A group of York students has won the opportunity to have their very own I-phone application developed after winning The App Challenge final, held at the Ron Cooke Hub on Wednesday, January 18.
YUSU Welfare officer Bob Hughes has warned students to be vigilant after a student loans phishing scam has been revealed.
Her Majesty the Queen will be visiting York on Maundy Thursday, 5th April, as part of the 800th anniversary of York’s Charter for the traditional “Royal Maundy” ceremony.
A flood caused by a heating system “failure” forced the university IT services to shut down many essential systems on Sunday night, causing problems for many students on the eve of their exams and assignment due-dates.
The newly named International Students Association will now be more closely connected to YUSU and the Graduate Students’ Association (GSA). Both organisations will have ex-officio representatives on the committee, meaning they will be able to sit on the committee, but will have no voting powers.
The ISA’s involvement with YUSU and the GSA was stressed by ISA President Rosie Li: “We think that the relationship between ISA, YUSU and GSA is important and we want to improve it.”
YUSU President Anne-Marie Canning echoed Li’s sentiments and said: "Certainly the ISA officers have had ex-officio places on our Senate and Welfare Committees so I think it'd be great to work closer together and also co-ordinate our issues a bit more."
These changes have come about as a result of the OSA overhauling their constitution in a bid to improve the society. Li explained that “the previous constitution was quite out-of-date, so we figured it was time for a change”.
ISA Secretary Abi Cahak said that the differences in the bands for tuition fees often causes confusion as to what ‘overseas’ actually means.
Cahak told The Yorker: “The name OSA implies that the association is non-European, so that’s why we decided to change the name to International Students’ Association.”
A criticism of the group is that many EU students were unaware that they are in fact members. Former OSA president Marco McAllister was unaware that he was a member when he first joined the university.
ISA hopes that as a result of the constitutional change more students will be involved with the association. Online voting has already proved successful in increasing member participation and will now be used in all voting.
Other amendments to the constitution include the introduction of a Middle East representative. Although this proved controversial, Cahak stressed: “students from the Middle East were culturally under represented in the structure that we had before.”
The OSA's Facebook group, provides information for students about upcoming ISA related events click
Which EU student is unaware that they are a member? Each of us received a letter stating so when we arrived at York, and we get emails from the OSA (now ISA) on a regular basis.
Also, regarding 'Overseas' and 'International' - if anything, I would think that 'International' would be more alienating, as the University distinguishes between 'International' and 'EU' students. Perhaps the choice of 'overseas' was made for this reason in the first place?
When I got to York in 2005, EU students did not receive anything from the OSA before they arrived, and not everybody got emails (I think I started receiving them in the spring term. Last year I was OSA president and with some help from Fran Colins, International Student Support Coordinator, we managed to convince the university to start sending material to EU as well as Overseas (non-EU) students. For this reason, last year things improved slightly, and last summer was the first time since the creation of the OSA that EU students received any material from the OSA before they got to York.
Unfortunately your information appears to be incorrect, in fact the university separates students into three categories: Home, EU, and Overseas. International means non-Home, or EU and Overseas. The choice of the term Overseas was made many years ago, when the OSA was created, and there were no fee differentials between EU and non EU students, so Overseas meant non-Home. It is to go back to this more inclusive meaning of the Organisation's name that I proposed the name change, together with all the other changes.
York is the only university in the country with an institutionalised organisation that caters for international students, which is a great opportunity for us all. With benefits, however, come also duties, and it is our duty as international students in York to maintain our institutions effective at all times. The time has probably come now for us to lay the foundations for a stronger and more effective student organisation catering for international students, and it is in this framework that the changes to the constitution were introduced. This is a first step, the product of two years of deep analysis and questioning of the existing structures. Much is yet to be done, and my hope is that the new committee, which will be elected next month, will make further progress and improve an organisation that today is still too weak and too removed from the student population it seeks to represent. Rome wasn't built in a day.
I think it's more that some people can be unsure about whether or not they are entitled to get involved with OSA/ISA things. I didn't live in England for many years before coming to university but I'm English, so I've never really known where I stand. I think the issue might be whether the distinction lies in how the student feels or whether there are clear cut 'rules' about who can and can't be a member.
So previously someone from Northern Ireland was overseas but is now no longer International ... someone's gonna have to break this gently to Jonny :(
I would just like to respond to the two previous posts:
Firstly, membership in the ISA is automatic for all overseas and EU students. However, the new constitution contains a clause in which any UK/Home student can apply for membership if they wish too. This also extends to spouses/children of current members, members of staff, as well as previous members of the ISA. It is with this clause that we hope to incorporate all people who identify with the goals/interests of the ISA. Our goals are both integration as well as representation, and anyone who feels passionately about such objectives is more than welcome to join up!
Secondly, as far as my knowledge goes, students from Northern Ireland pay UK/Home fees and therefore were never classified as overseas.
Please bear in mind that the membership structure the OSA had previously has remained the same (other than the application system for non-EU and non-overseas students mentioned above). The name change was merely a way to include EU students under the umbrella of the association. Previously, the name 'Overseas Students' Association' placed a separation between EU and overseas students, seemingly excluding EU students (at least in name but not in actual practice). This name change was merely a move to bring the name of the association in sync with the composition of its membership.
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