New peak body for all international tertiary students

Australia’s new peak body for international students has its work cut out for it.

International students from all post-school educational sectors now have unified a representative voice, following elections to the new Council of International Students Australia (CISA) in Hobart last week.

The peak body boasts 52 founding organisations from all states and from the four post-school sectors of postgraduate, undergraduate, VET and “pre-university” – a term which covers English language schools as well as university colleges.

The meeting elected an executive committee of 14, also comprised from all the sectors. Inaugural president Robert Atcheson – a Texan undertaking juris doctor, a postgraduate law program, at the Australian National University – said more executive positions would be created at the state level.

Atcheson said he also expected the number of member organisations to double or triple, as organisations not represented at the Hobart meeting came on board.

He said having all sectors represented in one peak organisation would be a huge advantage, creating an elected voice ready to talk to the national government.

Atcheson said the international student roundtable last September had showed why a unified voice was needed.

“Out of around 500,000 international students in Australia at that time, they had 1300 applications but only selected 31 – not a very good representative sample.”

He said immigration reform would be a priority issue for the new body, particularly following the release of the new skilled occupation list.

“We’ll also be dealing with welfare issues such as housing, transportation and work rights. And the personal safety of international students, especially in light of the recent attacks.”

National Union of Students (NUS) president Carla Drakeford said CISA’s establishment was “the beginning of a new era for international students”. But she said the new body would have its work cut out over the next six months.

“Issues ranging from transport concession cards to safety and housing and the quality of the international student experience – we wish them well,” she said.

“NUS will be working closely with CISA going forward, and our international student officer will be an ex-officio member of the executive. Building links between NUS, CISA and the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations will ensure international students’ interests are looked after.”