MINUTES FOR THE ISA COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON 30th JULY 2004 at the Wright Village Common Room The president opened and welcomed all members to the meeting at 7.05 pm Agenda 1. Attendance/Apologies for absence 2. Minutes of the previous meeting: 4 June 2004 3. Matters arising from the minutes 4. Correspondence (As tabled) 5. Reports a) President b) *Education Officer c) *Welfare & Social Officer d) Treasurer 6. Currents Affairs a) International Week. b) Service Level Agreement (SLA), - discussion is currently going on, we need your inputs. c) NLC NSW Branch conference 7. Other Business * (For the interest of time, a summarized report will be included in the president’s report Members Present Name Country Association 1. Kiprono Lang’at Kenya ISA 2. Alexandr Akimov Uzbekistan ISA 3. Rosemond Boohene Ghana ISA 4. Naruanard Sarapaivanich Thailand ISA 5. Yuji Goto Japan ISA 6. Leo Dutra Brazil 7. Judy Redman Australia AIA 8. Phil Schubert Australia UNESA 9. Rheannwynn Sneesby Australia UNESA 10. Aminul Islam Bangladesh BSA 11. Carina Maria Bossu Brazil 12. Michael K Muchiri Kenya AFSA 13. Avishek Datta India 14. Rie Kage Japan 15. Xiaoyun Qiang China CSA 16. Anuj Roy Bangladesh BSA 17. Lijian Wang China CSA 18. Simone de Souza Brazil 19. Mehrshad Barary Iran IRSA 20. Mohammed Sakarneh Jordan 21. Subhadip Ghosh India 22. Suresh Kumar India 23. Reza Tahmasbi Iran IRSA 24. Reihaneh Amiri Iran IRSA 25. Gemini Panikh Australia 26. Ed Campbell Australia UNE Union 27. Galia Khusnutdinova Uzbekistan 28. Jun Okamura Fiji FSA 29. Cassie Katia Fiji FSA 30. Sri Endah Suwarni Indonesia HKMIA Absent With Apologies Richard Sheridan - International Office Wade R J McInerney – UNE UNION Amanda Williamson – UNEPA Confirmation of Minutes of the previous meeting The treasurer moved for the previous minutes (4 June 2004) to be accepted. This was seconded by Judy. Matters Arising from the Previous Minutes a. New constitution The president informed the house that a meeting was held on the 18th of June 2004 to adopt the new constitution. Forty members were present and the constitution was unanimously adopted. The following positions were changed: Vice president now Education Officer Social Secretary now Social and Welfare Officer The president expressed his gratitude to Judy, Alan, Priscilla, and UNESA legal adviser for their helpful comments on the draft constitution and the AIA Farewell Dinner Committee for their support. b. New structure of IO The president commented on the new structure of IO taking into consideration the draft SLA being discussed currently. He emphasised that there was the need to work closely with UNESA on the SLA agreement. Further, he informed the house that a meeting was held the previous Wednesday and also another meeting will be held the next week to discuss the agreement. However, the committee was stuck with 2 things. These are; a) Language and academic skills support - the university seemed to be confused as to who is responsible for this support and that funding should be set aside by the IO to get support through the T&LC and/or LTC. b) Accommodation for new students – it is not clear whether this is included in the application process. It looks as if the university system does not currently work well, especially for those who give short notice because of the visa problem. He lamented that the IO wants to get rid of this responsibility but this is not acceptable to ISA because part of the ESOS act states that accommodation must be organized by the university. In addition, it has been observed that people responsible for the colleges have no idea as to how to work with international students. It was suggested, at the SLA meeting, for example, that first year local student should have priority and that international students should apply 12 months in advance. However the ISA is of the opinion that international students should be given the priority and guarantee on campus accommodation with a months notice. President’s Report The president also briefed the house on the following issues: I). IO & ISA a) There was the need to meet with Steve Marlor, the consultant to the PVCI, who seems not to fully understand international student issues. For example, there was a disagreement on the issue of phone bill for ISA. He asked the committee to send a letter to explain why they should not pay accounts from last year. b) There was also confusion in staffing at the IO and this creates difficulty in locating the appropriate members of staff and also finding out when they are available. c) The ISA has moved to its new office which is in E-16. The president told the house that the place is nice and the space is being shared with the UNESA’s Queer Space. He expressed his gratitude to Mike Quinlan and Brian Munro for fixing the place for the association. II). NLC The president reported to the house that this year’s conference was held at Griffith University and the following members represented ISA 1. Naruanard Sarapaivanich 2. Alexandr Akimov 3. Kiprono Langat 4. Yugi Goto He told the house that the report on the conference can be found in the newsletter. Though he touched on the following issues: a) The minister of education working with the NLC to provide international students a hotline to DEST for international students. There was also the need to encourage local student to study abroad. b) He also dilated on student service support and informed the house that UNE stands ahead of many other universities because of AIA and the good staff / student ratio. c) He also challenged the IO to know what student services should include. The International Students Advisor Network (ISANA) representative pointed out that most IO staffs are not trained. d) There was also the need to improve relationship with our external backbones especially UNESA and UNEPA. e) There was also the issue of postgraduate submission and completion and visa. CAPA is taking up this issue with DIMIA. f) The president encouraged student to make sure that they are getting the best services from the GSF they are paying. g) The president informed the house that there will be an NSW-NLC Branch conference which will be held from 27th – 28th August at the University of Newcastle (Callaghan Campus). Agenda for the conference includes travel concession, net working and access information as a regional university and also elections to sub-committee. He therefore reiterated the need to encourage and nominate people to take up positions in some of this election. III). Coach Trip The president reported that this year’s coach trip took members to Gold Coast. In all 53 people took part in the trip. Everything went well with the exception of minor hiccoughs. IV). Role of Council The role of the council was highlighted by the president who emphasised that it is the only time we can meet and discuss issues. Also there was the need to recognise the service of councillors. The president emphasised that ISA is not part of any other organization like, UNESA or UNEPA and there was therefore the need to decide where we want to belong. Treasurer’s Report The treasurer presented the financial report for the first half of the year (full report is available). He noted that by looking at the financial report one will assume that the books look well, however, he noted that $4,550 of income in this report was actually budgeted to occur in the second half of the year. So the surplus is not really as high as it looks. He also stated that the surplus will cover $5,000 short fall in expected grant from IO for semester 2. In addition, he was optimistic that the association will be able to fund all activities projected for semester 2. In addition, the IO is putting pressure on ISA to reduce support to country association however; the ISA will make money available to these associations. The president also encouraged country associations to affiliate with the UNE Union to access funding and support. He emphasised that if they qualify for ISA support they also qualify for a Union affiliation. The treasure informed the house that the association was able to raise about 50% of the cost of coach trip from students. Alexandr moved for financial report to be accepted and this was seconded by Jane. International Week The following are the activities lined up for the International Week. Cultural Exhibition, Monday, 9th August – Yuji, the social and welfare officer, is the coordinator for this program. * It will be held at the Bistro. Ed Campbell was asked to help with setting the place up for the exhibition. Each country association was asked to collect exhibits. * They were asked by ISA to let them know the things they will need for this exhibition. ISA offered to subsidize the cost incurred in getting this exhibits up to $50. * A roaster will be drawn for people to man the various stalls. * The place for the exhibition will be opened on Sunday for the various country associations to mount their exhibits however, the actual program starts on Monday at 10.00 am and Richard Torbay will officially open the ceremony. Food Fair, Tuesday, 10th August – Jane and Michael were responsible for this program and the following suggestions were made. * The program will start on Tuesday at 7.00 pm. * The food should be there by 6.00 pm. * There was the need to ensure that dishes are not duplicated. * The target people were about 300. * All country associations should provide menus with estimated cost. * Receipt of all expenses incurred should be added to all claims submitted to ISA. * Michael from the union will be contacted to help plan for the activity. He also promised that the staff of Bistro will help. * Transport will be provided for guest who will be attending the food fair. * The colleges will be contacted to see if they can provide big pots for cooking. * Serving of the foods will begin exactly at 7.00 pm. * All country associations need to inform and provide their budget to treasurer in order to get advance payment for cooking. * Cost of electricity and gas will also be reimbursed. * Country associations will have to list all those who will take part in the cooking so that they can get free ticket. * Tickets are also available at various outlets and there was a need to encourage people to buy tickets well in advance. Film Night, Thursday, 12th August – Jane was in charged of this event. The following were suggested: * It will be held at the Biological Science building. * Light refreshment will be provided. * Gold coin donation will be encouraged. * There was the need to acknowledge the support from the UNESA and the Union. * There was the need for aggressive advertisement for the night. Multicultural Concert, Friday, 13th August – Rosemond, Carina, and Gemini were to coordinate this program. The following were suggested: * The performance will be 2 1/2 hours from 7.00 pm – 9.30 pm. * The committee also asked people from various country associations to express their interest in performing. * A combined rehearsal was also suggested before the program. * The following places were available for practicing: o The creative arts cottage o Madgwick hall * The Social and Welfare Officer was asked to make the keys available for these places. * Refreshment will be available during the break in the Concert. Social Cultural Awareness, Sunday, 15th August – Yuji was to coordinate this program. The following were suggested: * The time for the ceremony is 1.00 pm – 4.00 pm, Sunday afternoon. * There will be a barbeque. * It will be an ice breaking activities and informal in nature. * The event will be used in honouring people who helped during the International Week. * There will be lucky door prices. Other Business 1. Newsletter – the newsletter produced jointly by AIA and ISA presented some challenges as to what to put in since there might be a conflict of interest as to the things to include. It was suggested that one of the ways to reduce this problem is to get a publication committee. Students were also encouraged to contribute to the Nucleus and Graduate Post. 2. International students were also encouraged to get involved with Tune FM. 3. Concerns were also raised about the lack of support from IO to international students and there was the need to make this clear to the VC that the lack of information about the change of the policy of the IO creates confusion. In response to this the president encouraged students to document their problems for ISA have onward discussions with IO. 4. Ed Campbell of the union reiterated that he hoped that the Union’s involvement in the International Week will grow and become part of its cultural program. 5. The president told members of the association that if they have any problems they can inform the ISA or UNESA and that all their problems are being documented. The president closed the meeting closed 9.50 pm General Secretary Rosemond Boohene Appendix President’s Notes (draft) -New constitution & new roles plus the importance of the ISA Council members; thanks to Judy, Alan and Pricilla for their assistance and AIA farewell Dinner committee for allowing us to have our special general meeting before their event on June 18th 2004. -Memo was submitted to PVC (I) and International Office -Meeting with Steve & Richard – Phone bills, student services and staffing -ISA is settling in the new Office E-16; thanks to FMS that is, Mike Q., and Brian for facilitating the movement and providing all the support required – including placement of the outside signs -UNESA Queer Space – members are invited to use the facilities – thanks to UNESA Queer Officers. -NLC AC – 19th Annual Conference at Griffith Uni (Nathan) & QUT July 3 – 10, 2004 Four members attended Highlights -Women/queer forum Education Conference -Student support services; students should raise concerns whenever they think quality service is been compromised -Australian Federal Minister for Education’s speech – To promote and encourage local (Australian) students to go on overseas exchange. The Minister supported the suggestion to have a hotline for international students – DEST -There is a need foe ISA to work closely with external bodies – UNE-ISA Council, NLC, UNESA, AIA, UNION, UNEPA -Media release is paramount for ISA but need to know when and how to do it -Research into social and economic challenges of international students revealed that overseas students are under enormous challenges (social, economic or otherwise) making them vulnerable at anytime. University should be aware of the pressures students are undergoing so as to put in place quality support structures for help easy the stressed hence helping them to successfully complete their courses. -Accommodation issues – new international students require extra support -CAPA – postgraduate – question of submission & completion (regarding theses) was been explored. It is currently confusing and leaves research overseas students with lots of uncertainties. -Minimum research service support – UNEPA has done excellent work on this and research students should check out. Policy Issues -It was interesting to note how dedicated international students reps are in engaging their various unis and campuses regarding quality service assurance. The message was – if you don’t speak up you will be forgotten and nothing regarding your academic, welfare and social needs - service improvement will happen. That unis need to be reminded that overseas students’ needs are unique. We need to be aware of the ongoing notion of mainstreaming students’ services. Universities should, through provision of services, justify why we need to pay more fees - we need to see the value of our monies -Places where we pay our GSF to, like the UNESA/UNEPA, UNION & Sport UNE should acknowledge our uniqueness as overseas students by providing events/activities of international flavour. They should appreciate our differences with the local students – (We need to be able to work with them, let them know our needs, join/participate in their activities, ensure that what we seek/ask is not a duplication of service(s) already provided. Again – I would like to encourage country groups/clubs to affiliate with the Union. ISA have been strongly advised to cut down on financial support to country groups/clubs - that we need to continuously seek for alternative funding for our social activities. -Coach trip to the Gold Coast was excellent, well attended (53 members) and from the feedback we got from the participants, they enjoyed the trip. -Semester two international students’ O-week – we got a chance to introduce the New students to ISA and to various UNE bodies. -Ongoing SLA discussion meetings – we need support and backing as it is proving out that the university seems to be working hard to reduce the student support services accessible to us. Unfortunately, the IO seems to have accepted this, hence, become conduits of such unjustifiable service reduction. -AIA/ISA Newsletter - the August newsletter is dedicated to ISA and has been posted to all subscribers on the AIA/ISA Newsletter list (mostly International Students and Members of AIA). Thanks to Yuji Goto for well done layout and UNESA (Wayne) for publishing it in an A3 paper. -International Week -Acknowledge the efforts the International week committee is putting to present a successful 2004 UNE-ISA international week (9-15August 04) -Thanks in advance to IO and UNE UNION for sending us checks in support of the International Week and to UNESA and MediBank Private for their commitment to support our weeklong festival of cultures. -International Week posters have been mail to all colleges, high schools in Armidale and LTC – thanks to Jane for the more than 3 hours we spent to put up and distribute the posters in around Armidale and of course Yuji for spending sleepless night to produce a well received poster layout. -Armidale Independent carried our advert on the Wednesday (28/7/04) paper. Kiprono Lang’at ISA Council Meeting - 30/07/04 1