A new organisation providing a strong and independent voice for international students will be the focus of discussions in Sydney this week.
While there have been frequent media stories blaming international students for Australia’s housing crisis, infrastructure issues and job availability over the past 12 months, there has been little or no voice representing students in the debate, following the decline of formerly vibrant national student associations.
On Wednesday, Sydney University’s Postgraduate Representative Association is hosting a symposium focused on ways to strengthen the voice and representation of international students.
Weihong Liang, International Student Officer of the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations, will announce the launch of a National International Student Voice Campaign, seeking to build support from student leaders from across the country.
“Our key priority is to revive Australia’s mechanisms for listening to students’ voices,” Weihong said.
“We have not had a students association actively representing and speaking for international students studying in Australia for at least three years, which has meant that while universities, larger student unions and the Australian public discuss the future of international students, nobody hears from us.
“At the same time, many media stories and social media posts have misrepresented the reality of life as an international student, and we have not had any organisation focused on correcting the mistakes and giving Australians a true picture of who we are, what we contribute and how to address key issues.
“It is of course important to have national and international discussions about the role of universities, who they allow to enrol and how they educate them, and the role of international students – but for about three years that discussion has been going on with lots of fake information colouring the debate, without hearing from international students themselves.”
Wednesday’s symposium is the start of a process to develop a national representative organisation.
