Last weeks international student collective brought up the issue of the increase in fees again and it was further discussed. Both Kirstin Hunter from University Council and Chris Moore Education Officer were present in this meeting. The issue was brought to Phuong Au as President of Representative Council. Phuong Au had a meeting with Richard Henry, the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic), from these meetings some important developments listed below:
Major update #1:
The university is legally required/obligated/forced by the ESOS act to disclose fee details to students with a year in advance. This clearly wasnt the case this year. The university has not fulfilled the ESOS act and we as students have the right to protest this lack of effort.
They will also be changing the link on the university website with the table of fees as it is clearly out of date and misleading to future students.
Major update #2:
We will be reporting the management's conduct to the Student Affair Committee of University Council. This is the way to enforce that they follow the ESOS act, and force them to publish the 2009 fees in the least, and further discuss why they didnt follow the act this year. The minutes to these meeting will be available, and maybe I can publish them here?
Major update #3:
Success regarding STUVAC which will be extended from 2 days (like this year) to 4 days in 2009 onwards, this is thanks to negotiations between Student Representative Council(SRC) and the university management.
The negotiation for an extended teaching period is still underway.
As you can see, there are ways to be heard by the university, which is quite amazing. They have made a "mistake" with regards to fee disclosure and they need to correct it.
This whole issue has moved forward thanks to our student representatives. I encourage everyone to make use of their help as they are looking after our interests, if you guys have any problems about International Student Affairs, bring them to International Student Department of Student Representative Council(SRC), they will do their best to resolve it.
Juan
Monday, May 5, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
Updates
Hi guys,
First of all, I went to the Student Liason Group meeting today. The items in the agenda included discussion about the 12 week semester and another 6 points that aren't too relevant to the purpose of this blog. I have to apologize because I failed to bring up the issue about the increase in fees, I had never been involved in any type of discussion of this sort and was unaware of the dynamics involved, although I have to admit it was pretty straightforward. I was unaware of the rareness of these meetings. I'm disappointed at missing this opportunity to bring it up. Apparently there are no more meetings like this until the 18th of June. I think it will still be a relevant issue then and I hope you will still be actively participating in the discussion.
However, I haven't lost any motivation regarding the petition. We will keep drafting it this Thursday in the meeting with the International Student Council.
From the meeting, the registrar Prof. Joan Cooper addressed the 12 week semester and stated that she believed that as long as the outcome of the session (with regards to quality of education) was the same, it didn't matter whether it was 12 or 14 weeks. I believe, however, that the outcome hasn't been the same so far. There has been great lack of organization and it seems like a lot of topics won't be studied in sufficient depth. It would be normal to assume that the outcome will be topics studied more superficially as opposed to a 14 week semester.
She also mentioned that Week-0 was supposed to supplement somehow the cut of weeks, and that this period was to be used to introduce the course structure as opposed to the first week of semester. In my case I still received a week of introduction in week 1.
A survey will be made throughout students to gather information about how we feel about the cut in weeks of class. Participation from everyone in this survey is crucial. It should be circulating by next week and I urge everyone to take part and encourage their friends to answer it too.
First of all, I went to the Student Liason Group meeting today. The items in the agenda included discussion about the 12 week semester and another 6 points that aren't too relevant to the purpose of this blog. I have to apologize because I failed to bring up the issue about the increase in fees, I had never been involved in any type of discussion of this sort and was unaware of the dynamics involved, although I have to admit it was pretty straightforward. I was unaware of the rareness of these meetings. I'm disappointed at missing this opportunity to bring it up. Apparently there are no more meetings like this until the 18th of June. I think it will still be a relevant issue then and I hope you will still be actively participating in the discussion.
However, I haven't lost any motivation regarding the petition. We will keep drafting it this Thursday in the meeting with the International Student Council.
From the meeting, the registrar Prof. Joan Cooper addressed the 12 week semester and stated that she believed that as long as the outcome of the session (with regards to quality of education) was the same, it didn't matter whether it was 12 or 14 weeks. I believe, however, that the outcome hasn't been the same so far. There has been great lack of organization and it seems like a lot of topics won't be studied in sufficient depth. It would be normal to assume that the outcome will be topics studied more superficially as opposed to a 14 week semester.
She also mentioned that Week-0 was supposed to supplement somehow the cut of weeks, and that this period was to be used to introduce the course structure as opposed to the first week of semester. In my case I still received a week of introduction in week 1.
A survey will be made throughout students to gather information about how we feel about the cut in weeks of class. Participation from everyone in this survey is crucial. It should be circulating by next week and I urge everyone to take part and encourage their friends to answer it too.
Friday, April 25, 2008
UNSW-DISS on Facebook
Hi guys, I've created a Facebook group as suggested :),
Hope to see some people join.
Will be posting updates regarding the petition after im done with my Saturday 1PM exam.... @#$%
Facebook group name : UNSW Dissatisfied International Students Society
Direct Link:Facebook Group you'll probably have to log in to view the group.
See you later!
Hope to see some people join.
Will be posting updates regarding the petition after im done with my Saturday 1PM exam.... @#$%
Facebook group name : UNSW Dissatisfied International Students Society
Direct Link:Facebook Group you'll probably have to log in to view the group.
See you later!
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Initial points to be addressed in the petition
Wow a lot of activity already!
It is very unlikely that the uni will either decrease the fees or increase the teaching period. However, it is reasonable to demand full disclosure regarding where are fees are going and why was the teaching period decreased. After we achieve this we can see what steps can be taken.
The first points in my petition (only a draft off course):
1- That the University of NSW announce publicly and to all students why there was such an increment in the student fees. When was this decision made and under what context was this decision made as well as who were the people responsible to approve this decision before being implemented.
2- That the University of NSW announce publicly and to all students why, when, who and under what context was the decision to decrease the teaching period was made.
One of my main concerns and the thing that really bugged me the most was that they waited until less than 2 weeks before classes started to disclose the leap in fees. This delay in disclosure made it impossible for students who would've rather changed to another university to transfer as it was too late to enrol anywhere. It was either pay or lose your visa. Which brings me to the third point.
3- That the University of NSW compromise to disclose any future changes in fees and/or teaching periods publicly within a time period that allows all students to enrol elsewhere.
and last but certainly not least..
4- That the University of NSW compromise to disclose their financial statements to all students with explanatory notes regarding future and current expenditures. (free of cost as a website exists but it costs 30 dollars and can take up to 6 weeks for them to give u the documents)
These are roughly the points i will be discussing with the International Student Department from UNSW Representative Council on Thursday, 24th of April 2008 - 1-2pm, Block House Level 1,
Training Room 1. I encourage everyone who is interested and has the time to come and voice their opinion.
Any suggestions or thoughts? drop a comment.
It is very unlikely that the uni will either decrease the fees or increase the teaching period. However, it is reasonable to demand full disclosure regarding where are fees are going and why was the teaching period decreased. After we achieve this we can see what steps can be taken.
The first points in my petition (only a draft off course):
1- That the University of NSW announce publicly and to all students why there was such an increment in the student fees. When was this decision made and under what context was this decision made as well as who were the people responsible to approve this decision before being implemented.
2- That the University of NSW announce publicly and to all students why, when, who and under what context was the decision to decrease the teaching period was made.
One of my main concerns and the thing that really bugged me the most was that they waited until less than 2 weeks before classes started to disclose the leap in fees. This delay in disclosure made it impossible for students who would've rather changed to another university to transfer as it was too late to enrol anywhere. It was either pay or lose your visa. Which brings me to the third point.
3- That the University of NSW compromise to disclose any future changes in fees and/or teaching periods publicly within a time period that allows all students to enrol elsewhere.
and last but certainly not least..
4- That the University of NSW compromise to disclose their financial statements to all students with explanatory notes regarding future and current expenditures. (free of cost as a website exists but it costs 30 dollars and can take up to 6 weeks for them to give u the documents)
These are roughly the points i will be discussing with the International Student Department from UNSW Representative Council on Thursday, 24th of April 2008 - 1-2pm, Block House Level 1,
Training Room 1. I encourage everyone who is interested and has the time to come and voice their opinion.
Any suggestions or thoughts? drop a comment.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Welcome to UNSW-DISS blog!
Hi guys!
I've decided to make this blog so it's easier for us to share our ideas, My uni email received about 200 responses already and that's just the first day! I received some emails from the people running the forum saying I was clogging their system so I thought this would be a good idea (some people suggested to create some online community type of thing).
I feel very happy with all the responses I got in just the first day, and they keep coming, on average one every five minutes hahaha. The responses range from the highly enthusiastic students to students who have no hope at all. I was very pleased to read so many people felt the same way, I stand corrected by the fact that local students also had their fees increased because this doesn't seem to be the case, but I noticed Phd international students pay considerably less than locals.
I realize that it may seem like we have little or nothing to fight with, but hey, it's not a fight. We can't really complain about anything unless we know why they have increased the fees like that while cutting classes. We can certainly demand transparency from the UNSW management and we deserve a clear and honest answer.
I will be meeting with some people from the International Student Department from UNSW Representative Council on Thursday where I hope I can progress this issue further. They have contacted me and are happy to collaborate.
I will be drafting a petition for the uni and will probably be collecting some signatures.
Someone also suggested that I went to Student Liason Group meeting on Monday the 28th April and ask for a public answer from the Registrar. I plan on assisting and participating in this session and I encourage all of you to come as well.
I will be updating this blog with any developments and will upload some of the more constructive emails I receive as well as addressing the other concerns that came up in the emails (concessions anyone?).
Please spread the word to the other international students you may know! There's plenty of us out there!
Juan
I've decided to make this blog so it's easier for us to share our ideas, My uni email received about 200 responses already and that's just the first day! I received some emails from the people running the forum saying I was clogging their system so I thought this would be a good idea (some people suggested to create some online community type of thing).
I feel very happy with all the responses I got in just the first day, and they keep coming, on average one every five minutes hahaha. The responses range from the highly enthusiastic students to students who have no hope at all. I was very pleased to read so many people felt the same way, I stand corrected by the fact that local students also had their fees increased because this doesn't seem to be the case, but I noticed Phd international students pay considerably less than locals.
I realize that it may seem like we have little or nothing to fight with, but hey, it's not a fight. We can't really complain about anything unless we know why they have increased the fees like that while cutting classes. We can certainly demand transparency from the UNSW management and we deserve a clear and honest answer.
I will be meeting with some people from the International Student Department from UNSW Representative Council on Thursday where I hope I can progress this issue further. They have contacted me and are happy to collaborate.
I will be drafting a petition for the uni and will probably be collecting some signatures.
Someone also suggested that I went to Student Liason Group meeting on Monday the 28th April and ask for a public answer from the Registrar. I plan on assisting and participating in this session and I encourage all of you to come as well.
I will be updating this blog with any developments and will upload some of the more constructive emails I receive as well as addressing the other concerns that came up in the emails (concessions anyone?).
Please spread the word to the other international students you may know! There's plenty of us out there!
Juan
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