Student Guild Elections 2023: Who’s Running for ISD President?
Students at UWA will have the opportunity to elect next year’s Student Guild Council later this month. Campaigning has begun and this article introduces the candidates from GLOBAL and Left Action vying for the position of International Students’ Department (ISD) President. ISD is responsible for representing and supporting international students at UWA.
Voting begins on the 18th of September and ends on the 21st. Polling will occur on campus, every UWA student can vote and voting is not compulsory. See here for more information.
Get to know GLOBAL candidate Rishãv Neog
What value does ISD have? What does it do for international students?
ISD has been essential in ensuring the voices of all international students are heard at UWA. They have consistently fought to ensure that support is readily available for all international students and that their needs do not go unnoticed. From supporting them through the pandemic, to re-engaging international students back on campus post-COVID, ISD has created an inclusive hub for all international students on campus. ISD has collaborated and worked closely with both the International Student Services (ISS) and the Postgraduate Students’ Association (PSA) to ensure targeted support for international students. ISD has run almost thirty–forty events annually since 2019 under GLOBAL’s leadership including the annual gala/river cruise, migration seminars, education workshops, and welfare initiatives!
Who are you and why does being ISD President matter to you?
My name’s Rishãv Neog and I’m from Guwahati in the north-eastern state of Assam in India. Having started my degree as an offshore student, I was not very knowledgeable about the University experience when I commenced. When the Australian borders reopened and I arrived in Perth, the culture shock was profound.
The International Students’ Department was extremely proactive in helping me navigate the initial adjustment, as well as re-adjustment from an online learning environment to a face-to-face environment. As I adapted and engaged with the different services available at UWA, I began to realise that I was not alone on this journey and there were many other international students like me. All of us have left the comfort of our homes to come to a foreign country in pursuit of our degrees and creating a foundation for our careers. As I got more integrated into the flow of Uni life, I started getting actively involved, engaging and listening to my peers, and understanding their plights. This empowered me to want to give back to the students of UWA and take on leadership roles at both Uni and in College Row.
Being ISD president would allow me to continue to build on the success of my predecessors like Nisa, Viknash, Rahman, Geemal and Rutvi, who in their time have worked effortlessly by supporting the international student population before, during, and after the pandemic. To name a few things we got done:
- We gave new students $1,500 in 2022 to return to UWA.
- We worked with the University to establish the International Lounge in Shenton House 2022.
- We ensured there were no Staff Cuts to the International team during the Student Life Restructure to protect your student experience.
- We secured increased overseas student health coverage which included access and coverage of mental health services for international students to ensure that their insurance encapsulated their welfare needs.
I want to continuously strive to help smoothen the transition process for international students by re-engaging them on campus and supporting them through the consistent plights that they are faced with. My personal experience has shown me how easy it is for international students to be overlooked. It has shown me the importance of making sure that these students feel included and empowered as part of UWA’s diverse community. I have been extremely fortunate to have gotten that support, which has molded me into the leader I am today, and I am now ready and equipped with the experience and knowledge to give back to you, the future and current international students of UWA.
What policies or goals are you most excited about?
GLOBAL’s campaign thrives on the vision of bridging the gap between international and domestic students by upholding its values of being INCLUSIVE, DIVERSE, and EMPOWERING. A few policies I am excited about are:
- Ensuring accessible and affordable accommodation: The housing crisis is real and is significantly effecting many students at UWA. GLOBAL will continue to work closely with the UWA accommodation concierge and Student Assist to ensure increased accessibility to suitable and affordable accommodation, as well as assistance with housing related issues.
- Job Prospects: To promote the presence of DIVERSITY at networking events through FacSocs and collaborate closely with relevant stakeholders to organise a career fair encompassing job prospects for international students.
- Re-establishing the ISC: The International Student Council (ISC) was created to expand ISD’s reach to international students across the entirety of UWA. With approximately 6,000 international students currently studying at UWA, it is easy for students to fall through the cracks. ISC works closely with international reps in FacSocs, College row, Ethnocultural Department, Postgraduate Students’ Association (PSA) and Public Affairs Council (PAC) to actively engage the international student population and use its monthly meetings to raise issues faced by international students to ISD. This provides ISD with the opportunity to work together with other bodies to help tackle issues and provide continued support to international students at UWA.
- Increasing awareness of Indigenous culture: by collaborating with Western Australian Students’ Aboriginal Corporation (WASAC). Many international students are unaware of the rich history of the Indigenous peoples, and I personally believe it is extremely important to actively work with WASAC to help educate the international student population, to deepen their understanding, and allow for better integration and increased respect for the traditional owners of the land.
What is the most compelling reason(s) for students to vote for you?
Over the past five years GLOBAL have been humbled by earning your trust, and have proven that we consistently deliver on our promises by achieving close to eighty-five per cent of them for the international student community. My team prides itself on being the only international student ticket, for international students, by international students. We have listened to your concerns and have formulated policies to work on the gaps to help smoothen your University journey. We strive to ensure that your voice is constantly heard not only at UWA but also at the national level. We are aiming to work towards continuously expanding our reach so that those who are vulnerable do not fall through the cracks.
I am currently the Social Officer of ISD, a Residential Advisor at Trinity Residential College and an Ordinary Guild Councillor in the 110th Student Guild. I have been fortunate enough to have been mentored and guided by some of UWA’s finest leaders, and my predecessors the 110th Guild President Geemal as well as PSA President Viknash VM, who have tirelessly worked with the University to ensure that students like you and I get to experience and leave this University with a holistic degree. Guidance from leaders like these have molded me to continuously strive to be a better student leader for you and to ensure the international student community is visible at UWA.
Get to know Left Action candidate Juliana Dewes
What value does ISD have? What does it do for international students?
At the moment I don’t think the ISD does anything for international students. This University uses international students as cash cows, they face constant discrimination and racism, and are now under the immense pressure of the housing crisis. Are activities, parties, and booklets going to tackle this? No. An Accommodation Concierge simply leads you to places you can’t afford. A discrimination complaint simply submits a report to a university that is a part of the problem. Further, Left Action candidates, alongside Socialist Alternative helped organise a protest against notorious racist Pauline Hanson, and there were angry international students there fighting with us; I didn’t see any current ISD reps there. The ISD needs to represent its members by fighting structural racism, by demanding funding for international students and free education, by leading international students in campaigns to win big changes.
Who are you and why does being ISD President matter to you?
Left Action is a group of left-wing activists. Our day-to-day lives are organising campaigns against racism and bigotry. We’re experienced at mobilising students and fighting against the Vice Chancellors and politicians that carry out constant attacks on international students. Mobilising international students matters to us not only because it’s the right thing to do, but we also recognise that international students and domestic students have the same interests of better education and living conditions, and only together are we strong enough to win these things.
What policies or goals are you most excited about?
Left Action will fight to end upfront fees for international students with an activist strategy alongside the National Union of Students (NUS). We’ll fight an activist campaign that demands College Row be turned into cheap accommodation that international students can actually afford. Asking University management nicely won’t get us there but fighting as a collective can.
[Reporter’s note: The colleges have varying structures and are largely independent from the Guild and University.]
What is the most compelling reason(s) for students to vote for you?
Left Action has a strategy that works. You can’t appeal to the ‘morality’ of the Vice Chancellor or University management, they need to make money and to do that they need to exploit international students. They are not our friends, Left Action recognises this and are prepared to confront them. Left Action believes the other parties are passive and meek, that they want to ask politely and this means they are happy with the status quo. We think this is disgraceful. We think it’s time we fought back. If you too want to fight back and win things that will actually help international students, Left Action is the one that can deliver.