Page 2268 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 16 August 2006
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international students need the national representation provided by the national liaison committee and the National Union of Students.
Today I have spoken about the immense contribution to our community made by international students. I have spoken about the wonderful support provided to these students by the ANU and UC student associations. I have also spoken about the threat that these support services face. Nelson Mandela has said that education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. I hope that Australian and international students of the ACT use their educational experience to encourage change so that all Canberrans embrace and celebrate multiculturalism. I hope that these students will recognise the value of their student organisations and continue to support them in the future.
I hope that despite the immense setback of VSU, international students will continue to come and study in Canberra and that our universities will continue to provide them with the rich educational experiences that they so thoroughly deserve. I know that we would welcome this.
DR FOSKEY (Molonglo) (4.49): I would like to speak briefly about this topic. As someone who has had experience teaching international students at a tertiary institution, I am aware of the other side of the issue where it is not all lovely and shiny. It is wonderful that we have students here from all over the world. We have students who come from Europe, usually, of course, on a very short-term exchange basis, but we have many more fee paying students who come from other parts of our own region.
I think that welcoming international students is wonderful and important. It makes our own universities and the lives of Australian students richer. But it is not good when universities have to have international students because they need the income that they provide. I hope there is an attempt to find a balance in respect of the desire of governments to take in full fee paying students. I heard today that some degree courses cost in excess of $200,000 to complete. I am sure that there are many people here who could not afford to pay that sort of money for their children. We, of course, are in the privileged section of society. However, we must realise that many of the families of these international students can hardly afford the fees. But they have made the choice to invest in their children because they value education so much. They recognise, as we do, that education is the way by which people are able to move from their situation into, hopefully, a better life with a job that is of more interest to them and with a higher income. Certainly, education has been my path through life. I belong to a family with four children and none of us would have gone to university if there had not been government scholarships at the time. I fear that it will not be so easy for my daughter.
In the broader context, the fantastic ANU and the University of Canberra do a reasonably good job of providing services for international students but often such students need a lot more pastoral care than our universities are capable of offering them. I think unless these students belong to a cohort, live in a college where there is care, or—this is a bit like the school children I was talking about before—interact with people in a holistic way, they can fall through the net. From what I have seen, I think emotional and mental issues are of real concern to many of those students. We all know that in university you are meant to work out for yourself that you need help and go looking for it. People are not wandering around and seeing who is need.
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