The first steps in formalising an international voice were taken at a University of Sydney event this week.
International Student Officer of the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations, Weihong Liang, said that “A new student voice should be led by students rather than by Government, State or Federal.”
The decline of CISA during COVID had left a hole in coordinated national international student leadership.
“We want to hear the voice of students from around the country on how we can make (a new student voice campaign). We cannot ignore the politics around this,” he said.
“It has taken almost two centuries of effort to establish the reputation of Australia’s university system, it could be destroyed in a short time if they decide to close off from international students.”
University of Sydney Vice-Chancellor Professor Mark Scott told the event that the sector was, “Wrestling with the grim political reality that says international students don’t vote … because they don’t vote they could have difficulty having their voice heard.”
Professor Scott said he was concerned by what visa restrictions meant for the message of welcome which Australian universities had been keen to project.
“Let me make it quite clear on behalf of the University of Sydney and I think on behalf of Australian university vice-chancellors; international students are warmly welcome here and international students are a vital part of our learning community. Because we are a vibrant international university at the heart of a vibrant international city.”
IEAA CEO Phil Honeywood told the event about the 2023 plan for an international campaign seeking to bolster social licence for international education.
In response to racist incidents towards international students during COVID, the IEAA developed an advertising campaign seeking to promote the positive impact of international education on Australia with the tagline “International students are worth our welcome.”
The campaign was planned to promote international student contributions to Australia in 2023 – but focus group testing in Western Sydney and Southern Queensland, found that “people said international students were not worth our welcome because they take our student places and take our jobs,” Mr Honeywood said.
The IEAA therefore came up with a new theme of “International Students Help Australia Thrive,” which was more palatable to Australians, and gained some traction for the three months of the campaign, perhaps because of its limited aspirations. “We (the Australian public) are happy for international students to help with aged care and to pick fruit but don’t want them to take barista jobs which our Australian students will want to do”.
The IEAA is keen to chaperone the student representatives into a national committee with a president who can become the media/sector focus to speak for international students.
Students talked about the importance of controlling their own representation and the challenges of being an international student. This is an important step forward for the sector, not just for students – will be interesting to see how it progresses.
