Topic: International Students
Angle: No concession cards
I would like to do a feature story on a topic that is familiar to me, which is international students that come to Australia to study. My angle of the feature story will reflect how, in the State of Victoria, international students are not granted concession cards for cheaper public transport. It is the Universities that have students fill out concession card forms and then take them into a Victoria public transport office, to be stamped and approved. There they will get a piece of paper laminated stating they can pay concession fares. I know that although I am an international student, I have to keep my opinion out of the piece and focus on the research I have found.
Through the research I have provided, in Australia, all States have concession for international students. Victoria is the only State that is lacking cheap transport for International students, although Victoria has the second highest number of international students just under New South Whales. It is Victoria’s third largest export, after iron ore, and coal.
I believe this story would interest a local news outlet because it is an angle that a lot of Australian citizens do not know about. There is a lot of information around the subject and seems that it can be written about from many different angles. There are recent government reports that talk about a 30% increase in international students by 2020 and more support in accommodation and transportation would create an easy transition for international students into an Australian lifestyle. I have attached links for the government reports and others at the bottom of my pitch. I believe it is a good story right now because with these statistics showing growth in the next few years, they will have time to discuss such topics and be able to provide a solution for the growing international student population.
Research: Secondary Sources
1. Department of Immigration and Citizenship
http://www.immi.gov.au/media/statistics/study/.
I took information from this website regarding where International students come from and how many International students come to Australia. I found through their media resources the student visa statistics. It gives information on when visa applications are being processed and how many international students are in Australia at one time. Also shows the growth and decline of International students. It was said that in 2012 there was a slight increase in International students coming to Australia and might have been because Universities no longer had a cap on the amount of international students they could enroll.
2. Australian Bureau of Statistics
http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4102.0Main+Features20Dec+2011#WHEREENROLMENT
From the Australian Bureau of Statistics website I found percentiles of international students studying in Victoria vs. studying in New South Whales. There are many international students studying in the rest of Australia, but their numbers are nowhere near comparable to those of New South Whales and Victoria. Later I will touch on concession for international students in all States. The statistics also provided where Australia is ranked in the world for number of international students they accommodate.
3. Australian Education International
• https://aei.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx
• https://aei.gov.au/IEAC2/theCouncilsReport/Documents/Australia%20–%20Educating%20Globally%20FINAL%20REPORT.pdf
I found information on how International students are a large factor in Australia’s economy. It provides information on the revenues received by each state from international students. The website had information that talked about infrastructure and how legislation couldn’t keep up with the growing number of international students. That’s why such things as concession transport lag.
International Education Advisory Council predicts there will be an increase of international students into Australia by 2020. Concession for all students is an action plan they would like to be able to implement between now and that time. It’s not a case of whether the government wants to provide these services for international students. It’s getting the government to catch up with the growing demand of international students.
4. Universities Australia
http://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/
An organization that was established in 2007, released a “ten point action plan” that was developed to create a safer Australia for international students. Universities Australia decided that they needed to implement a plan to make it safe for international students. The 10-point action plan covered many different topics like, improving safety of students, providing affordable accommodation and concession travel cards.
5. News article
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/more-international-students-to-head-down-under-report-20130227-2f51p.html
I found heaps of news articles on the subject of international students wanting fair public transportation. Many were in Victoria, but most news articles were focused on NWS. NSW now has concession fares for international students, but they are only 30% discounts, not 50% like domestic students. The concession in NSW is only a 12-month pilot program to see if concession for international students is practical.
6. Academic Journal
Robertson, S 2011, ‘Cash cows, backdoor migrants, or activist citizens? International students, citizenship, and rights in Australia’, Ethnic & Racial Studies, 34, 12, pp. 2192-2211, SocINDEX with Full Text, EBSCOhost, viewed 22 April 2013.
One article focused on international students as “cash cows” who are made to pay full price tuition upfront to be able to have an education in a different country. Although international students produce some of the highest revenues for Australia, they don’t provide many breaks, like concession travel.
7. Academic Journal
Jakubowicz, A, & Monani, D 2010, International Student Futures In Australia : A Human Rights Perspective On Moving Forward To Real Action / Andrew Jakubowicz With Devaki Monani, n.p.: Canberra, A.C.T. : Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, 2010., DEAKIN UNIV LIBRARY’s Catalog, EBSCOhost, viewed 22 April 2013.
Another academic article spoke about how there is still a lot of racism towards international students, and that they don’t feel welcome in Australia. Society still doesn’t treat them as equals but from a survey taken at Melbourne University, most students surveyed wish to stay in Australia after they have studied to work live and create a life.
8. Public transit sites for Melbourne and Sydney
http://ptv.vic.gov.au/
http://www.metrotrains.com.au/
http://www.131500.com.au/tickets/fares/myzone.
There have been arguments in news articles about Victoria having competitive public transport fares, and that is why they do not offer concession fares to international students. I have researched this and compared fare price to see if that is the case.
9. New South Whales Government Site
http://www.business.nsw.gov.au/news/travel-discounts-for-international-students
Government report stating the beginning trial of concession cards for International students.
10. Public Transit Users Group
http://www.ptua.org.au/
This website gives information on public transport from a lobby group perspective. Answers questions about Melbourne’s public transport and makes it more user friendly. Answers any questions or concerns. Includes things regarding new developments happening within the public transit sector.
Primary Sources
1. Gavin Hodgkinson
DUSA Advocate
Gavin.hodgkinson@deakin.edu.au 03 9244 6356
Recently talked with Gavin about concession transport for International students and he told me that a few years ago, the University was looking into paying for concession cards for international students themselves, but after some research on costs it was found out that it would cost the University millions of dollars, so the campaign was dropped. He couldn’t think of anything going on at the moment regarding this issue. He knew that statistics said the last 2 years international student acceptance was down and that may have an effect on whether or not things like concession would be considered.
2. Maddy Sexton
DUSA-Burwood campus coordinator
Madelaine.sexton@deakin.edu.au 61 401 076 013
Gave me some information about concession. It costs 3$ extra to get your concession card laminated, which she thinks is ridiculous. Everything is just a money grab. She remembers hearing students talk about concession transport for international students during O-week.
3. Public Transport Victoria 1800 800 007
I couldn’t find any specific one person from the PTV website, but I wanted to call there customer service line and ask if the subject of concession for international students is brought to their attention, and what PTV has to say about it.
4. Jennifer Hsu
International Student Adviser
Deakin International Support, Student Life
Jennifer.hsu@deakin.edu.au +61 3 92446142
Talk to a student advisor about the issue and if she will put me in contact with international students that have maybe had a bad experience. Talk about what her experiences are with concession transport and Deakin University.
5. Education Services for Overseas Students Legislation
1 300 615 262
Contact number from the Australian Government website featuring the council report that talk about a massive increase in International students by 2020 and improvements to make life for these students better, like having concession for international students.
6. International Education and Research Taskforce
+61 (2) 9338 6859
Information taken from the NSW government page regarding a ‘taskforce’ that was established to protect the rights of international students.
http://www.business.nsw.gov.au/news/travel-discounts-for-international-students
7. Council of International students Australia (CISA)
President: Aleem Nizari
pres@cisa.edu.au 04 1484 2329
A lobby group established for the betterment of international students, run by international students. CISA is based in Melbourne but they were active participants in helping international students in NSW establish concession transport.
8. National Union of Students (NUS)
Johnny Zhang
International Office
international@nusvic.org 03 9650 8908
International student I met at Deakin that is a representative of the organization who was getting students to sign a petition to send to the Victoria legislature to get them to pass a law to allow international students concession.
9. Public Transit Users Group
office@ptua.org.au 03 9650 7898
10. Academic
Shanthi Robertson
Shanthi.roberston@rmit.edu.au
He is an expert on the subject of international students migrating to Australia. Local professor at RMIT, so I will be able to arrange an interview or be able to call him.
‘Cash cows, backdoor migrants, or activist citizens? International students, citizenship, and rights in Australia’.
11. Dutch exchange student
Saski Hortensius
Talked about how she gets concession transport, but does not have a concession card because she doesn’t pay when she uses public transport.
12. National Union of Students supporter
Lucinda Qiana
sjhunqianangel@gmail.com
Lucinda is a Chinese student who has been in Australia for 6 years. She believes all students should be equal and international students should have concession travel as well.
References:
Education Services for Overseas Students (ESOS) Act . 2013. Education Services for Overseas Students (ESOS) Act . [ONLINE] Available at: https://aei.gov.au/Regulatory-Information/Education-Services-for-Overseas-Students-ESOS-Legislative-Framework/ESOS-Act/Pages/default.aspx. [Accessed 25 April 2013].
Student Visa Statistics – Statistics – Publications, Research and Statistics. 2013. Student Visa Statistics – Statistics – Publications, Research and Statistics. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.immi.gov.au/media/statistics/study/. [Accessed 24 April 2013].
4102.0 – Australian Social Trends, Dec 2011. 2013. 4102.0 – Australian Social Trends, Dec 2011. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4102.0Main+Features20Dec+2011#WHEREENROLMENT. [Accessed 25 April 2013].
International student data . 2013. International student data . [ONLINE] Available at: https://aei.gov.au/research/International-Student-Data/Pages/default.aspx. [Accessed 24 April 2013].
Travel discounts for international students – NSW Trade & Investment: Business in NSW. 2013. Travel discounts for international students – NSW Trade & Investment: Business in NSW. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.business.nsw.gov.au/news/travel-discounts-for-international-students. [Accessed 25 April 2013].
Major projects and initiatives. 2013. Major projects and initiatives. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.deakin.edu.au/about-deakin/major-projects-and-initiatives. [Accessed 25 April 2013].
HENRIETTA, C 2012, ‘State lags on cheap travel for students’, Age, The (Melbourne), 7 November, Newspaper Source Plus, EBSCOhost, viewed 22 April 2013.
Robertson, S 2011, ‘Cash cows, backdoor migrants, or activist citizens? International students, citizenship, and rights in Australia’, Ethnic & Racial Studies, 34, 12, pp. 2192-2211, SocINDEX with Full Text, EBSCOhost, viewed 22 April 2013.
Jakubowicz, A, & Monani, D 2010, International Student Futures In Australia : A Human Rights Perspective On Moving Forward To Real Action / Andrew Jakubowicz With Devaki Monani, n.p.: Canberra, A.C.T. : Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, 2010., DEAKIN UNIV LIBRARY’s Catalog, EBSCOhost, viewed 22 April 2013.
Josephine Tovey Education, E 2013, ‘Travel scheme ‘no help’ to overseas students’, Sydney Morning Herald, The, 6 March, Newspaper Source Plus, EBSCOhost, viewed 22 April 2013.
. 2013. . [ONLINE] Available at: https://s3.amazonaws.com/pieronline-studentexperience/accounts/10610/Site/1/4910_CISA_NUS_CAPA_Welcome_International_Students_Transport_Concessions_in_NSW_1__original.pdf. [Accessed 24 April 2013].
More International Students Expected In Australia. 2013. More International Students Expected In Australia. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/more-international-students-to-head-down-under-report-20130227-2f51p.html. [Accessed 24 April 2013].
. 2013. . [ONLINE] Available at: https://aei.gov.au/IEAC2/theCouncilsReport/Documents/Australia%20%E2%80%93%20Educating%20Globally%20FINAL%20REPORT.pdf. [Accessed 24 April 2013].
Concession travel on public transport in Australia | Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations. 2013. Concession travel on public transport in Australia | Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.capa.edu.au/transportconcessions. [Accessed 24 April 2013].
131500 Transport Infoline – MyZone. 2013. 131500 Transport Infoline – MyZone. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.131500.com.au/tickets/fares/myzone. [Accessed 24 April 2013].
Home – Public Transport Victoria. 2013. Home – Public Transport Victoria. [ONLINE] Available at: http://ptv.vic.gov.au/. [Accessed 25 April 2013].