Recent crimes ar Melbourne Uni worry International students

Many students are worried about their safety after a recent spate of crimes had been committed around Melbourne Uni. We reassure them that it is safe to study in Melbourne.

Last month a spate of crimes against International students has happened at Melbourne Uni. Whilst RMIT has no crimes happening students are still worried.

These crimes happened late at night when students are studying after hours. Here students are being pickpocketed or called names. Sometimes even bullying. Students don't know where to go for help.

The Age has reported that there were recent muggings in Melbourne. There was a home invasion in Ormond just recently. It was reported in Meld that there were 69 offenders, including 56 for robberies and 13 for assaults since January 1 this year.

Our concerns for the International student community
If the crimes increase against students, particularly Asians, students will tell their friends and go elsewhere. Many students are afraid to speak up because they think that they will lose their visa, but that is not the case.


What now?
The police have ramped up the security and are working with Melbourne University to help solve the problem. But there are ways in which students can not be the target of theft and assault. One of them is not to carry so many valuable items to uni such as a laptop and expensive phone. Most smartphones these days come with WI-FI capabilities which means that students should leave their laptop at home.

Studying late at night? Uni security do have free escort service for students to the train station etc. There are protective services officers at stations looking out for people. Also do let your roommates know if you are out late at night.

Your legal obligations

International students may sometimes have trouble with the law in Melbourne. But don't worry help is always at hand thanks to Victoria's legal aid.

Image courtesy of westernwallprayers.org

Family violence
Sometimes there is family violence in the home. You are entitled to an Intervention order and its easy to apply for in Melbourne. In Melbourne you can apply for it via the court system. Court usually takes a whole day and you will need evidence. Don't forget to photograph any injuries and do keep a diary. But in many Asian countries it is viewed as a family matter.

Hence many International students are scared to face the court.


Unpaid fines
If you have multiple fines or have not paid them or appealed them then the sheriff can come and arrest you. Do not ignore your fines.

If you can't pay by the due date then it is wise to ask for an extension in writing. Or if your parents are willing to pay then do ask them.

Traffic offences
Some International students have a car and the International driver's permit. After six months of arriving in Melbourne you will need a Victorian drivers license which is easy to get by passing a driving test. Do get someone who has been living in Victoria for a while ( a local student who you have been friends with could come in handy) teach you the road rules. Make sure that you understand the rules for driving in Melbourne and if you offend twice or three times you could be sent to prison (for drink driving) and lose your car. It's really strict in Melbourne.

Its better not to drive for a while.

If you do get into some sort of trouble it is better not to leave this until it is too late.  Do seek help from your uni's legal service as it is free for all students.

Melbourne International student Conference Day 2: Pitching and being corporate.

Day 2 of the conference was a much more formal event where delegates were in business attire. Here the ideas were more upon working and leadership. It was more upon making Melbourne a better place for International students

Employability
Employers are looking for people with skills and personality not just the grade. They want someone who can communicate and can make the business a success.

For students you should plan your career from day one and not wait until its too late to do so. You should also get used to the idea of speaking up in class. Many Asian students are used to learning by ROTE and are used to not speaking up unless being addressed and they are used to having their hand up. But in Australian universities it is quite alright to question the lecturer.

Pitching an idea
Students and graduates are expected to pitch ideas to people in the workforce. Pitching is not perfect- it requires practice. Be concise and to the point.

The business competition called Young upstarts.
There were a hundred applicants and four were selected to be presenting their ideas and the need for the money. The prize money is $500 to go towards their idea. Scholardeck won with their idea of students needing the right scholarship for uni. The other ones were a beer company wanting to start online, Hope with her free language service and the two friends and their car idea.

All the applicants wanted to have an online presence, but to me and others having an online presence is not everything. You also need to do the research from the ground up. For me the applicant I would have chose is the Scholardeck as tuition fees are very expensive.

Many thanks to Meld for having me

Melbourne International student conference: Casual

Day one of the conference

It was $50 to get in for the two days and here we learnt lots at Storey Hall. Pity though that non RMIT Students have not got Wi-Fi but oh well. Lunch was sponsored by Rice paper which I did not like. Also I did not like just plain sweet biscuits. I would have thought that they would have gone for a bit better than that since many people bought their tickets to this conference.

Confidence and motivation
This is one of the key topics talked about a lot at the conference. In the morning Dai Le talked a lot about confidence and leadership.
Dai also mentioned that students should create leadership opportunities in their home country even if they don't get PR in Australia. But students just need to drive themselves.
Dai emphasized on being proactive.

Comfort zone
Tom Parker and Ellie Khoo spoke about this in their workshops. Students are always afraid to leave their comfort zone. Tom talked about understanding your comfort zone and other's zone. It is the way how we adapt to new situations. Is it fight or flight? He also mentioned the iceberg and the tip of it. For us it would be fight for most of the time as we like to challenge ourselves. We are not scared to fail anything.

Diversity
Diversity has improved a lot over the years. When Dai came to Australia, Australia had just ended the White Australia policy. Australians are embracing more and more Asians. But they just need to come out of their shell and talk to the local Australian students. You'll see that we are all not that bad and that we don't all like to go to the pub. In fact the locals like to adapt to the Asian culture.

Cultural emotions and intelligence.
Tom Parker spoke a lot about this. It is about understanding your own emotions and knowing thy self.
Leadership
Tom Parker from the engage Melbourne team talked about leadership and being a good leader.

Where to next Melbourne
Melbourne is moving to a more culturally diverse city where there will be even more opportunities for International students engage with the locals such as the Engagement program which is currently being run at Melbourne Uni for this semester. It is for students wanting to understand the local culture beside the football game

Stay tuned for Day 2 of the Conference which is all about being corporate

Tuition fees and where it is spent in the uni

A lot of overseas students have to pay about $16000- $40000 annually to study in Australia. Many students would love to know where their fees go to and how the money is spent.

Most of the fees goes towards employee wages. Most of the universities employ hundreds of staff some of which are casual. Some of that money goes to the employee benefits. A lot of university staff get benefits, especially full time staff.

The next biggest investment is scholarships and grants. Most universities award grants to the student who achieves their highest. But grants are limited and a lot of students compete for the same thing.

Libraries and IT is another thing that unis have to take care of. They have to purchase and maintain the latest equipment as well as books and subscriptions for students. Maintenance costs money and time. But now there are apps for everything.

The last one is their property services. They need to pay their cleaners and rent. Rent in City of Melbourne and Sydney is very expensive.

In some universities the cleaners don't get paid properly.

They also have to pay their security staff. In some cases some unis are not able to afford this, so they outsource. Some of them also have a courtesy bus to escort people to the student accommodation/train station.

If you do want to suggest a way in which your university can spend it's money better than do take it up with them. Most unis have suggestion days or some sort of online system.

Internet Streaming and why students do it

These days a lot of students watch tv online. We talk about the advantages of tv online.

TV- Image courtesy of mashable.com

We don't want to have to wait until an episode is shown on TV. Its more convenient and its free (for Youtube) that is. The screen is often clearer and there are subtitles.

With streaming you can find out about the latest cooking shows and entertainment from around the globe. You can pause and rewind shows especially if English is your second language. Many students find this easier than watching the mainstream as you can watch it at any time which is convenient to you.

It takes about five minutes for the program to load and can be watched legally in places such as Netflix and Stan.

The only downside is paying for it. The service can cost anywhere between $10-$30 per month depending on what you watch. Youtube is free for most of the time but new releases are somewhere between $3-$20 depending on whether you want to own or rent a movie.

Sometimes the service stops when the WI-FI drops out but then it goes back again.

We enjoy watching TV online as there are also no ads.

Students what is your favourite programs online?

East Vs West Malaysia relations

We explain the East-West debate which took place last Sunday.

Malaysia has two sides: East and West.

The East became independent on September 16th 1963 and they celebrate their independence on this date

The east consists of Sarawak and Sebhan. Both are rural places and the parents send their kids to school in Kuala Lumpur. Public transport and flights too and from the place are a pain as no International flights go there. International flights go in and out of Kuala Lumpur.

Communications there is not too bad. The Sarawakians and Sebhans get their papers locally. Everything is too expensive and has to be imported from KL. The customs there are expensive for commercial goods.

The politicians in the east care only about the money and not about the people.

The West has everything, talents, KL and all.

So what can these two sides do to be united
First of all its the communication. If the country and everyone learns one language it is a lot easier. Also people should be proud to be a Malaysian.

The east needs to have better promotion about their culture. There is a lot of culture and heritage in the east as well as the West.