Box Hill Institue of TAFE hop on board

Students at Box Hill Institute of TAFE in Melbourne's east will soon be able to pick up their own Student Rights card on campus.

Students will?be able to pick up their card from the SARC offices on Elgar Rd campus (465 Elgar Rd. Box Hill) and Whitehorse campus (1000 Whitehorse Rd. Box Hill).

Student Rights looks forward to working with the team at SARC and featuring some of their great work. For those in the know SARC produces the student magazine 'The Box' and the annual student diary, but also run OWeek and general events for students. SARC also produce a TV show which we'll soon review.

Herald-Sun offer still available!

We've had heaps of emails from Victorian based students saying they missed out on the special student subscription deal to the Herald-Sun.

Good news - it's not too late. Go to our Amazing Offers tab above and click on Herald-Sun or go to www.heraldsun.com.au/unioffer?and order your subscription.

We luv Tassie

Voted our fave holiday destination in-house at the Student Rights office, it became a fight as to who was going to get to run the promotion.

It happens of Wednesday 18 March at Univ of Tasmania in Hobart.

We'll have our promo staff with us, armed with Student Rights cards to give out and also show bags. We'll also try bring with us the $5 vouchers to Chaos Music.

See ya all then!

QLD here we come!

We've already been to Queensland campuses, but we're coming back again. Some campuses missed out on show bags but this time we're making them available for everyone.

See you at:

QUT - Tuesday 24 March

Griffith Gold Coast - Wednesday 25 March

Griffith Nathan - Thursday 26 March

On the days you can grab your own Student Rights card and also the show bag. We also expect to have available the $5 vouchers for Chaos Music purchases.

WA here we come (again!)

We're coming back to WA. On Thursday 26 March you can catch us at Murdoch University giving away show bags and Student Rights cards.

We also hope to be at Challenger TAFE on Thursday 26 March too so keep an eye on this space!!

See you on campus!

Calling Unsigned Artists!

Want to get your music into Major and Indie Australian record stores plus worldwide digital stores including iTunes?

Student Rights welcomes The Can as a national sponsor.

The Can was established in 2000 and offers distribution for unsigned artists.

As part of a very special offer for Student Rights, your act will receive a 10% discount off its subscription.

More details will be announced shortly, but students who request a Student Rights card online through the post, will receive a?voucher. Vouchers will also be provided in remaining show bags.

Student Rights.com.au wishes to thank The Can for their sponsorship and their on-going support of unsigned artists.

Chaos Music announce special offers for Student Rights

Australia's leading and oldest independent online music retailer Chaos.com has just confirmed they believe! YES - they agree that we need to fight for student's right to paaaarty!


To you and me this means special offers on DVD's, music, books, games, t shirts, posters and more!

Check out www.chaos.com.au

More details will be revealed soon, however we can confirm a $5 voucher is being made available with the remaining Student Rights show bags being given out free on campuses. These vouchers will also be included in the?mail when?you request your card?from our web site. For a few lucky universities you will also receive a voucher when you pick up your Student Rights card on campus.

With this voucher exclusive to Student Rights.com.au you will be entitled to a $5 discount off your next purchase - including DVD's, books, music and more.

More details of special benefits for Student Rights card holders will be announced shortly.
We all welcome Chaos on board and thank them for their sponsorship and friendship!
?

Eckersley's join Student Rights!

Eckersley's is one of the largest fine art, craft and design supplies retailers in Australia.

For students they have become the trusted supplier for all their student supplies.



We're very proud to announce that Eckersley's have become the support sponsor for all the Student Rights design based?competitions and events. With this they will be providing prizes for the winners in events including 3 Mobile's National Art Prize and Ansell's T Shirt and Slogan?competition.



Visit one of their 22 storesfor acrylic, watercolour and oil paints and accessories, drawing tools, visual diaries, canvases, pads, graphic design tools, printmaking supplies, folios and presentation materials, reference books, papercraft tools and supplies, kids? art items, and much more! You?ll also find a range of custom services at selected Eckersley?s stores, such as picture framing, easel hire, canvas stretching, as well as art and craft classes.

Welcome to Student Rights!

This is Australia's new social, educational and commercial network for students only.


The touch point is this web site, which provides local and international students with a portal of information, resources and communication.

For those lucky students that pick up an exclusive Student Rights card, they have the added benefits of Australia's first and only student prepaid Visa and member card. The Student Rights ANZ prepaid Visa card offers students the ability to load and reload funds for purchases anywhere Visa is accepted world-wide. It also doubles as a special member card which you can use for special access and to redeem discounts and special offers.

Over the coming weeks we'll be opening more and more features on this web site, including:

Careers and Employment

Student Accommodation

Events & Competitions

Buy-Sell-Exchange

and announcing details on how you can activate your Student Rights prepaid Visa card!

A quick round of applause to our major sponsors too:

Nando's

3 Mobile

The Herald-Sun, The Daily Telegraph and The Australian newspapers

and of course ANZ

Hizb-ut-Tahrir member teaching at London School of Economics

Late last night, Student Rights learned that Reza Pankhurst, the member of Hizb-ut-Tahrir who was stopped from speaking at Queen Mary University last month is currently teaching at the London School of Economics.

The Times has reported the issue on this morning’s page 3, with students from the LSE commenting that “Only last week he was talking about the Detroit bomber and saying the guy was not radicalised in London and it was all to do with foreign policy.”

Reza, jailed in Egypt for five years is now listed as a teacher on the course “States, Nations and Empires”. [pictured left]


Student Rights National Director Raheem Kassam has said, “We are trying to establish what vetting procedures exist at the LSE when hiring staff. Further to our work last month, we are of the view that Hizb-ut-Tahrir should not be allow a platform on campus following their comments regarding forceful imposition of th groups ideology.”



—DEVELOPING—

UUK to establish working group following arrest of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

UUK to establish working group following arrest of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

Yesterday, Universities UK, the organisation that represents the executive members of University management across the United Kingdom announced it will be launching a ‘working group’ looking into the issues of Freedom of Expression and Extremism on University campuses.


This follows the attempted bombing on Christmas Day and subsequent arrest of former UCL Student Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.

What is clear to Student Rights is that whenever and wherever extremism, incitement to violence and infringement of student’s safety occurs, the speakers that perpetuate such things should be made clearly unwelcome on univeristy campuses.



Professor Steve Smith, President of Universities UK, said “It is essential that as a society we respond rationally to the issue of extremism. Universities UK therefore is fully supportive of the measured and effective response of UCL following the arrest of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.



Student Rights will be monitoring the situation across the UK very closely in the hope of ensuring safety for students, as well as a healthy academic debating environment. What certainly has no place is the kind of ideological thinking that caused Umar Farouk to engage in terrorism. British universities are establishments in which to learn, to make friends and to further one’s course in life. We should be able to be proud and safe in their walls. Recently however, we have not been.

Raison d’être – Student Rights on Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

Over the Christmas and New Year break, we’ve all seen the story of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab unfold. We know he was educated at a British University, we know he was the head of the Islamic Society at UCL and we know he attempted to destroy Flight 253 to Detroit on Christmas Day.

Student Rights of course have campaigned strongly against radical and extremist speech on university campuses over the past 7 months, and our successes though numerous, pale in comparison to this terrifying reminder of why we exist.

Faisal Hanra, a spokesman for the Federation of Student Islamic Societies has commented, “This raises a number of concerns, and we are making efforts to contact as many members of the society from the time as we can.”

Many have voiced opinions over the scrutiny applied to speakers in British universities, with National Director of Student Rights Raheem Kassam commenting that, “Incidents like this are not to be ignored, nor dismissed as isolated or freak occurrences. Radicalisation in all forms, across the political and religious spectrum is occuring on university campuses in the UK and it has no place there. Student Rights will work tirelessly to end this culture of division and segregation across the board.”

It’s clear that complacency on campuses will lead to more abhorrent occurrences of this nature, and that action must be taken. University Vice Chancellors and lecturers can no longer afford to ignore the advice as presented to them in 2006 by an All-Party Parliamentary Commission on Anti-Semitism:

It calls upon:

· University Vice Chancellors and student unions to be more vigilant and more proscriptive against this extremism and antisemitism. Vice Chancellors must have regard to their duties under the Race Relations Amendment Act, the Racial and Religious Hatred Act, the Protection against Harrassment Act and the Public Order Act. ‘Free speech’ is only possible with appropriate boundaries.

Student Rights Advisory Board member and Member of Parliament Denis MacShane commented to The Times on the 31st December 2009;

“Sir, In 2006 an all-party parliamentary commission I chaired reported on rising anti-Semitism on university campuses and the support for Islamist ideology, including appeals to jihad, which are widespread in students circles. University vice-chancellors and the university lecturers’ union pooh-poohed our concerns. Might they now have the intellectual honesty to admit that this is a serious problem, or do we have to wait until some student radicalised by campus Islamism succeeds in killing hundreds before our university elites realise what is incubating on British campuses?”

UPDATE: GOVERNORS RESIGN – Students In. Governors Out!

BREAKING (Thursday 17th December) – The Independent last night reported what has now been confirmed as the resignation of governors from the London Metropolitan University, following pressure from HEFCE.

At the meeting on Tuesday, a statement from staff governor, Kay Dudman, was read out. It said: “It is clear that London Metropolitan University’s future and safety is at stake. Hefce has made apparent that there is a clear and immediate risk that funding will be withdrawn unless it is convinced that its financial support of the university with public funds is safeguarded to its satisfaction.

“London Met cannot survive without public funds. The honourable, and indeed the only, course of action is for members of the board who were serving during the period in question to resign and the executive should follow suit.”

UPDATED HEFCE Statement (17th Dec 2009):

Immediate steps will be taken to renew the Board and the Audit Committee. In particular the Board will take the following action:

■The Governance Committee will be reconstituted by mid-January 2010 and will comprise two new lay members and the new Vice-Chancellor. The new Governance Committee will have responsibility for identifying a new Chair of the Board of Governors, and reviewing the membership of the Board and its Committees.

■A new Chair will be appointed to lead the Board of Governors by 1 April 2010. The appointee will be someone who is completely new to the University or someone recently appointed to the existing Board who played absolutely no part in the events covered by the Melville and Deloitte Reports. The existing Chair will stand down as Chair and from the Board of Governors by 31 March 2010.

■The Audit Committee will be renewed by 1 April 2010.

■All Governors who were members of the Board during the period covered by the Melville and Deloitte Reports ie up to 31 August 2008, will stand down from the Board by 31 August 2010.

■The analysis provided by the Melville and Deloitte reports will provide a framework for tackling the governance, management and systems issues at the University. The new Vice-Chancellor will be accountable for developing this framework further and overseeing the necessary changes to the existing arrangements. He will report progress on a quarterly basis to the Board of Governors and to HEFCE. The first report covering the period to 31 March 2010 should reach HEFCE by 16 April 2010.

Student Rights believe that the right decision was taken. With a new board and vice chancellor to arrive in the summer of 2010, the London Metropolitan University ensure it is best placed to overcome the nightmare scenario it has seen itself land in over the past 12 months.

The headline of this piece is the slogan chanted alongside calls for the London Metropolitan University’s governors to resign. At the demonstration last night the shamed board of LMU met to discuss The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) advice to “consider their position”.

This video was taken at last night’s protest

The call for the governors to resign comes after reports that LMU owes £36 million in HEFCE funding that was falsely claimed. This, alongside contentious issues regarding job cuts and outsourcing is coming to a head this week and Student Rights can’t help but comment on the dire situation that strikes this institution. The directors, we know, must taken a decision shortly regarding their future within the organisation and an e-mail from LMU’s acting vice-chancellor Alfred Morris to HEFCE chief executive Sir Alan Langlands states that confidence in the governing body could be crucial to any successful bid for funding to help it resolve its crisis.

Without the provision of funding by the HEFCE, LMU would most likely close.

The University and College Union (UCU) today said the governors’ position had become “completely untenable” and demanded that they stand down. UCU’s general secretary, Sally Hunt, said:

“London Met desperately needs a fresh start and that cannot happen with the current board of governors in place.”

Students from other university came and demonstrated alongside their fellow LMU students, who at 27,000 students boasts London’s largest university population.

Student Rights back the protests in order to facilitate the education of the students at LMU and seriously hope that the board of governors consider the implications in terms of both confidence in the institution and the representation of the student body.

A decision will be taken soon, let’s hope it’s the right one.

•The Board on the advice of the new Vice-Chancellor and utilising the required legal and professional advice will institute an investigation into the role of the senior staff mentioned in the Melville and Deloitte reports. Following such an investigation the Board together with the new Vice-Chancellor will decide what action, if any, to take.

University of Plymouth SU: Students First

University of Plymouth SU: Students First

National Director Raheem Kassam meets Councillor Steven Ricketts

Those who follow Student Rights will know that often we write about disruptions and disputes on UK campuses. Recently, our pieces have featured controversial and divisive issues, but today we hope that the bulk of our readers can join us in congratulating the University of Plymouth, as one of many, whose Student Unions are focusing on the true, student-related issues.



The AGM Facebook group lists discussions that will take place in the meeting including the closure of the bar, beauty pageants, climate change reactions, part-time student representation and free Wednesday afternoons. Councillor for the University ward (Drake) Steve Ricketts has commented,



“It’s truly fantastic that the Student Union is focussing on student welfare issues and succeeding in making the higher education experience pleasant and rewarding for Plymouth students. As Councillor for Drake ward, which is covered by the university campus, I am always looking to ensure my constituents are properly looked after. I’m looking forward to the outcome of the AGM.”



The motions as presented to us by an SU officer at the university are described informally as;



1. The creation of a placements officer



2. Encouraging greater provision of free drinking water across the campus (water fountains)



3. NUS hustings



4. Financial reports



We’ll bring you AGM results as they come in…

Scholarships/ Loans

Scholarships


There are many resources available to students to search for scholarships, and there are also many services that charge students for either access to their scholarship database or to conduct a scholarship search on students behalf.

If you have time, and the resources available to you, then most of the scholarship searches can all be found online for free. InternationalScholarships.com is one that offers a free scholarship search and there are many more out there. Take your time, do your homework and you will be able to find all the information you need.

Scholarship Scams

Scholarship scams are all over the place, and as an international student you are a prime target for people to scam you out of money. The general rule of thumb when it comes to scholarship scams are:

1.If you must pay money to get money, it might be a scam.

2.If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

3.Spend the time, not the money.

4.Nobody can guarantee that you'll win a scholarship.

5.Legitimate scholarship foundations do not charge application fees.

6.If you're suspicious of an offer, it's usually with good reasons

Am I eligible for a Scholarship?

Eligibility depends on the scholarship. There is no general rule of thumb on whether you are eligible for a scholarship. All scholarships vary in their eligibility requirements, some ask for a certain TOEFL score, some ask that you are from a certain country, some ask for you to have a certain GPA. You will need to do your own research to see if you are eligible for a scholarship.

How do I apply for a Scholarship?

As with eligibility, there is not set rule on how to apply for scholarships. Some ask for a specially written piece of work, some ask for you to be pursuing a certain field and some just require you to complete an application form. If you find a scholarship that you think you may be eligible for, contact the award administrator of that award. All the scholarships found in the InternationalStudent.com Scholarship search contains contact details of the award administrator.

Don't forget to visit the InternationalStudent.com Scholarship Search


International Student Loans

Foreign Enrolled Loans are available to US students who wish to enroll directly in an Australian university on a degree program. If you are attending one of the following schools, you are eligible for this loan:

017929 Australian International Hotel School - Cornell

010588 Australian National University

052001 Avondale College

003095 Bond University

040094 Brisbane Institute of TAFE

030975 Central Queensland University

031374 Charles Sturt University

025918 Curtin University of Technology

030969 Deakin University

011091 Flinders University of South Australia

031048 Griffith University

012206 James Cook Univ.

030961 La Trobe University

010681 MacQuarie University

010914 Monash University

025796 Murdoch University

030950 Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

008505 University of Melbourne

008670 University of New South Wales

026232 University of Newcastle

010692 University of Queensland

030672 University of Sydney

031503 University of Tasmania

031501 University of Technology, Sydney

011094 University of Western Australia

030971 University of Western Sydney - Nepean

030914 University of Wollongong


Study Abroad Loans are available to US students studying abroad at any school in Australia, as long as the home school in the US provides credit for the study abroad program.