HI Danny,
I do have a question for you.
I get the impression that your two main areas of interest are the environment and fees for students. I think that both these areas are really important. The other area that I think is equally important is ‘student support services and infrastructure’. I know that FCCS is responsible for supplying services to students but isn’t it still the university’s responsibility to ensure that the students are looked after and have appropriate levels of academic and social support.  I am not saying that the current levels of support are inadequate but has there been any moves by the uni council to examine the levels of academic and social support  that the university provides and if there is a need for more (or less) funding in this area?

Thanks mate.

This is a really good question, but to the preliminaries first: enviro and fees issues aren't my two main areas of interest. Although I have strong views on both, they should be more accurately seen as *issues I've had to deal with on Uni Council this year* and how I've dealt with them (in very simple terms - there's actually a whole more complex and time-consuming stuff that has gone on with those 2 issues as well, but they're the outcomes).

But to answer you're question: the academic support side of things is a multi-faeted one. You've got the faulty level with support for students in learning; the Uni funds an Academic Rights Officer and there's also the counselling/ quasi-medical services; there's student support thru Yungerrendi which is funded, I assume, by the Uni; and there's some level of support services in the scholarhsips office; and probably countless others I can't think of at the moment.

As best as I can tell, the University funds all of these things. As for the "social" and "infrastructure side of things, clubs, etc is still within the realm of FCCS and infrastructure is too general a term to specifically answer. Carparks funded by the Uni = yes; the Tavern is funded by FCCS (assuming you consider the Tav "infrastructure" :-) You'd have to be more specific here.

As for Uni Counci looking into "the levels of academic and social support  that the university provides and if there is a need for more (or less) funding in this area" I don't recall anything specific off the top of my head. I'd have to go over the forest of reports and papers to check. But again, conjoining the "acamdemic" and "sociel" supports together is very broad. You'll have to be more specific I'm afraid, bearing in mind that whilst Uni Counci is the governing body of the University, there are things done at many different levels that examine supports on an ongoing basis.

Be a bit more specific and I'll hopefully give you a better answer.

No, as best as I can recall, the Uni Council has not looked into the roughly 1%  rental vacancy rate in Adelaide (which has been that way for some years - I used to work in a government social housing agency and kept an eye on this out of obvious interest). There is some accommodation on campus which is available to international students but it's also available to domestic students. You'll probably be aware that a relatively new village (Deidre Jordan?) has been constructed reasonably recently. And there's also other accomodation provided by the Uni (eg The Flats).

But as for the private rental market and its effects on international students, I'm not aware of any projects that are or have been looking at this. I'll do some poking around on this though. Thanks for the heads-up on this one.

Is Housing SA, esp. community housing, not a viable option? I understand that the old Housing Trust's waitlist was horrendous and that even the community housing one wasn't that flash, but it was still usually better, depending on where an applicant wanted to go, etc. Message me privately if I can provide any gov't agency-related help (if you haven't already exhausted this).

I'm aware that there's the big housing project in the city for international students (the old Tax Office), but am not sure who owns it.

Just in the Central Library, or another library instead/ as well? Any other thoughts from students on this topic?

hey,

i just wanted to let everyone here know that personally i support Danny Carroll in this election, as does the Flinders Environmental Action Group

his support in getting the petition for clean engergy on campus to be an item for the university council meeting was incredibly helpful

as well as this he was able to give those from FEAG who attended the meeting some tips on how to best to prepare for the meeting

 i just wanted to use this example to illustrate the point that he has been very active this year with university council and always has lots of time and energy to put towards the position and helping out students with their campaigns.

personally i believe he would be suitable for the position and would use it effectively not only to represent students interests on university council but also to offer support for those who wish to get some positive things happening on campus

cheers,

Jade