Khanh Tran:
Please introduce yourself, what your position is and your preferred pronouns.
Yeganeh Solt:
Thank you for asking about my pronouns, by the way, so my pronouns are she/her. My position is President of the Council for International Students in Australia (CISA). I was appointed after running in the elections at the beginning of last year. I’m sorry, no beginning of this year is the best way to save. I studied at the University of Adelaide.
Khanh Tran:
One of the things I have arisen that we are aware of, in terms of the Council of International Students Australia, is that in the past year and up till now, at least on the public record, more than five strong unions have disaffiliated from you.
Some of them have raised very serious grievances about your inactivity, the previous President Oscar Ong and electoral processes in the case of the University of Melbourne Students’ Union [UMSU] who said that they have not heard nothing from CISA so far. Is CISA largely irrelevant to international students and what are you doing to fix this?
Yeganeh Solt:
Quietly, literally, I think the opposite I think, when my vision was I saw what Sisa was, and Sisa was very, very bluntly, an opportunity for people to gain access to I think, politics and politicians and I wanted it to be the opposite. I wanted it to be grassroots advocacy for international students at the base level. In terms of dis affiliations we haven’t had any this year because I haven’t.
So in my whole entire term I have not sent out any membership fees. We haven’t done any of that. So I don’t think they would disaffiliate or they can call it a disaffiliation because we haven’t actually sent out membership fee requirements this year at all. So if they wish to disaffiliate they haven’t shared it with me personally.
So as president between the beginning of 2023 I have not heard any responses from any student unions expressing that they wanted to disaffiliate anything that would have probably been shared with the past president.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a connection with any of the previous presidents to be able to ask them about any of that. So I don’t have any connection with any kind of person that would have ran in the previous years. I didn’t really get much of a handover either. Most of the emails were not there so I couldn’t even really look through emails and try and see what could have been shared. I came into CISA entirely blind. I had no information about what had happened between people. I had no information about why we were losing members or what the memberships were or who [our members] were even. I didn’t have any information such as that.
In a way, it’s been positive because I’ve been able to see where the problems were. And I’m trying to transform CISA or save it, if that makes sense because I don’t think we should lose a student union owners union and student for students is so important, and it’s what I’m very very passionate about. To see something like CISA without any effort to be able to help the students – it’s just not something that I wanted to see. So to answer your question about memberships, we haven’t sent anything else this year so I wouldn’t know who wants to disaffiliate.
Khanh Tran:
Okay. Cool. I guess just touch base on that. We do hear from student unions, who for example, one of them said in response to the membership situation at the moment at Griffith University Postgraduate Students’ Association [GUPSA] said that they said that they the last time that they sent a request for an invoice was May 2022 last year, so that was the previous presidency.
Yeganeh Solt:
Wouldn’t it be 2021?
Khanh Tran:
No, 2022. That’s last year, not 2021. I guess two questions arising from that. Why haven’t CISA sent out membership fees, invoices and requirements? Has there been any communication with members so far?
And then there [are] student unions that have not actively disaffiliated [who] said that they feel a sense of being passively disaffiliated by not having any communication from CISA. What do you have to say about that?
Yeganeh Solt:
To be honest I can only speak from my term so what happened is all the emails, everything in terms of members’ information, we don’t have access to any conversations that the previous student unions would have had with any of the past presidents.
Everything has been erased. So I have no kind of figure of what could have even gone on. What I can say is no student union has reached out to me at all so if they have any kind of concern, I cannot know that they’ve disaffiliated or I cannot really know that we’ve disaffiliated. I don’t know that they’re there. If I don’t have information about our members, if I heard about it, then I would have done something about it. But there is no solid way for me to even know that they’re there in the first place.
There is one way for me, I guess, to figure out and it’s for me to I guess email every single student union nationally and ask them if they were ever affiliated with us, and whether they had any concerns which is probably one of the only ways that I could have figured it out but otherwise no one has had any conversations with me this year.
If anything, I haven’t spoken to unions but we’ve had lots of contact with students at the base level. My phone number for the longest time was on the website, but then we had to take the website down because I felt like it was just not updated information. The platform was hard to navigate. I don’t see how we could benefit students by having that kind of platform [CISA’s website]. So it was our decision to take it down, remake it and then put it back up with update information.
But my phone number was there and the reason it was there is because I wanted students to call me directly so that I could help them as soon as we got the message whether it was stress related, whether it was something that was going on within the universities or how to get in contact with their faculties. That’s kind of my way of making sure that we kept the advocacy and CISA going even if we didn’t have the solid foundations that we were supposed to have.
Khanh Tran:
To touch base on what you said slightly earlier, you said that one of the issues that you’re facing is that student unions that are members or rather many of them former members have not reached out to you.
Is it not so much the responsibility of CISA as an executive to proactively reach out to members particularly as you noted that there wasn’t an ideal handover. In reaction to that, why hasn’t there been communication from CISA to explain the situation or request memberships or figuring out the membership question?
Yeganeh Solt:
Well, to be honest, in order for us to do that I feel like I was to reach out to members right? I wanted to reach out to them with something in my hand with a promise of: “We’ve changed this and we change that.”
I’ve only been here one year and one year is a very long time in international student years. And the reason why I say that is because we’re limited by the amount of volunteering hours I can have because I have to have a part time job.
One more thing that I will say and I don’t mean to sound bitter at all, but I do have an understanding of people in previous positions like mine or not doing a lot of part-time work while also being President. Unfortunately, that’s not the case for me. I do have to work part-time to be able to put food on the table at a basic level.
So for me it’s very much for all the executives this year, we have part-time work, we work nine to five and then we have this five times just to kind of put this out there. Now this is partially why we’ve been taking so long to be able to get everything back up. By the time we recuperate, a structure to our organisation, a website, keep relationships going with organisations that have helped students. That was something that was important to us because we wanted to make sure that, for example, the Ombudsman or Headspace, we wanted to keep in contact with them because we actively refer students to them.
So while doing all of that, I think that additional part of reaching out to the unions has very honestly not [been] something that I’ve done actively because I have nothing to offer them.
If I was to go up to them now and say: “Oh, we want money but at the moment, we’re still working on ourselves.” I wanted to have something good and solid before I reach back out to them. But at the same time again, I have to say this, that it had to be a two-way street. It has to be a two way street. If they [member student unions] were ever concerned about something that I could do for them, or CISA could do for them. If they didn’t reach out, I just simply wouldn’t know. There’s no way for me to find out that they’re struggling or that they’re unhappy with us because it’s almost like [being] completely blind.
It’s not [that] I don’t want them to, you know, to [not] have that connection to us. But then the fact that I haven’t connected to them is because at the moment what can I genuinely offer them that would be of value.
Khanh Tran:
Okay, touching just now on what you said in terms of the plan going forward. Can you identify at least a few areas of improvement from CISA to its members?
Yeganeh Solt:
Absolutely. Number one is definitely looking forward to a restructure. This is something that we’ve been working on for so long. We’ve needed a lot of assistance from people who know the law to be able to change things, but a reform is coming and it has to do with our membership structure.
It’s something that I feel like and again, correct me if I’m wrong, because I know you’re also involved in student unions. But for me to be able to act like for us to be able to actively advocate for students. We cannot bite the hand that feeds us is how I think about it. If we’re at the moment, our membership structure is a bit willy-nilly. So if we were to have members that we couldn’t actually speak out against if they were doing something that was against our values, then that kind of defeats the entire purpose of CISA as a student union, so a restructure of members.
The membership structure is something big that’s coming, which is also partially why we haven’t sent out any requests, because at the moment we’re looking to reform that and reach out to additional types of members is our focus.
Khanh Tran:
Just to touch on that reform, as I understand it, one of the grievances in which some other stakeholders such as the state government such as the Study Cluster groups. Can you expand more on in terms of your proposal on membership structure? Do you envision something like are you talking about like TAFE, other organisations and private colleges and moving away from university?
Yeganeh Solt:
I’m referring towards expanding, expanding so that we can cover all bases. For example, at the moment, we represent students in TAFE so we have lots of different executives.
At the TAFE level, I’m actively pursuing a relationship with the VET sector, because it’s an international students sector that is so heavily overlooked and it truly does break my heart that we don’t get to see that side of things because we have removed that aspect of possibility of membership. I don’t understand it, you know, how are we supposed to represent all students if we’re cutting out a certain aspect of students. So, first of all, expanding is a big one.
Next, we’re looking at [the] grassroots level. So we’re looking at the ability for a student to executively choose to become a member of CISA without needing their university to be affiliated is the next step that we’re thinking of because ultimately, we do represent students, we don’t represent educational sectors, we simply represent students and that’s the membership structure that we’re moving towards.
And the more that I understand about it [proposed membership reforms], the more I’ll be able to say, but at the moment, this is the kind of structure we’re looking at. [Being] at grassroots level is probably the best way.
Khanh Tran:
Connected to that because there are obviously going to be some of these reforms are going to be quite significant. Are you envisioning charging a membership fee to individual members as well? If not, what are the benefits that members who do pay, for example, University, TAFE, or VET receive that individuals do not get?
Yeganeh Solt:
I think that one would really depend on how the restructuring goes. This is very much at the beginning of looking at what our future could look like so I wouldn’t be able to physically. If we’re talking about my personal vision, I think it’s different to what reality could look like. So can you maybe help me understand that a little bit more so are you asking about my personal vision of how I would like it to go or?
Khanh Tran:
You mentioned wanting to have grassroots participation in having individuals be able to be members without university affiliation. Will these members have rights in the same way that university members have?
Yeganeh Solt:
To be honest, it would be unfair, if they didn’t. I think every voice is a very important voice in my opinion. So I would, I would hope that they get equal treatment and they get equal attention as they should. International students are the main reason that we’re here in the first place so to not give them equal opportunity would be ridiculous.
Khanh Tran:
I guess the next substantive point that we want to ask is that this year being particularly important surrounding international students but also higher education in general, as you know that the Universities Accord at the moment have a number of recommendations. Why was it that CISA haven’t made submissions or representations yet, at least on the public record with regards to the Universities Accord process?
Yeganeh Solt:
I was there actually, so I got invited, I think only a week before. So I didn’t actually even know about it [the Universities Accord meeting] until a week prior to it actually happening. I may be wrong. I don’t know entirely when I found out about it but I do remember that I was told about the Universities Accord.
There [were] a lot of student unions there. And there was a lot that simply provided commentary in the meeting itself. My understanding was that that was what we’re required to do. Now. I didn’t have any knowledge of what entirely the process wasn’t how it was going to be expanded. One more thing is we were there on the basis of groups. So we were grouped together with different types of groups. And everyone spoke about things that were then taken down, noted down and then we presented it right to the whole entire course.
And that was all that was asked of me physically on the day. So they asked me – is everything okay?
Khanh Tran:
Yeah, we’re fine. We’re good.
Yeganeh Solt:
So on the day, they only simply asked me to be part of this group and then you know, kind of comment on these various things and move forward from there. So that was my understanding of what I had to do now.
I didn’t really see – I went back through my emails because I did understand that, for example, provid[ing] a physical report [to the Universities Accord], right? I looked through my emails, I didn’t really get an email stating that that’s something that I could do.
It sounds a little bit silly, but I just didn’t know that I could do it. However, I also do believe that when I read the report a lot of what I said was there. It wasn’t necessarily part of CISA’s quotes, but a lot of what we talked about was there, a lot of what my input on was there, so we were definitely heard is the main part of it.
Khanh Tran:
I guess, I guess just touching base on that very quickly, because you said that you made compulsory representations in the meeting with the federal government bonds to the universities a court.
I’m pretty sure you’re already well aware that an Interim Report has already come out. Two months ago, three months ago now. Can you tell us what your response to some of the proposals in the interim report are with regard to international students and what your positions are?
Yeganeh Solt:
I think, to be honest, I really do want to talk about my personal feelings. And I think when we’re speaking about this, we’re speaking about the levy, I’m assuming?
Khanh Tran:
The levy charg[es] a fee on international student fees and also a number of other proposals with regards to international students as well.
Yeganeh Solt:
A lot of other proposals. Yeah.
Khanh Tran:
I can tell you [about] some of the key proposals: a levy on international student fees, a diversification of source destinations of international students, soo going away from China as a source of international students. Then number three, increasing admission requirements such as English language requirements and entrance requirements.
Yeganeh Solt:
Let’s start with the number one thing now: increasing the English requirements. This was spoken about and it is really important to know but this was spoken about in the International Education Council, a lot prior to even being submitted to the university.
So for now, my position on this fact was that I needed to see a clearer reasoning behind why this was becoming a requirement. Was there a particular reason we are changing? The way that our universities are structured is becoming harder for students that don’t pass them [or] do well in their studies. Is there a solid reason behind it for this to even be proposed in the first place?
How it was explained to me is that with our kind of progress in the area of English and the universities kind of developing new course structures and developing more difficult courses, at least in their opinion, difficult courses, they needed to update the entry requirements in order for this for it to become an in their worlds.
I do need to find, sorry, I’m trying to be more critical is how I understood it. I think, again, having this like this is one of the difficult parts about this position is I have my personal feelings about it and then I have my CISA feelings.
So my personal feelings about it is the fact that I can only imagine how hard this would hit so many people that are already struggling so much with their English proficiency, and their ability to do well in these really expensive exams. By the way, very expensive exams are now being disheartened by the fact that [students say]: “Oh no, now I need to try even harder and probably fail more exams to be able to get into this uni.”
However, I looked at numbers and looked at some data to understand this a little bit better. And the rate to which students are passing was very close to the heart that they increased it [entrance requirements] to. So although it’s been made harder for some students, it’s been made equivalent to what most students are getting at the moment. Now not again, I’m not entirely sure how to make sense of this information.
You’re an editor, you’re a writer, you would be able to decipher this as much, much better than I would. But this is my understanding of those changes. Does that sound okay?
Khanh Tran:
Yep, that’s fine. I wanted to ask about the levy as well.
Yeganeh Solt:
Again, can I divide it into personal feelings and CISA feelings? Is that okay?
Khanh Tran:
That’s okay.
Yeganeh Solt:
Yeah, so my personal feelings about the levy is because I don’t understand it. I am finding it hard to understand why it’s a requirement. And by the way, I’m because I go to a university that has a lot of international students.
My biggest concern as an international student on a personal level, is that they’re going to increase the fees to be able to then pay their way through the levy. And if this is the case, and I’m talking about if this levy then equals an increase of fees, like an EFTPOS machine, when you’re paying and they tell you [a] 10% surcharge.
If we’re going to be charged to simply study here because we’re an international [student] on top of what we’re already being charged. In which case, I think it’s something very, very heartbreaking for international students. We pay a lot of money already.
At this moment, if I was to compare myself to my domestic counterpart, I am paying insanely high fees. And my biggest concern is if this levy then equals, in any case, if it equals higher fees for students than we’re losing, if it equals, therefore, less spots being offered to students, or making it harder for students to get into university because now there’s less spots, because they don’t want to pay the levy.
We’re losing. I’m finding it very, very difficult to understand the levy. I’m not understanding and I feel like it’s just not being explained in a way that is helping me to at least grasp it. And I didn’t know that the levy was also being mentioned, by the way the levy was never brought up in the main meetings, it was proposed later.
Khanh Tran:
I guess from that point there was a period in which a response to the Interim Report was possible earlier this month – that’s when it was closed – because there was about a two month consultation period. Following the interim report, for example, proposals like the levy face very strong opposition from, say, Group of Eight universities that have disproportionately a lot more international students. Why wasn’t CISA able to provide a direct response to what came out of the Interim Report as a collective?
Yeganeh Solt:
We have provided a lot of responses. I’ve spoken about the levy actively, in all of my meetings, every single one every single opportunity that I get to speak about the levy, I definitely do. I have discussed it openly with a lot of people [and] key decision makers. T
he only reason why I haven’t spoken to the students is because there is no benefit in me trying to explain something that I’m still struggling to understand. And inciting fear, inciting distrust.
Students are struggling as they are, there are so many things that we’re worrying about. If I was to then bring this additional thing onto the table, without understanding if we’re being able to fully explain it to them as to how we’re either going to talk about it or help students through it. There was very little that we could tell the students when it’s still so new.
I do understand that there’s a time period that’s kind of passed. But again, if we go ahead and we bid without understanding something showing outburst. Number one, I do believe that they’re [the Commonwealth government] gonna just exclude us from the conversation. And number two was, I just simply need to understand it.
I need to really speak to the people who are either pro- or against the levy and have them explain it to me and then for me to then tell them my opinions on what could go wrong and wait for them to respond to me similar to what you’re [Honi] doing is if you’re concerned about something, you’re telling me what you’re concerned about. I need to respond and this is prior to sharing anything about it because I really need to understand what they’re doing. It’s the responsible way to go about this.
Khanh Tran:
In terms of NSW, we understand that Study NSW has issues with regards to the governance and then the internal processes within CISA, some of which you’ve already touched on earlier in our conversation. So am I correct to understand that there is a complex relationship between CISA and the Study Clusters at the moment?
Yeganeh Solt:
I think at the moment, the only thing that I would constitute as complex is we feel like our executives are going to be stretched too thin when if someone’s being appointed to a position and CISA as an executive and then is expected to suddenly be on a marketing board, a study board and then comment on this or that and constantly being [in] meetings.
It’s taking away so much time from actual advocacy. Now, one thing that I’m very particular about and you might see, I’m gonna try not to get too emotional about it. I truly believe that the only time that we should be able to comment or comment on issues with Study Clusters, is when we’re expressing concern to the city clusters.
She says not there to help them market with marketing. We’re not there to help them, for example, market Sydney as a study destination. It shouldn’t be our place to do something like that. We’re in a student union. We’re advocates for students.
We’re not here for the glitz and glam and board positions and all that little, you know, the additional stuff that I do know that some past presidents have loved quite a bit. For me, it’s if it doesn’t benefit students, if it [isn’t] talking about student issues, I do not see a benefit to it.
Khanh Tran:
Sorry you cut out just a little bit.
Yeganeh Solt:
No worries. I said if we’re not benefiting students or we’re not advocating for them, I don’t see a benefit in being part of any kind of reference group. If it’s not about student advocacy, because, again, if we want to be marketing or if you want to help with marketing, I do expect to be paid a wage just to keep it out there.
So that’s pretty much it. I think CISA has been given the role of not only finding executives, but then forcing executives to then sit on every single board because that executive lives in Sydney and therefore should be part of everything. I don’t agree with that.
Student volunteers shouldn’t be burnt out simply because they chose to be volunteers and if they really do need to hear student perspectives, there is the University of Sydney SRC, Western Sydney University SRC if they want to hear student perspectives, I highly recommend the contact student unions if they want to hear from only students from Sydney if they don’t care about what I’m talking about nationally. It’s kind of defeating the purpose of me being there in the first place.
Khanh Tran:
Am I correct to understand that you have a disagreement with regard to CISA’s role in engagement with the Study Clusters? Are you saying that the Study Clusters see CISA’s role more as a marketing institution as well and that is one of your disagreements?
Yeganeh Solt:
I’m talking about particular study clusters. I’m not going to name names simply because I have no intention of burning bridges but there are so many study clusters that I have such an amazing relationship with. For example, Study Adelaide, I also might be very, say, biased but Study Adelaide has always had a very lovely relationship. We’ve always had a very amazing relationship. They ask us about student concerns which is what’s important to me.
I feel there is no bad blood between CISA and any Study Cluster at the moment that I know of. I think the only one that I actively know that we have a board position on is Study NSW, which again, is something that I really do have to heavily reconsider moving forward with with our memberships and how that’s gonna continue. But at the moment, our focus is just simply students at the base level. We’re looking over study clusters, we’re looking over agents and agencies. The focus is grassroots students. We’re going to work with the baseline.
Khanh Tran:
Alright, that’s it then. Thank you very much for the conversation once again and have a good day.
Yeganeh Solt:
Okay, awesome. Thank you.
