uwa postgraduate student association secretary post confirmation

Postgraduate Students’ Association

Annual General Meeting - Minutes

Friday October 25th, 2012

Meeting opened at 1730hrs.

All attendees of the AGM have been noted in the ballot roll.

1. President’s Report.i) UNIVERISITY –

This year the PSA had worked extensively to fix the printing credit issues that were affecting the use of printing across the University. The PSA also worked on getting the University and the Guild to recognize the ever-growing numbers and needs of Postgraduate students. As more courses are shifting to become Postgraduate degree, more resources will be required in order to handle the advocacy and representation for the increasing number of Postgraduate students.

ii) CAPA –As a financial affiliate of CAPA, the PSA works with CAPA in performing advocacy work. The PSA hosted the SGM in April and recently was involved in electing the replacement President.

iii) GUILD – The Guild buildings are restructuring as part of the Guild “Master Plan” to renovate and re-allocate rooms for Guild departments/clubs. As a part of the plan, the PSA President’s office and the PSA Lounge, which is normally used by postgraduates for conferences or private study was going to be removed as a part of the plan. Fortunately we were able to convince the Guild that these two rooms were a necessity and retain them.

iv) EVENTS – The PSA hosted a myriad of events this year, with open days, welcomes, the Post Grad Expo among other events to help introduce Postgrads to the PSA as well as promote social interaction between Postgraduate groups. Events of note were the PSA Quiz night, the new PSA Family Picnic which was met with great success and the upcoming PSA Cocktail Party. The budget for the PSA Connect was increased from $500 to $700 per Connect due to increased number of attendees.

v) PSA – The PSA ran well this year managing to run all the events and activities that were planned at the beginning of the year. The only exception was the career expo, but we replaced this with a seminar series that helped Postgraduates students enter the industry. Despite losing the Media Officer to absence early in the year, the role of correspondence between the PSA and the Postgraduate community was diligently maintained by the PSA President and the committee thanks her for taking on the extra role.



2. Treasurer’s ReportThe budget allocation for the PSA from the Guild was $61,000 for 2012, an increase of roughly $10,000 from the previous budget in 2011. We are hoping to ask for roughly $100,000 for the budget in 2013 in order to accommodate the increasing representation and advocacy required as the number of Postgraduate students increase.

The increase funding this year meant we were able to host more and better quality events, especially to the increasing turnout observed in the month PSA Connects. We were also able to increase the amount of monetary awards given for travel and fieldwork and we hope to expand these awards next year.

Largest expenditure expected for 2012 was the PSA Postscript and the PSA Cocktail Party. The expenditure for both of these have not yet been confirmed, but we expect that the spending will be on track and any surplus will be used appropriately.

3. Discussions on the Future Direction of the PSA.Major point of discussion was the position of the PSA as a Guild Department and the increasing number of Coursework Postgraduates as more courses become Postgraduate degrees/diplomas/certificates etc. There have been suggestions that reforms should occur in the PSA to address this issue.

Currently, the PSA President has a speaking position within the Guild Council, but does not have any voting rights. The PSA aims to have a stronger position in the Guild so that the needs of Postgraduate students can be met and understood. Members have discussed that they wish to see the PSA President be able to vote and become a stronger presence on the Guild Council. Suggestions of a Guild merger have been put forward to address this issue. Alternatively, the PSA could separate from the Guild act independently or with other similar organization but this would meet with difficulty in securing the resources required for operation.

There have been concerns for the increasing number of coursework students. Coursework postgraduates will eventually grow to be a considerable population within the University demographic due to the course changes. The PSA should attempt to reach out to more coursework students as they currently do not have enough representation with either the PSA or the Guild. Suggestions were made to make the PSA focus on research-based Postgraduates only as their needs and representation is differs from that of coursework and have coursework postgraduates be represented by another organization. Concerns were raised against this suggestion as the PSA from its namesake is to represent all Postgraduate students, regardless of their type of study.



Members agreed that the PSA needs to understand what representation this new generation of Postgraduate students requires and that the PSA’s should adjust its position accordingly. We need to plan ahead and discuss what actions are required as more Master’s courses open up and this should be done soon as soon as possible. The PSA was need to be more approachable for new and upcoming coursework Masters students and that we should monitor and adjust to the needs of the changing Postgraduate population.

In conclusion, PSA members did do not want to merge or separate from the Guild, but we need to reform the PSA, the position within the Guild, and include the University formal structures in order to understand the current and future position of postgraduates. To give the increasing Postgraduate population the representation and advocacy needed, financial and human resources will be required. The reforms that have been discussed at this meeting will be put forward and acted upon by the 2013 PSA Committee.

4. Recommendation for Ratification.

At the September meeting, the PSA committee made the following determinations on membership of the Association and of the Committee.

1. Given that membership of the PSA is automatic once a student enrols in a postgrad course at UWA, Aisling asked the committee when membership should cease. The committee determined that membership ceases once the student has a ‘disenrolled’ status.

2. Given that research postgrads may complete before their term has ended but be elected to the PSA committee, the committee was asked to determine whether the elected rep would still be eligible to remain as part of the Committee. The committee determined that they were.

These determinations were presented at the AGM for ratification by the members of the Association. This was done to help clarity the PSA’s stance on Postgraduate membership of the Association and of the Committee.



5. Constitutional Amendments.

As there have been changes to the number of Faculties within the University the PSA have asked its members to vote on changes regarding the positions of Faculty Representatives that represent the PSA committee.

i) “There should be one representative for each Faculty within the University”

Vote is Unanimous from all AGM attendees. Motion has passed.

ii) “There shall be one Faculty Representative for the Arts Faculty”


iii) “There shall be one Faculty Representative for the Science Faculty”


6. The UWA Postgraduate Students’ Association Election for the 2013 Committee.

Executive

President and Senate Representative - All nominees have withdrawn except one:Gemma BotheGemma Bothe has been elected PSA President and Senate Representative.

Vice-President – Three nominees: Siddartha S. Verma – WithdrawnKara Salter – 24 votesElliot Smith - 11 votesKara Salter has been elected Vice-President of the PSA

Secretary – One nomineeSiddartha S. VermaSiddartha S. Verma has been elected Secretary of the PSA

Treasurer – One nomineeElliot SmithElliot Smith has been elected Treasurer of the PSA



Office Bearers

Media Officer – One nomineeRukmini PandeRukmini Pande has been elected Media Officer of the PSA

Equity Officer – One nomineeVanessa CaprasVanessa Capras has been elected as the Equity Officer of the PSA

International Students’ Officer – One nomineeJenny TungJenny Tung has been elected as the International Student’s Officer of the PSA

Coursework students’ Officer - Vacant

Indigenous students’ Officer – Vacant

Faculty Representatives

ALVA Representative – One nomineeSimon KilbaneSimon Kilbane has been elected as the PSA ALVA Faculty Rep

Arts Faculty Representative – One nomineeCharmaine Fernandez Charmaine Fernandez has been elected as the PSA Arts Faculty Rep

Business School Representative – One nomineeFatima KhushnudFatima Khushnud has been elected as the PSA Business School Rep

Education Faculty Representative – Vacant

Engineering Faculty Representative – One nomineeRevanth GarlapatiRevanth Garlapati has been elected as the PSA Engineering Faculty Rep

Law Faculty Representative – Vacant



Science Faculty Representative – One nomineeVipul AgarwalVipul Agarwal has been elected as the PSA Science Faculty Rep

MDHS Representative – Vacant

Ordinary Committee Members

Two Ordinary Committee Member positions – Two nomineesPeter DerbyshireChristopher BesterPeter Derbyshire and Christopher Bester have been elected as the two PSA OCMs.

7. PSA Leadership and Community Award for 2012The PSA Leadership and Community Award for 2012 has been awarded to Tristan Clemons for his contribution to the WA Community. Tristan was unable to attend the meeting and the award was presented to the current Life and Physical Sciences Faculty Representative, Vipul Agarwal on his behalf.

8. ThanksAisling presented a gift on behalf of the Association to the 2012 Returning Officer, and verbally thanked the 2012 PSA Committee and the Association members for their attendance.

Meeting closed at 1900hrs.

uwa postgraduate student association secretary post confirmation

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