Ms Debbie Vadasz1, Ms Helen Craig1
1Student Development International; UNSW Sydney, Kensington, Australia
The wellbeing of international students has long been a concern for education providers. Reports such as The Wellbeing of International Students in the City of Sydney released in 2016, highlight a myriad of wellbeing challenges faced by international students. Some of these include adjusting and settling in to a new context, cultural differences, safety and security, social isolation and financial stress. International students can also be under a great deal of pressure by family to achieve good academic results. Addressing all of these concerns is partially managed at an individual level, through one-on-one consultations with international student advisors at Student Development International; UNSW. There are many more students we don’t reach, and who would never come to the attention of our service. The creation of the International Student Advisor (Wellbeing) role with a specific focus on developing programs and initiatives to promote and improve the wellbeing of international students has enabled another means of providing support to this group of students. These initiatives seek to operate at outreach and preventative levels. This enables us to support and educate more students and encourages interaction and connection with other students. This presentation will outline the current and newly introduced initiatives and wellbeing programs offered to international students in collaboration with student groups, and other services within UNSW and externally.
Biography:
Presenter 1 Debbie Vadasz
Debbie has worked in a number of roles across UNSW including with the Careers and Employment and UNSW ASPIRE teams. She has been the International Student Advisor Wellbeing with SDI for 18 months, and has introduced a significant number of support and education initiatives in that time.
Presenter 2 Helen Craig
Helen has been an international student advisor with SDI; UNSW Sydney for more than 3 years. She has collaborated on the development and running of many education/ support initiatives for international students with Debbie Vadasz.