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The Federation of Indian Associations of Victoria (FIAV), first International student summit was held on Friday September 4, 2009.

Approximately 30 guests attended the summit, including AITE's Manager of Student Support Services with AITE student representatives. Out of the 30 guests present there were 7 student representatives from Melbourne’s international student community. Other guests included representatives from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, The Victorian Police Multicultural Liaison Unit, Migration Agents and Local & State Government as well as Student Support Services members from various RTO’s.

The first speaker for the event was the Hon. Marsha Thomson MP, State Member for Footscray. Ms Thomson discussed the Task Force established in 2008 to examine the key issues facing Victoria’s international student community and ways to improve their experiences living and studying in Victoria. The 'Victorian Overseas Student Experience Taskforce' found that an overwhelming majority of overseas students studying in Victoria enjoyed a positive and rewarding experience. The Taskforce also investigated five key issues pertaining to the International Student population being: accommodation, safety, employment, social inclusion within the local community and access to reliable information on support services. Ms Thomson also discussed the Overseas Education Strategy and its goal to create one community that will break down the barriers and social misconceptions adversely affecting International students.

A representative from the Australian Federation of International Students facilitated question time with the students. The questions varied from why the students chose to come to Australia to employability and safety. The following were the main points raised:

• Education Agents providing misleading information about the courses International students should undertake to gain Permanent Residency;
• Accommodation arrangements are becoming costly and difficult to find;
• Difficulty in understanding the Immigration website and students having to resort to paying a Migration agent;
• Price increases in applying for Permanent Residency and IELTS tests;
• Rule changes with acquiring an IELTS score of 7.0 for Community Welfare courses;
• Exploitation of International students’ employment pay rates;
• Students allowing themselves to be exploited by their employers by working more than the allowed 20 hours per week;
• The ability for International students to be able to access the correct information in the right format (Immigration, Police, accessing support services, rights and responsibilities);
• Students focus and priority should be on their studies;
• Students should be empowered and take responsibility for their own actions;
• Students should have adequate monetary funds in their accounts for unexpected situations and increasing living expenses;
• The Police should visit all RTO’s and partake in their Orientation program;
• Students should have adequate monetary funds in their accounts for unexpected situations and increasing living expenses;
• The need for students to notify Police when an incident does occur for accurate reporting of violent crimes being committed against students;
• The Educational Institutions responsibility to promote safety tips;
• olice’s reactive (minimise time it takes to respond to incidents) and proactive (visiting schools to promote safety) responses.

The general theme was that if everyone works together (Government, Immigration, Police, and Educational Institutions) the right information can be readily accessible to the International Student Community.

Following the summit, AITE Student Support Services immediately began analysing feedback gained to optimise our support services to offer the best possible support to our international students.