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Monash University International Student Service

Official Minutes

Meeting 4 of MUISS General Meeting was held at 6.p.m. on the 23 of March, 2017 in

MUISS Lounge, Campus Centre

1. Attendance:

President:

General Secretary:

Treasurer:

Publications Officer:

Education Officer:

Activities Officer:

Services and Welfare Officer:

Jason An Binh Nguyen

Queenie Pui Kwan Chung

Astika Saxena

Audrey Miranda Prasetya

Sudhir Mandarapu (absent)

Kay Peng Lau

Fan Faye Guo

Activities Portfolio: Cai Yun Tammy Lam

Jie Luo

Hong Ni Athene Mak

Yusra Shahid

Education Portfolio:

Varsha Devi Balakrishnan

Akshita Bhatia

Chau Dang

General Secretary Portfolio: Ting Yan Dion Choi

Reynard Fernaldy

Priya Naresh Kumar

Publication Portfolio: Timothy Fidelis

Lorraine Kong

Thanh Nguyen

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Services and Welfare Portfolio: Wei Shan Kimberly Fung

Terri Loimata-Mau

Nadia Nodi (absent)

Jastisia Nur Fatima

Treasure Portfolio: Sheik Adnaan Shakil

Wei Shi

Shweta Vinod Menon

2. Acknowledgement of traditional owner of land

This MGM acknowledges and pays respect to the people of the Kulin nations as the original

and ongoing owners and custodians of this land. The MUISS commits itself to actively fight

alongside Indigenous people for reconciliation and justice for all Indigenous Australians.

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Confirmation of Agenda Order:

1. MUISS Committee Training Evaluation Comments

The MUISS Committee Training took place on the 4th and the 5th of March, 2017.

We’ve receive a total of 12 response from our committee, the bullet points below summarise

the overall comments, with Jason Nguyen (the President) comments in response.

The Venue was not ideal, some members found it stuffy.

(This is due to the fact that it was centralised air conditioning. As it was the weekend,

there was no air conditioning, hence this was not within our control)

Some members found it more like an information session than a training session.

(Asked for suggestions on how a professional training would look like)

Members would prefer handouts instead of Power-point slides

(Handouts would be better, but use of ppt is in line with Monash’s view of being

environmentally friendly)

Some members find the information delivered in the training sessions was too much.

(agreed it was content dense)

Some members suggest to have the training session in one day instead of two.

(Could have had better use of time management, such as explaining portfolio specific

expectations to individual portfolio’s rather than the entire committee)

Most members find the training session was useful to make new friends and to break

the ice.

Members suggest executives could have better time management.

2. PLACE workshops Update

PLACE workshop will take place during this semester continually. This week is

the first PLACE workshop took place. Sudhir Mandarapu (Education Officer) stated

the resume writing workshop held on the 15th of March, 2017 was a great success with

23 people signed up. Most importantly, for those who being a volunteering and

helping can write down the hours and it will be counted into 20 volunteering hours in

this semester.

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3. Around The World Festival Updates

The date for One World Festival is set on the 27th of April, 2017 (Thursday)

11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and theme will be: Backpackers. Kay Peng Lau (Activities

Officer) decided to hold in indoors due to the risk of rain. The smaller venue allows a

larger budget for decoration. There should be an emphasis on promotion to raise

awareness. Audrey Miranda Prasetya (Publications officer) showed a draft of the

poster:

- Various country landmarks as the background, with Around The World

written in that countries language.

-

Kay Peng Lau (Activities Officer) commented that people may not know it is Around

The World if it is in a foreign language, since it will be advertised on the televisions.

Queenie Chung (General Secretary) proposed to have the on screen advertisements in

English, but keep the original ideas for the poster.

4. PLACE Workshop Updates

The PLACE workshop took place this Wednesday (22/03/2017), Varsha Devi

Balakrishnan gave a summary as Sudhir Mandarapu (Education Officer) was absent.

20 people attended the interview skills workshop conducted by Chris Keynes, the career

program director from career connect. The next workshop will be held at the English

Connect classroom and cover “Small talk for success”. The next 2 workshops will be

held there for free, however it will cost $250 for three workshops next semester if we

decide to go ahead with it. If not, we have to find other people to conduct the workshop.

5. UMSU International: International Student Summit

Last week MUISS received a message from UMSU International (University of

Melbourne Student Union – International) Regarding an invite to an international student

summit that will be held this Saturday (25/03/2017) from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.. 4 executives-

Jason Nguyen (The President), Queenie Pui Kwan Chung (General Secretary), Fan Faye Guo

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(service and welfare Officer) and Kay Peng Lau (Activities Officer). 2 general committee

members – Lorraine Kong and Jie Luo, will attend.

6. MSC Meeting

The next MSC meeting will take place on the 23rd of March in the Campus Centre,

Conference room. Jason Nguyen (The President) will post the agenda on the MUISS

committee facebook page once it is released so people can voice their opinions for him to

bring up during the meeting.

7. Vice-Chancellor’s Student Presidents Advisory Forum

The Vice-Chancellor’s Student President Advisory Forum will take place on 5th of

March, 2017 at James McNeill Meeting Room, Chancellery Building A, 27 Chancellors

Walk, Clayton, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.. Based on the agenda last year, student related issues

and politics will be discussed eg. transport concession. The issues will be directly raised to

the Vice Chancellors. Jason Nguyen (the President) will post the old agenda on the MUISS

committee page.

8. Protocols for when you are overwhelmed with life & university work and unable

to complete MUISS tasks 

As the year progresses workload, will also increase, Jason Nguyen (The President) is

well aware of this situation and request that general committee tell their portfolio. This is so

the executives will know what to expect from you and the task to delegate. MUISS is only

voluntary work, and studies should remain a main priority.

9. Radio Monash Update

MUISS did not conduct a session this week as Akshita Bhatia was busy. Instead,

songs were played. Requested that anyone interested in going on to let the executives know.

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10. Other items

Jason Nguyen (The President) raised concern that MUISS is not very visible

and well known around campus. The Monash website regarding information for

international students did not promote MUISS. Proposed to create a video package

for International students promoting MUISS and what to expect in Melbourne.

Shewta Vinod Menon mentioned that the international representative for the

Law Society tried to get in contact with MUISS. Varsha Devi Balakrishnan

responded that the Education portfolio is currently contacting all faculties regarding

an education booklet and promoting MUISS to international students.

Law Society is holding an International Students know-your-work-rights

session on 28th March, 12 p.m.. This will be posted on the MUISS page for

students.

Audrey Prasetya (Publications Officer) distributed the MUISS T-shirts and

requested it to be worn at events.

Queer 101 training: Kay Peng Lau (Activities Officer) mentioned organising a

Queer 101 training in week 6. The reason for this are as follows:

- No Queer related workshops have ever been held in MUISS.

- The LGBT committee amongst international students are hence not

recognised and they are under represented

- Little information is available for LGBT international students as the

LGBT community in Melbourne may seem intimidating and oriented

towards domestic students.

- Little awareness of LGBT community.

Varsha mentioned the importance of knowing how to talk

to them and being approachable. As an international

student, one may feel left out, but as an LGBT international

student, they may feel even more out of place.

There is discrimination towards international LGBT

students even within the LGBT community.

Joy hopes that raising awareness will help these students

and make them feel more accepted.

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From a previous event, there was feedback from students

that it is good that MUISS is supporting and recognising the

LGBT community

- We need to educate ourselves first before we can help others

Jason Nguyen suggested holding two training sessions as it is difficult to coordinate

a time where everyone is free, hence there is a second session for those who missed

the first to attend.

11. Next meeting

The next meeting of MUISS is going to be 30th of March, 2017.

Meeting closed at 6:34 p.m.

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