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<div class="entry-header"><h1 class="gmail-post-title entry-title">Students’ Council renews advocacy policy on international student issues</h1>
<h2 class="entry-sub-title">The new policy includes several new points, including one on English language requirements</h2>
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<p><span style="font-weight:400">The Students’ Union is revisiting the document outlining their stance on international student issues.</span></p>
<p>On September 18, Students’ Council passed the first reading of a new
version of their political policy on internationalization, which will be
used to guide their advocacy for international student concerns.
Council voted unanimously to approve the policy.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">SU political policies outline the main goals of the organization’s advocacy efforts. The </span><span style="font-weight:400"><a href="https://www.thegatewayonline.ca/2017/03/students-council-intl-student-pols/">current internationalization policy</a></span><span style="font-weight:400"> is set to expire in April of 2020. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Stephen Raitz, Student Council’s
policy committee chair, said the SU decided to revisit the policy to
ensure it was up to date with international students concerns. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">“International students have unique
needs,” Raitz said. “More and more of them are facing hurdles to their
education… We need to be meeting these [challenges] head on.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">According to Raitz, universities in
Canada have begun to rely more on international student enrolment. He
added that after last year’s </span><span style="font-weight:400"><a href="https://www.thegatewayonline.ca/2018/02/int-tuition-rise-by-3-14-pcent/">international student tuition increase</a></span> of 3.14 per cent<span style="font-weight:400">, it is becoming more important for the SU to proactively defend international student interests.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">“The proportion of international
students on campus is increasing,” Raitz said. “Our policy recognizes
this while working to have their needs met in a predictable and
transparent manner.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Three resolutions have been added to the new internationalization policy, including:</span></p>
<ul><li style="font-weight:400"><span style="font-weight:400">Refusing to support any increases in English language requirements without consulting international students.</span></li><li style="font-weight:400"><span style="font-weight:400">Advocating to raise the student aid cap set by the federal government for international students.</span></li><li style="font-weight:400"><span style="font-weight:400">Advocating that the university provide trauma-informed support services for international students.</span></li></ul>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Of the three new included resolutions,
Council debated whether to support increases in English language
requirements. These requirements are instituted by the university to
ensure international students are properly prepared and have a
proficient level of language comprehension before they arrive to study.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Board of governors representative Levi
Flaman said he’s heard from international students saying they are not
opposed to increases in English language requirements because it ensures
they’re ready to perform well in a university environment where English
may not be their first language.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">“English language requirements are not
really designed to keep these students out, but more to keep them in,”
Flaman said. “If somebody skirts by [the requirement level] and get in,
in a semester… they realize that they cannot understand professors
well.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Native studies councillor Nathan
Sunday said that the international students he consulted said they do
not approve of increases to English requirements. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">“International students said they
wanted this [policy resolution] in here,” Sunday said. “If any time an
English language requirement is brought up, international students
should be given an opportunity to have their say.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">The previous iteration of the</span> <span style="font-weight:400">internationalization
policy included advocating the federal government to increase the
number of permanent residencies for undergraduate students issued under
the </span><span style="font-weight:400"><a href="http://www.canadianimmigration.net/immigration/experience-class/">Canadian Experience Class Program</a></span>,<span style="font-weight:400">
and to issue multiple-entry visas to all international students. Raitz
said these resolutions were dropped from the internationalization policy
to be included instead under the upcoming student employment policy.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">While the majority of the drafting and
research was completed by last year’s policy committee, Raitz said the
remainder of the work was left to this year’s council.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">“This policy covers us and
international students in a longer term mentality,” Raitz said. “We can
look to provide for them better now.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">After passing first reading, the
proposed policy will now head to policy committee to incorporate
amendments. It will be presented to council for a second reading where
it will be finalized.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">“The work that was done to update this policy has only made it stronger,” Raitz said. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">The next meeting of Students’ Council is on October 2 at Augustana Campus</span></p></div>
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div></div>