FEATURE: Australian Pacific student clubs struggle

Pacific Islands student clubs in Australia are struggling to survive.

Their clubs in Melbourne are an important part of their study experience, helping them feel more at home in a new and different country.

The overseas students have suffered a lack of support as money and visa difficulties preventing previous club members staying in Australia, to keep the clubs going from year to year.

Many overseas students have been hit by a spate of collapses and closures of shonky colleges and several scandals involving Australia's tertiary education market.

Maria Skog

Last Updated: Wed, 25 Aug 2010 09:53:00 +1000

A member of the Pasifika Solidarity Student Club at Victoria University in Melbourne, Regina Gatu says that the intention of such clubs is to provide South-Pacific students with more than just a social network.

"We see it as a vehicle. There is a lot of international students and they have a lot on their hands," she said.

"With students from the Pacific, I guess we come from the same background, so what I was thinking is for the club to not only look at linking the students together, but getting them settled in, even which clothes to buy for each season...get them to link up with organisations for internships and that sort of thing."

There are 570 Pacific Islands higher education students in Melbourne from almost all the countries in the region.

By comparison, the Chinese clubs with 129,000 students, put them in a much better position than those with smaller numbers.

Marlene Fernandes, who until recently was international students co-ordinator at Swinburne University, says she encouraged Pacific students to join other clubs rather than set up their own.

"Even I tell the students, to mix around, not in a group because they don't get the practice of talking English. It beats the purpose of coming to Australia."

A common problem is maintaining the clubs when the students visas expire, and they have to move back to their home countries.

"What is in the contract, is that you do your studies, then you have to go back to your home countries and spend two years before you can actually come back," said Ms Gatu.

Scandals caused by false information and dodgy course programs have also had an impact on the overseas student clubs.

Marlene Fernandes, says this is because the visa applications can be confusing, and some colleges and migration agents give misleading information.

"So many students that come here are given the wrong information. Institutes that were had to close down," she said.

"They bring students and they say your visa will guarantee you permanent residence."

Current National President of the Asia-Pacific Media Club at The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Meenakshi Balan, says even though the clubs receive university grants, this does not finance them long term.

She says that the previous president was busy finding jobs, resulting in a near collapse of the one year old club.

The Melbourne University Scandinavian Club, which had very few students, was founded in 1989 and is still running. Its growth fuelled an international exchange cooperation agreement between universities in Australia and Scandinavian countries.

The growth of this club is also helped by the money these students get - an annual $AU20,000 to $AU33,000 thousand dollars in government scholarships.

Ms Balan says the South-Pacific students don't have that much money or spare time to spend on their clubs.

"Obviously people are looking after jobs these days - being part time or casual and the main factors become money. And considering that we live in Melbourne, the living expenses are very high."

Regina Gatu agrees with Ms Balan.

"The universities don't give free hands as such unless you have a really good proposals and funds in place with a proper activity to be implemented then it gets supported at that level."

Because there are so few Pacific students at Australian Universities, with very limited resources, it is hard to make their clubs self-sustaining.

This makes it difficult for them if they want to develop the club into a local and international South-Pacific Student Network.

Language News