NLC news and information (DO NOT POST HERE!)

[Patrick Pincon]

Seeing as most of the OSS have no idea about the bigger picture i will be posting up news updates which involve international students (Education officer take note!) as and when i get them.

These are all relevant to what the OSS does so pay attention and try and take part!

Other details can be found at www.internationalstudents.asn.au which is the nlc website.

[Patrick Pincon]

MORE USER-PAYS:
ADDITIONAL COSTS TO HIT OVERSEAS
STUDENTS

This week the Education Services for Overseas Students Amendment Bill
2003 is being presented to the Senate.

Currently, major providers of education pay a flat fee of $8,000 in
CRICOS registration fee structures. The new bill proposes to levy
universities a basic fee of $300 plus $25 per each enrolled overseas
student. The Explanatory Memorandum (EM) for this Bill unashamedly
states that "it is highly likely that registered providers will pass
this increased charge directly to their overseas students".

A further d**ning contention in the EM judges this amount to be
"insignificant in terms of the course fees charged" but that it will
in the long term benefit overseas students as this charge will
protect "the quality and reputation" of the qualifications overseas
students obtain in Australia. Ingrid Tufvesson, the International
Students Officer of the Council of Australian Postgraduate
Associations (CAPA) utterly rejects this claim stating "the current
fee structure is a significant burden on overseas students".

CAPA President Benjamin McKay has also added his concern. "Why on
earth should the student have to pay for a guarantee of either
quality or reputation? Providing a quality education ought to be a
given when an international student forks out huge sums of money for
their education. This extra levy is bizarre," McKay said.

The government also deems a Regional Impact Statement unnecessary,
which compounds the already inequitable treatment of international
students who have chosen to study in this country.

CAPA supports the Australian Democrats in their condemnation of this
amendment. Ingrid Tufvesson states that "CAPA will certainly be
formulating one of the submissions to parliament".


--
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Graham Hastings
Education Research Coordinator
National Union of Students
Suite 64, Trades Hall
54 Victoria St,
Carlton South, Victoria, 3053, Australia.

Phone [phone] (International [phone])
Fax [phone] (International [phone])
Mobile [phone] (International [phone])

mailto: [e-mail]
www.unistudent.com.au
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[Patrick Pincon]

QUEER INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS HANDBOOK (QISH)

The National Union of Students and National Liaison Committee is producing a Queer Students Handbook, and we¹re looking for writers and contributors of personal stories relating to issues affecting queer students.

We are looking for stories about anything, covering a whole range of issues. These include:

- Coming Out To Your Family and Friends
- Experiences With the dating/party OEScene¹
- Sexuality and Religion
- Sexuality and your Ethnicity
- Queer politics

Whether you¹re experienced in queer issues, or still discovering what it means to be gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, intersex... we welcome your contribution.

The deadline for entries is October 10. You can send your contributions (either anonymously, or with your name and University) to:

NUS Queer Department
Suite 64, Trades Hall
54 Victoria Street
Carlton South VICTORIA 3053

or to [e-mail] or [e-mail]


For more information, please contact Bernise at 0416 183 451, Belinda Clark at 0408 800 311, or Rathana Chea at 0415 860 480.







--------------------------------------

Bernise Ang

Co-Director 2003

International Students Department

Student Guild
Level 1, East Wing Quadrangle Building
University of New South Wales
Kensington 2052



Tel: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

Mob: [phone]

www.isd.guild.unsw.edu.au

--------------------------------------

[Patrick Pincon]

Returning Officer's Report

A by-election for the position of National General Secretary 2003/4 of National Liaison Committee for International Students in Australia (NLC) was called by the National Execs as a result of the resignation of the NGS-elect on 12 July 2003.

It has also been decided that the by-election be conducted through postal voting. Two nominations have been received on 14th August 2003, that of Mr. Kirk G. Klassen and Mr. Tedy Gunawan.

On 21st August 2003, I have posted out 68 votes to all the Voting Delegates at the 18th NLC National Conference.

A Ballot Count for this by-election was held at 4:00p.m. on 5th September 2003 at the National Office of NLC, present were:

Chin-Tong Liew, Returning Officer

Adrian Wong, National Convenor

Rhavy Nursimulu, Scrutineer for candidate Tedy Gunawan

(Candidate Kirk Klassen did not appoint a scrutineer.)

A total of 42 votes have been received by the Returning Officer though the National Office.

The results of the by-election are as following:

Tedy Gunawan 26 votes
Kirk G. Klassen 5 votes
None of the above 3 votes
Informal votes 8 votes

A printed copy of the full report will be posted out to all Campus Affiliates on Monday 8th September 2003.


Returning Officer
Chin-Tong Liew

[Patrick Pincon]

Failing grade for uni's overseas courses
By Aban Contractor
August 6 2003


Macquarie University failed to ensure that students enrolled in its overseas
courses passed entry requirements, including speaking English, an audit
report has found.

The university watchdog, the Australian Universities Quality Agency,
investigated four pro-grams run by Macquarie in China and Singapore and
found evidence of "unacceptable practice".

With the overseas student market now worth $5.2 billion a year to Australia,
the report, which is released today, will send shockwaves throughout the
higher education sector.

The report said students had enrolled full-time in the Macquarie University
Bachelor of Business Administration course at the Times Management Institute
in Singapore from 2000, but Macquarie did not know of their existence until
April 2002.

Students, who each paid $19,500 for the three-year course, had not been
approved by the university nor entered into the university's student
administration system.

"Students advised the delegation that they had no contact whatsoever with
Macquarie until September 2002, despite being clear that they were enrolled
in the Macquarie University BBA," the report said. "In October 2002 they
received their first Macquarie student ID cards."

The general manager of Macquarie International, Tony Adams, was surprised at
the university's poor report. "I think AUQA got it wrong," he said
yesterday.

Macquarie University realised there were "some administrative problems with
the program" in early 2002 and employed a consultant to investigate.

"We got that report in July 2002 and these issues were dealt with,"
Professor Adams said. "It was all fixed up by September of last year and
used as a basis for new contract discussions."

The watchdog's executive director, David Woodhouse, commended Macquarie for
handing in a copy of the consultant's report, but said the university still
needed to act.

"It was too long between it happening and the university picking it up," Dr
Woodhouse said. "It was a partner of the university acting on its own
initiative, but in the university's name. We recommend Macquarie
significantly improve their monitoring processes."

A spokesman for the federal Education Minister said the Government had
committed additional resources to investigate more overseas education
programs.

The watchdog report also criticised Macquarie's Master of Economics program
at Nanjing Normal University in China.

Macquarie set the entry standards for the course, which cost students $4000,
and issued all those enrolled Macquarie ID cards. However, many of the
students did not speak English.

"Students have the choice of submitting assignments and exam scripts in
English or Chinese. This raises the question of availability of appropriate
staff to assess and moderate written work," the report said.

"In class, translation is provided by one of the students, placing a
considerable burden on that student during class time and raising issues
about the student's ability to provide an accurate translation service."

The watchdog praised Maquarie's Master of Applied Finance program at the
Singapore Human Resources Institute as professionally managed. However, it
said electives were often withdrawn because not enough students enrolled and
the institute set its own rules for invigilating exams.



This story was found at:
www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/08/05/1060064185052.html



--

Sharon Smith
Administrative Executive Officer
========================
National Liaison Committee
for International Students in Australia Inc.
Suite 64, Trades Hall
54 Victoria Street
Carlton South
VIC 3053
Telephone [phone]
Mobile [phone]
Fax [phone]
Email. [e-mail]

[Patrick Pincon]

Compromised by copying allegations
By Dorothy Illing
06aug03

THE head of the University of Newcastle, which is at the centre of a scandal
over its handling of plagiarism allegations, has conceded the institution's
national and international reputation has been damaged.
As another case of plagiarism at Newcastle was revealed at the weekend,
vice-chancellor Roger Holmes said he would vigorously defend the
university's standards and plagiarism policies.

And in an extraordinary move, federal Education Minister Brendan Nelson has
weighed into the matter, which is before the NSW Independent Commission
Against Corruption.

Dr Nelson told Channel Nine's Sunday program that perception and reputation
in Australia's $5.2 billion education export industry "is absolutely
everything".

"If the public perception is that confidence is not being maintained, then I
think the university should give consideration to reopening the case," Dr
Nelson said.

He was referring to allegations that the university tried to cover up a
complaint that 15 fee-paying master of business administration students at
its Malaysian campus had plagiarised their assignments.

Ian Firns, a Perth-based business consultant and casual lecturer at several
universities, says 15 of 53 assignments in an MBA subject he was teaching
were plagiarised.

The assignments were reassigned to another lecturer, who delivered marks
ranging from 18 to 29.5 out of 35 (HES, July 16).

An inquiry into the affair by the University of Western Sydney's graduate
school of business director David Lamond concluded that staff at Newcastle
"did not exercise their responsibilities in dealing with Mr Firn's
allegations".

But it put this down to a "fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of
plagiarism as defined by the university's policy". No disciplinary action
was recommended.

Mr Firns, who has referred the matter to the ICAC, wants Professor Holmes
and chancellor Ric Charlton to resign.

This week Professor Holmes confirmed reports of another case, where a
postgraduate student plagiarised two other students' theses for her honours
thesis, which was published in 2000.

The student is now enrolled in a PhD at Newcastle and is a casual tutor.

The Newcastle Herald also reported on Saturday that the NSW Ombudsman is
finalising investigations into the university's handling of a further case
of plagiarism, this time by one academic against another.

Professor Holmes said the Ombudsman's report was a "personnel matter" and
that it would not be released.

The chief executive of the universities' international marketing arm, IDP
Education Australia, said quality assurance for Australian universities was
the strongest it had been.

But Lindy Hyam said the visibility of the international education industry
and the financial pressures on universities were greater now.

"It is always going to be a juggling act for institutions to balance quality
and affordability for international students. But all universities fully
understand the criticality of ensuring and maintaining quality and
standards," she said.

privacy © The Australian


--

Sharon Smith
Administrative Executive Officer
========================
National Liaison Committee
for International Students in Australia Inc.
Suite 64, Trades Hall
54 Victoria Street
Carlton South
VIC 3053
Telephone [phone]
Mobile [phone]
Fax [phone]
Email. [e-mail]

[Patrick Pincon]

Two S'poreans found dead in Sydney
Aussie police deem it suspicious but deny media talk that students killed each other; Asian-linked crime rising in city

By Roger Maynard

SYDNEY - The deaths of two Singaporean university students has taken a bizarre twist with speculation in the Australian media that they may have killed each other.


At the murder scene in Randwick, police found the pair dead in different rooms in their flat on Monday. -- NEWS LIMITED




But late last night, New South Wales police spokesman Dave Rose denied reports that they had battered each other to death.

The pair were found dead in their second-floor flat in the south-eastern surburb of Sydney on Monday afternoon. One was found by police slumped in a front room, while the second was in a back room.

Police are treating the deaths as suspicious, but not as a murder-suicide. A post-mortem examination of the bodies yesterday showed both men had died as a result of an attack with a blunt object, Sergeant Rose said.

He said several objects had been removed from the flat for further forensic testing. Australian media reported that they included a baseball bat and at least one knife.

The dead men's names will not be released until relatives in Singapore have been notified by police, but both men are believed to have been students in their 30s at the University of New South Wales.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement yesterday confirming that the two were Singaporeans. 'We have contacted their families and will extend consular assistance to them,' said its spokesman.

The investigation into their deaths is being led by a new crime taskforce looking into spiralling Asian-related crime in Sydney.

Nineteen of the last 30 kidnappings in Australia's most populous state have involved Asian victims or instigators.

Typically, poor students target rich ones, forcing them to make their parents pay huge ransom demands.

Late last month, the body of student Van Linh Phun, 19, was found in the back of a car after a kidnapping attempt went wrong, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Two weeks earlier, Shan Shan Xing, 21, smiled and laughed in court as she was formally charged with starving and assaulting Ms Ting Mu after kidnapping her and demanding A$120,000 (S$141,000) from her Beijing-based parents.

The crime wave has also cast a shadow over Australia's education industry, which attracts hundreds of thousands of overseas students and is worth billions of dollars.

It was an emergency call that led detectives to the scene of the latest crime - a red-brick flat near the university in the Sydney suburb of Randwick.

Last night, police were still guarding the murder scene while forensic experts continued to examine the interior for vital clues.

A former flatmate, who declined to give his name, told waiting journalists that he had last seen the two men on Saturday.

'Everything was normal then,' he said.

Neighbours were horrified by the news.

Housewife Nerissa Barton told The Straits Times: 'It's really shocking. We're keeping our kids inside until we know what's going on. A lot of elderly people are also very scared and staying in their homes.'

The dead men lived in the heart of Randwick, an area favoured by students for its cheap accommodation and proximity to the university.

Its population is also largely transient. The dead Singaporeans had moved into the flat in February.

Randwick used to be considered safe, but recently, there have been reports of robbery and occasional violence.

Chinese law student Wei Xiao, 23, said two of her friends had their laptops stolen recently.

She added: 'I've heard of some people being robbed on the high street in the middle of the afternoon.'