On 8 September 2025, SUPRA Education Officer and CAPA International Student Officer, Weihong Liang, spoke at the public hearing for the parliamentary inquiry into the Quality of Governance at Australian higher education providers. Weihong attended the hearing with CAPA President Jesse Gardner-Russell and Vice President Richard Lee, and UTSSA President Mia Campbell.
Weihong spoke about the importance of ensuring that student voices are heard at federal and university levels and to promote public support for student representation.
Hello everyone, my name is Weihong Liang, International Student Officer of CAPA.
Since early this year, I have been working with student leaders across Australia to rebuild a national representative body for international students. Last Friday, we registered the International Students Representative Council of Australia. I am pleased to share this news, and I look forward to working with you through this platform.
One clear example shows why international student voices matter. In the ESOS Bill 2024, the official documents listed the defunct Council of International Students of Australia (CISA) as the only student representative. This organisation had been in governance crisis since at least 2021 and was eventually deregistered. Yet it was still taken as the official voice of international students. This shows that in one of the most important policy debates on international education, international students were not taken seriously. Without proper representation and without evaluation of our experiences, any discussion on higher education is incomplete.
I therefore propose 2 key improvements:
First, representation must be empowering at the federal level. Only when student representatives have real impact federally can they gain bargaining power with their universities. When a vice-chancellor tells us ‘Plan A’, student representatives should be given the opportunity to respond, ‘No, at the federal level we were told the national need is Plan B’. This also reduces misinformation. While you may be discussing sustainability and student experience here, in our communities the rumour may spread that ‘the government hates international students’.
Students have seen the federal ambition to uplift student experience, but in this process we have also seen the systematic absence of student voices. There must be permanent international student representation in decisions regarding the Australian Tertiary Education Commission, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency, and the National Student Ombudsman. This representation should cover undergraduate, postgraduate coursework, and PhD students. For example, at the Council for International Education, the international student officers of NUS and CAPA, as well as the new ISRC, should be formally included. Federal inclusion of students in decision-making would be the strongest recognition and encouragement for student involvement.
Beyond the federal level, universities themselves must act. They should establish permanent international student advisory groups. Some universities already have them, and this practice should be promoted. Where they do not exist, universities should support the creation of student-led international student associations.
Second, student representation needs empowerment with public support. Representation will not work without stable public backing. Participation is a process of learning how to engage, while also contributing our voices. Many people focus on how to ensure student involvement. But I argue that we also need systematic support to help students do their jobs well.
Funding is the biggest gap. The legislation of allocating 40% of SSAF to student organisations is good, but in reality, as funding increases, more service responsibilities are being shifted onto student organisations – or placed in organisations that use the name of students, but where student voices are in fact very weak. Very little is left for representation.
Student representatives also lack professional support. A common situation is this: when sitting on a university committee, students face hundreds of pages of agenda papers written by professional consultants, presented by senior officers with full secretarial support. We are like soldiers sent into battle armed only with courage. How can a student representative respond effectively in this environment?
We need briefing staff, access to data, and policy research capacity. We need access to adequate training. We need living allowances that can cover the time students dedicate to this work. And, in particular, international students engaged in formal representative roles should be allowed to undertake part-time study in order to carry out these responsibilities. These supports are needed both at the national level and at the campus level. I therefore suggest that the federal level establish a program specifically to support student representatives.
Only by embedding international student voices, and by ensuring federal support, can Australia’s higher education governance be complete, credible, and truly student-centred.
Thank you.
Inquiry’s interim report
Weihong was quoted in the inquiry’s interim report, in regards to staff and student experiences on university councils. Weihong was quoted as saying:
Student representatives have a lack of support from the professional staff and a lack of training. A common situation is when I sit on the university
committee. What I face is hundreds of pages of agendas prepared by professional consultants, presented by the senior and professional staff and
leaders. We are like soldiers being sent into battle, armed only with our courage. How can student representatives respond efficiently in this environment? It’s really hard.
Weihong was also quoted regarding measures that should be implemented to ensure adequate student representation:
We need briefings from staff. We need access to data and policy research capacity. We need proper training. We need a living allowance that can
cover our time to work in that space. In particular, international students engaged in a formal representative role should be allowed to undertake part-time study in order to carry out these responsibilities. This support is needed at both a national level and a campus level. I suggest the federal level establish a program especially to support student representation.
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