A split executive has been elected to the 2018 International Students’ Department (ISD), with five from the Bloom ticket and three from Fusion. Mina Kim (Bloom) will be 2018 ISD President and International Students’ Officer, with Juntao Liu (Fusion) as Vice President.
When asked about working with Fusion candidates, president-elect Kim told Observer “it will be tough” but was optimistic, saying “I have faith that we will, as a team, work towards a common goal that is improvement in international students’ quality of university life”. Liu, the elected 2018 Vice President, echoed these sentiments, stating “We are… happy to cooperate with members from the other ticket. After the election, there is no Bloom or Fusion. There is only one team called ISD 2018.”
Both tickets campaigned on similar platforms. Kim plans to institute all of Bloom’s policies, focusing especially on increasing international students’ access to support services, and opportunities for student leadership. The Bloom ticket produced policy on a wide variety of topics, highlighting increased engagement with national and university clubs, increased services, and wider engagement with the university community.
Liu also highlights networking between domestic students and international students as a primary goal. In his candidate statement, he promised to invite national student associations into the university, boost clubs events, and encourage international student involvement in student media. He told Observer, “I believe the new team… can create more excellent ideas to executive [sic]. We will provide a better campus environment for all international students in ANU.”
The ISD election ran from October 9 to October 12. The new 2018 Executive will serve from 1 December 2017 until 30 November 2018.
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The 2018 ISD Executive:
President: Mina Kim (Bloom)
Vice President: Juntao Liu (Fusion)
Treasurer: Quang Luong (Bloom)
Secretary: Sanjoli Banerjee (Bloom)
Education Director: Zijian Wang (Fusion)
Social Director: Yitong Tao (Bloom)
Wellbeing Director: Yiyang Li (Fusion)
Publications Director: Evynn Lim (Bloom)
