel comfortable, supported, and at home in a new environment.
Interns reflected on their observations and interviews by producing a report outlining the benefits and challenges of homestay services, as well as providing thoughtful suggestions to the management team from a fresh student perspective.
Operational & Marketing Experience at OZiVillage
Four interns joined OZiVillage, working across three Carlton sites with General Manager Jas, Operations Coordinator Kane, and Marketing Coordinator Katie.
Their responsibilities focused on operational support, including stock tracking and organisational processes to support efficient day-to-day service. Interns also toured various room types and shared facilities to document room conditions and produce photo-based reports. They also created content by staging rooms from a student’s point of view, capturing lifestyle photos and videos designed for future promotional use. This hands-on experience allowed them to better understand how accommodation services are presented to prospective students.
Furthermore, they translated English blog and promotional content into Japanese to ensure the messaging is not only accurate but also culturally natural, using commonly searched keywords that Japanese students typically use when researching student accommodation in Australia. The program also included independent project work, where interns created original social media reels using their own footage and wrote original blog content in both English and Japanese. These projects helped develop their creative writing and cross-cultural communication skills.
We hope that the interns enjoyed their experience in Melbourne and gained meaningful insights into the hospitality industry. Hosting interns from diverse backgrounds and listening to their fresh perspectives has also been a valuable learning experience for our team. We sincerely thank Tamagawa University for the partnership, and Daniel Yuen, Head of Operations and Growth, for arranging this program. We look forward to continuing a strong partnership in the year ahead.