By Maggie Leung
Pelican is doing a get to know the Guild election tickets edition. Next up is GLOBAL!
How would you define Inclusiveness, Diversity, and Empowerment?
Inclusiveness to GLOBAL is a community whereby we allow students to express their views without fear of judgment by also being accepting and respectful of each other’s views. Not everyone agrees on the same things, and we want to empower every student to be able to express what they feel and their views and promote discussion to allow us to learn from each other and grow through our time at UWA.
Diversity comes on both who we identify as and, in our thoughts, and beliefs as well. A society where there are differing opinions and people from different walks of life, countries, speak different languages, grew up with different cultures and have unique experiences to themselves. Being the international Student Party, we see this a lot and being as diverse as possible allows us to also take into consideration everyone when we develop ideas for you as a student.
What is Global’s plan to enhance diversity and inclusivity on campus?
GLOBAL has always worked on many different ways that we can increase diversity and inclusivity on campus. We want to make sure students feel safe and welcomed. One of our main ideas to improve the inclusivity on campus is to run town-hall sessions. With these sessions, we can actively get firsthand feedback from students on campus, and this would allow us to discuss with them personally on how to improve on the feedback given. We also plan to ensure that the integration of international and domestic students is always happening. But something new that we plan to introduce is interclub sports. We will also work with clubs and representative groups to aid the celebration of more festivals on campus. This would introduce diversity and also cultural beliefs to many students across campus.
What is the barrier towards building an inclusive campus? And how would you address those challenges?
We believe to achieve this; we need students to first better understand each other. In our case, between international and domestic students, it has to be a twofold approach. Both international and domestic students must understand each other better in terms of cultures and languages. A lack of education around cultural differences is a problem we intend to help with first by celebrating more cultures on campus through the club space. We want to run an International Student week to celebrate but also educate students on international student issues and how domestic students can make this a meaningful time by ‘traveling the world from the UWA campus”
What is Global working towards the impacts caused by the global pandemic on international students?
We fought hard to bring students back since 2020. We raised this with government officials and when we couldn’t do it, we had the offshore working group to engage students across the world. We also had to ensure that students onshore had their welfare attended to with homesickness being a major concern. We advocated for a fee reduction for international students. In 2022, UWA decided that in lieu of the fee reduction we advocated for, we can give all new students a $1,500 welcome grant to help students settle into Perth when they arrive. Housing is a massive concern at this point, so we intend to run workshops to teach students how to apply and get references for example.
How is Global boosting international student engagement with campus affairs?
We are constantly sharing any information related to international students. On campus we have an international lounge for students to head to to relax and use as their safe space. We are promoting events as much as we can there so that more international students can engage with campus culture. But before these physical spaces, we also use social media to inform students and allow them to make that decision on traveling to campus. The problem this year has much to do with the housing situation and how far students are having to stay away from campus. We will work on this as well to allow students to get better housing and make coming onto campus a much easier process for them. This will enable more students to be engaged with campus affairs and the ongoings. We will be more relatable to the everyday student and get them to engage proactively with affairs and ensure they are relevant to them.
What are the tips for newly arriving international students to make the best out of their experience?
Some tips would be to settle all your logistical requirements as soon as possible and to do so, talk to any member of the guild or the university and they will be more than willing to help you. At the start obviously, the number of students and a new environment can be extremely daunting. Take small steps. Make friends from your first lecture and venture towards the clubs and societies. All the clubs and societies are extremely inclusive. If you are more comfortable joining your specific cultural club, go ahead and do it. From there, branch out and make as many friends as you can and as you want. These people will be your lifelong friends as you are going to go through university together.
What does the guild means to you?
To us, the guild means everything for students all around campus and from all walks of life. It is a platform for any student to advocate and push for the rights of students. It is also a means for students to connect with each other and bounce ideas off each other to create a more holistic environment for students on campus.
Where is your go to place for lunch on campus?
Subway as I feel like it has the best vegetarian food.
Best spot to study on campus?
ISD Room or ISS lounge as this gives me a chance to talk to more people.
If you can have a superpower, what would it be and why?
Control time as I am a person that enjoys interacting with everyone and wants to try out everything. If I had this superpower, then I could be a part of everything and make sure that I can submit my work on time too.