Only four years into its lifespan, Charles Sturt University's advertising course is already making a name for itself in the competitive international arena, with its most recent graduates accepting some of the industry's highest honours.

The future of advertising graduate Sally Dear is looking particularly bright since she was awarded the 1998 International Advertising Association Scholarship and having secured a job at one of Sydney's top advertising agencies.

Four of her fellow graduates came out ahead of tough competition against graduates from more established universities and private colleges to dominate the prestigious Advertising Federation of Australia (AFA) Graduate Trainee Program, taking four of the nine places on offer.

The AFA award winners, who will graduate from CSU in a ceremony tomorrow morning, are Anna Silcock, Elisabeth Kim, Leo Premutico and Virginia Houston.

This is the first time CSU has achieved this type of industry recognition, according to advertising lecturer Brett Van Heekeren.

"The fact that four of the nine positions went to graduates from CSU says a lot about the quality of our course," he said.

"It's a very selective industry and what we're hearing from employers is that they are happy to take our graduates because they are ready to work straight away - they already have the training, skills and self-discipline to handle the long hours and hard work involved."