How do we ensure under 18 students receive a positive student experience, meet our duty of care requirements and comply with legislative obligations?
In response to the significant interest in all issues related to under 18 international students, ISANA and IEAA are organising the inaugural Under 18 Masterclass.
A series of webinars will take place during October 2020 to address key issues associated with welfare, support and risk management of under 18 international students, hosted by ISANA in conjunction with IEAA.
Experienced professionals will share good practice on each of the key topics. Participants will be encouraged to discuss challenges and explore solutions.
- Dates: 7, 14, 21 & 28 October 2020
- Time: 12 Midday – 1.30 PM (Canberra/ Melbourne/Sydney time)
- Cost: $30 ISANA (incl NZ) and IEAA Members (includes one or all sessions) | $50 Non – members (includes one or all sessions)
#4 Wednesday, 28 October
Student Welfare and Online Support
Presenters: Nathan Pugliese and Jennifer Walsh
Nathan and Jennifer will discuss best practice ideas for delivering online support services to students and share resources they have developed. Hear about their management of under 18 welfare issues, both onshore and offshore, including care packages, engagement activities, strategies for dealing with mental health and how to engender social inclusion in a COVID environment.
Nathan Pugliese is the Manager, Strategy & Performance for the Department of Education, International (DEi). He is committed to the future vision of international education and supporting young people to thrive to our changing world. As an educational leader he is motivated by the Department’s values of building a better future for Every student (State Schools Improvement Strategy 2020-2024) and Queensland’s Advancing education action plan. In his current position he is responsible for the development and growth of overseas student program activities, ensuring a positive financial return, successful student outcomes, student engagement and business performance. As an advocate for student welfare and support he has been instrumental in the development of initiatives like 1800 QSTUDY, water safety and Your Passport to Queensland. Previously to this role he held leadership positions in both Queensland and International schools. Nathan’s other roles include the Chairman for the Queensland Student Innovation and Entrepreneurs Alliance (QSIEA). In this role he has brought together some of the best of Queensland’s start-up community to create the next generation of entrepreneurs, with a focus on international and domestic participation in a first ever state-wide Student Innovation Challenge, Gen[in]. His educational background includes a Master of Business Administration (MBA), Bachelor of Education and Bachelor of Arts. At the core of his leadership is a passion to work together with like-minded professionals to inspire the growth mind-set of young people.
Jennifer (Jen) Walsh is currently in the role of Senior Manager Student Accommodation and Experience at Trinity College, the University of Melbourne. Jen provides leadership and management of accommodation services for international students to ensure consistently high standards of student safety, security and wellbeing within a range of approved accommodation options for students under the age of 18. Jen champions the Student Experience team to lead and assist the development of a coherent wellbeing strategy across Student Services with particular focus on student activities such as virtual orientation, valedictory events and student clubs and societies. In her previous position as Vice President of ISANA Vic/Tas (2017-2019) Jen, in partnership with the University of Melbourne and funded by the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions, completed ‘Building Positive Homestay Experiences’ research in 2020 which can be found here.
#2 Wednesday, 14 October
Accommodation Options for Under 18 students
Presenters: Patrick Ashe and Sally Picot
Patrick and Sally will present a comprehensive discussion on how they have managed their Under 18 students in a range of accommodation options (Homestay, residential colleges and PBSAs). They will share how they adapted their monitoring and welfare services to suit a COVID environment and what they learned in the process. You will also hear about their implementation strategies in managing welfare issues.
Patrick Ashe has managed the Monash College Guardianship Service since 2015 and is responsible for the planning and implementation of programs designed to assist under 18 students from pre-arrival to turning 18. In this role, which encompasses operations oversight, strategic planning, retention and transition planning and critical incident management, Patrick leads a team that has provided guardianship services to almost 3600 students.
Patrick also manages the Monash College Student Engagement team which focuses on providing students with a sense of connectedness and opportunities to develop their social capital through a wide range of events and activities to help them transition to Monash University.
Sally Picot has extensive experience in the premium hotel and Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) industry having worked in the sector for over 15 years. Returning back to Australia in 2016 after spending 8 years with the Nido Collection in London, Sally has since been with Scape in the capacity of Group General Manager of Sales with her responsibility recently extending across all Scape, Atira and Urbanest brands. The Scape Group is now Australia’s leader in student accommodation with over 12,000 operational beds across Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide and have provided hundreds of under-18 students with an inspirational and safe place to call home.
#1 Wednesday, 7 October
Compliance and Legislative Requirements for Under 18 Welfare Arrangements
Presenter: Mariana Lane
Our normal operating environment has changed. Under 18 international students are studying on and offshore. How do we ensure compliance with our standard 5 obligations? During this session we will discuss key issues such as managing the CAAW and CoE information in PRISMS; ensuring our compliance obligations are met during holiday breaks and longer than normal gaps between courses; and considerations for student transition back to Australian when the borders re-open.
The Assistant Director, ESOS Systems and Support Team from the Department of Education, Skills and Employment will present an overview of the PRISMS system and be available for questions on under 18 PRISMS records management.
Mariana Lane is the Project Manager (International Education) at Independent Schools Queensland. She works collaboratively with independent schools (and more widely with non-government schools) to support their international programs, endeavours and engagement.