Click image to view launch invitation (PDF)
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Join us for the launch of the eleventh edition of Traffic, 'Fact or Fiction?' and a seminar with the Hon Michael Kirby on 23 November at 2.30pm in the Gryphon Gallery, Graduate Centre. He will discuss the topic of "Truth or Fiction?" and launch the latest edition of the refereed graduate student interdisciplinary journal, Traffic. The journal, published by the Graduate Student Association, includes contributions from graduate students from fields as diverse as nursing, anthropology and history.
Michael Kirby will explain the differences we have had in the courts (including the High Court of Australia) concerning whether one can tell the difference between truth and falsehood by the impression of witnesses in the artificial circumstances of a court room. Or anywhere else for that matter. In recent years, the High Court has moved to reduce the previous confidence in the mystical judicial capacity to evaluation truth based upon impressions. Instead, it has insisted upon greater reliance on contemporaneous records, objective facts, and the internal logic of the circumstances.
A light snack and drinks will be provided at the seminar. Please RSVP to events@gsa.unimelb.edu.au if you wish to attend.
Download attachment(s):
[ Traffic Launch Invitation ]
Dr Neil Hawkes is speaking on Thursday 15 October - click image to download PDF poster.
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“In a values-based school the shared values language comes to inform everything that a school does and says. It underpins pedagogy, leadership, planning, policy positions, curriculum practices and behavioural expectations. If there is no common values language, if the values within the school are neither owned nor shared by the school community, there can be no basis for implementing effective, planning and systematic values education.”
The GSA, together with MGSE and the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, are inviting graduate student teachers (pre-service teachers), beginning teachers and educators to hear a presentation by noted international educator Dr Neil Hawkes on his experiences of introducing values-based education into schools in London and in Australia.
Read more >
GSA Advocacy Manager Sara Pheasant will be conducting training for graduate students who are interested in being called upon to be a member of Academic Misconduct Committees.
Date: Monday 19 October
Time: 2:30 pm
Venue: Foundation Life Members Room, Graduate Centre
Students who are interested in participating in this valuable and important service for the University and your fellow students can register by emailing gsa@gsa.unimelb.edu.au or phoning 8344 8657. Please mention the training session and include your contact details in the message.
Posted in:
Elections,
News
The ballot for the position for the graduate student representative member of University Council for 2010, closed on Friday, 25 September 2009. After a counting of votes on 28 September 2009, Returning Officer for the election, Ms. Phillippa Heskett has declared Ms Zoe Edwards elected as the representative of graduate students on the University Council to serve for the period ending 31 December 2010.
Pursuant to Rule 205 (1) of GSA Election Regulations, a member of the Graduate Student Association may appeal against the result of this election by contacting a member of the Electoral Tribunal within two weeks of the declaration of the election result.
Download attachment(s):
[ University Council Declaration of Result ]
From little things, big things grow? The Faculties of Land and Environment and VCA and Music face budgetary and administrative restrictions that could damage the quality of graduate teaching and learning, according to GSA Council
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"I was sickened to see not 1 but 10 Melbourne University ads for open day on prime time television on Sunday evening. Not only is it a colossal waste of money, it will not attract students when the University is making more and more cuts to teaching staff. Students want access to staff who are not overworked and underpaid."
This quote is from an email sent by Ms Kelly Donati, a graduate student at the University of Melbourne. But let's start at the beginning...
Read more >
Posted in:
Elections,
News
Nominations for the graduate student representative member of University Council for 2010, closed on Friday, 7 August 2009. The following three graduate students have nominated:
Alexander White
Tammi Jonas
Zoe Edwards
This election will be conducted by a postal ballot to all currently enrolled graduate students. Ballot papers will be sent to the home addresses that graduate students have recorded with the University. Papers should be received by Monday, 7 September 2009.
The nomination period for the 2010 Graduate Student Association Council was extended to Friday, 14 August 2009 and fourteen graduate students have been declared elected by the Returning Officer, Ms. Phillippa Heskett.
Download attachment(s):
[ GSA University Council Ballot Paper Position ]
[ GSA University Council Nominations Received 14 August 09 ]
[ GSA Council Nominations Received 7 August 09 ]
[ GSA University Council Nominations ]
GSA Recommendations
The GSA recommends that:
- funding for scholarships and for student support services be
increased in order to meet the increasing demand of a growing
international student cohort;
- international student visa costs be reduced to make them comparable with other countries;
- international student visa conditions be revised in order to
allow for more leniency for students whose visas are revoked or those
who wish to have their visa extended;
- public transport concessions be granted to all international
students, regardless of which state they reside in, or which course
they are studying."
Click the picture or the link below to see the GSA's full submission
Download attachment(s):
[ GSA Submission Senate Inquiry - Welfare of International Students ]
Fair Fares Rally - 2 pm, Wednesday 2 September 2009, Outside the State Library of Victoria
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During the winter holidays, the Fair Fares campaign has been given a new breath of life. The Graduate Student Association should be proud of its efforts in Semester One to launch and sustain a public campaign demanding public transport concessions for international and graduate students. The petition campaign we coordinated resulted in over 10,000 students’ and supporters’ signatures that were presented to a representative of the Premier during a successful protest. The petition was the centrepiece of the Fair Fares campaign and gave thousands of students a voice, where previously that voice had been muffled and muted. In
the cover letter I wrote with Melbourne University Overseas Students Service (MUOSS) President, Sarah Quek, we spelled out the compelling case for transport concession equality.
Read more...
Download attachment(s):
[ Letter to Premier John Brumby about the Concession Card Campaign (PDF format) ]
[ Table of eligibility for concession cards by CAPA (PDF format) ]
[ Poster for Fair Fares Rally 2 September 2009 ]
The Call for Papers for
Traffic 11 has now closed and while
we are no longer accepting article submissions, we are still seeking book reviewers.
We're also planning a 'best-of'
Traffic edition, drawing together the most engaging papers from the past ten issues.
GSA welcomes Universities Australia Call for International Student Transport Concessions
GSA President condemns police response to Indian student attacks
GSA President condemns police response to Indian student attacks
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The University of Melbourne Graduate Student Association
has today applauded the decision by Indian international students to
publicly protest against racist violence in Melbourne. A protest rally
and march to State Parliament has been called for tomorrow (31/05) by the Federation of Indian Students Australia (FISA,
www.fisa.org.au).
GSA President Paul Coats said “It is appalling that Victoria Police
refuse to acknowledge the racism that is inherent in violent attacks
against up to 70 Indian students in the last 12 months- they have
become part of the problem, not the solution.” Coats added, “it is now
up to the Indian students themselves to mobilise and show that they are
not the deserving victims the police seem to make them out to be.”
Download attachment(s):
[ Media Release (PDF) ]
Rally on the steps of the SLV
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About a thousand university staff and supporters rallied in Melbourne on Thursday, 21 May.
It was part of a 24-hour statewide strike over wages and conditions that disrupted five universities - Deakin, Melbourne, Monash, RMIT and Swinburne universities. Latrobe were set to take action on 28 May.
As well, Hawthorn Learning joined the action and the University of Tasmania walked out in what was said to be the first strike there in 20 years.
About 250 marched down from the University of Melbourne.
Download attachment(s):
[ Verity Burgmann speech at NTEU Rally ]
"What do we want? - FAIR FARES!! When do we want them - NOW!!"
"Full Fair - NOT FAIR!!"
(Chants from the crowd at the GSA 'Fair Fares' Rally, Wednesday 29/04/09)
The Fair Fares rally moves towards the city.
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Over 250 students and supporters gathered on the steps of state
parliament last Wednesday (29/04) to send a loud and vibrant message
that Graduate and International students need 'Fair Fares'. Earlier
that day graduate students had gathered in front of the Graduate Centre
at the University of Melbourne to participate in the associations
Annual General Meeting, at which a vote was taken unanimously in
support of the GSA campaign.
Download attachment(s):
[ Article in Sydney University's Honi Soit Issue 8-09 ]
The message coming back from Masters coursework students at this University is that class sizes of more than 50 students are just too big for a seminar. Do you agree? Come and discuss strategies for reducing our class sizes and increasing the quality of education at this GSA public consultation forum around the topic, ‘Class sizes: they’re just too big!’
Date: Monday 27 April
Time: 5:30 for a 6 pm start
Venue: Gryphon Gallery, Graduate Centre (1888 Building)
CAPA President Nigel Palmer writes
to affiliates of the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations,
with an update on postgraduate eligibility for the Training and
Learning Bonus, as part of the Household Stimulus Package. We publish an edited version below:
Just a brief update regarding postgraduate eligibility for the Federal Government’s Household Stimulus Package.
Read more...
The Graduate Student Association encourages all students who wish to
show their solidarity with the people of Palestine to get involved in
the
Students for Gaza campaign group. President Paul Coats regularly attends along with other GSA reps.
Students for Gaza meets every Tuesday at 12:30pm on the 2nd floor of Union House.
Contact Paul Coats for more information:
president@gsa.unimelb.edu.au
And to really show your support, join in during Palestine Solidarity Week 30 March to 3 April
'Postgraduate and international students now pay, for example, the
full cost of a zone 1 monthly ticket ($109.60), while local
undergraduate students pay HALF that.'
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'A spokesman for Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky said the system
was fair, and ensured that students "IN GENUINE NEED" were given
travel discounts.' [The Age, Wednesday Feb 25 2009, 6, emphases added]
The system is NOT fair.
A University of Melbourne graduate student signs the public transport concession petition
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Victoria does not grant travel concessions to postgraduate students, and is one of only two states that do not grant travel concessions to international students.
Sign the GSA petition (PDF petition download attached below), and then get your fellow graduate students, friends, colleagues or family to sign it. Return signed petitions to the GSA reception, Graduate Centre.
Or sign this petition on the web
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/fairfares/
Get involved with the campaign, contact GSA President Paul Coats
president@gsa.unimelb.edu.au
Download attachment(s):
[ Download Petition.pdf ]
Picture from the Red Cross Website
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The Councillors, Office-Bearers and Staff of GSA have been shocked and dismayed at the devastation and loss of life resulting from bushfires across Victoria over the last week. Along with hundreds of innocent victims, whom we mourn, we also understand that one University of Melbourne students and two staff members have been killed.
We strongly encourage graduate students to assist in whatever way possible. The GSA has already donated $5000 to the Bushfire Appeal fund, and we suggest that graduate students might be able to help in the following ways...
