National Liaison Committee for International Students (NLC), the national peak body for all International Students, congratulates NLC National Convenor, JHOWRY Manish, and NLC Acting Convenor Postgraduate, JOSHI Prashant, on the success of attending the International Student Roundtable.

Mr JHOWRY and Mr JOSHI were two of only 31 International Students selected to participate at the International Student Roundtable held in Canberra on 14 and 15 September 2009.

Over 1300 International Students from institutions all across Australia applied.

In early August 2009, Deputy Prime Minister Julia GILLARD announced the International Students Roundtable to complement the Government’s proposed amendments to immediately strengthen the Education Services for Overseas Students (ESOS) Act and inform the review of the legislation currently being undertaken by the Hon Bruce BAIRD.

The roundtable is one of many initiatives to further enhance the quality and sustainability of Australian international education.

These include a National International Student Strategy under development by the Council of Australian Governments, which will be implemented by the Ministerial Council on Tertiary Education and Employment.

Mr JHOWRY said, “I enjoyed the discussions with my fellow International Students. The selection process for applicants was well done, as there was a wide spectrum of International Students with diverse backgrounds. We were all from different ethnicities, countries, education sectors, age, and gender.”

“I would like to thank the facilitators who did a very good job in providing us with guidance and support,” he said.

Mr JOSHI said, “This Roundtable was a good initiative by the Federal Government. I hope that the Roundtable communiqué, which has the combined input from all participants, will be implemented by all levels of government, and that our efforts will result in follow-up actions being taken from our recommendations.”