4 April 2009

David WILKINS
National General Secretary
National Deputy President

National Union of Students Inc
Suite 64, Trades Hall
54 Victoria Street
Carlton South VIC 3053


Dear Mr Wilkins,

I am writing to you on behalf of the Board of Directors of National Liaison Committee for International Students Ltd (NLC), in response to your letter dated 2 March 2009.

National Liaison Committee for International Students, more widely known as NLC, is the peak representative body for all International Students in Australia.

NLC was formed in 1986 through the amalgamation of various state-based International Student representative organisations across Australia to combat the introduction of the Overseas Student full-fee paying program.

Affiliated under NLC, Overseas Students Association (OSA) serves as a common platform for campus based Overseas Students representative organisations with operations at major Australian Universities, TAFE Colleges, Government Schools and Private Institutions.

In the post VSU environment, NLC has gone through some fundamental structural changes to ensure our sustainable operations.

In the wake of JIAO Dan's tragic death in October 2007, NLC and OSA joined forces to address the safety concerns together.

The common vision of NLC and OSA led to the establishment of STUDENTeam through the merger of existing teams from both organisations.

On 1 May 2008, NLC was officially registered as a non-profit public company with Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

Under the new legal structure, NLC is the central platform to serve our NLCommunity: the International Students Community.

On national level, NLC is the voice of the International Students Community for advocacy and lobbying.

On campus level, NLC fully supports the operations of OSA to provide much-needed student services and organise event-based activities for International Students.

For the past 23 years, NLC has been working with all stakeholders: education institutions, government agencies and relevant organisations in the Australian international education industry to build a strong International Students Community.

Now we are even more determined and prepared to play the vital role as the peak representative body for all International Students and build a stronger NLCommunity in the years ahead.

As a public company by guarantee, NLC is governed by a Board of Directors. The Board of Directors is made up of representatives from member organisations supporting the NLC national platform. The current Board consists of the following Directors:

-    Mr SHANG J. Master (Public Officer and Chairman)
-    Mr PANG YenZhang Eric (Executive Director)
-    Ms SINGH Dolores (National President)
-    Mr CAO Jia (National Secretary)
-    Mr JHOWRY Manish (National Convenor)

NLC National, State and Territory Convenors are International Student representatives elected from campus OSA operations. OSAs from each State and Territory elect their respective State and Territory Convenors. The State and Territory Convenors then elect a National Convenor, who is an ex-officio on the NLC Board of Directors. The current office bearers are:

National Convenor

-    Mr JHOWRY Manish (Convenor for Western Australian)

State Convenors

-    Ms GU Fiona (Convenor for New South Wales)
-    Mr TOAHA Mohammed (Convenor for Victoria)
-    Mr SUBRAMANIAM Syamalan (Convenor for Queensland)
-    Mr JHOWRY Manish (Convenor for Western Australian)
-    Mr MORAGOLLE Dilan (Convenor for South Australia)
-    Mr TAN Marcus (Convenor for Australian Capital Territory)

Elections are in progress to elect the Convenors for Tasmania and Northern Territory.

The Board wishes to stress the fact that National Liaison Committee for International Students Ltd (NLC) is an independent organisation from National Union of Students Inc (NUS) both legally and financially.

NLC requests that your website: [About NUS / The NUS Overview / NUS is the peak representative body of all tertiary students in Australia] be amended. This is false and misleading information as in the Higher Education Sector, NUS only represents domestic undergraduate students.

On NLC website, the statement regarding NLC managing the International Students Department of NUS has already been removed accordingly.

As from 1 May 2008, National Liaison Committee for International Students Ltd (NLC) is the central platform to serve our International Students Community with over 500,000 students from all around the world in all sectors across Universities, TAFE Colleges, Government Schools and Private Institutions.

NLC National Office is approaching the top management of all major educational institutions for direct support of the independent and autonomous OSA campus operations.

The face to face meetings are being arranged between Vice-Chancellors and NLCampus Representatives to discuss about the OSAssembly Election process and address the concerns and issues across NLCommunity's five main areas of operations: Culture, Representation, Compliance, Welfare and Leadership.

We trust the aforementioned response answers your queries. If NUS is supportive of democratic International Students representation, it should stop its current national office bearer and staff member from engaging in destructive behaviour that defame and damage the reputation of NLC as the peak representative body for International Students Community.

Please find our publication: A $50 Million Question: Why International Students need campus OSA NOW? attached for your reading. You can have it distributed to all your campus presidents for proper attention.


CHOO Mark
Communication Executive
Public Company Secretary
National Liaison Committee For International Students Ltd