Welcome to Wollongong (W2W) Community Working Group

Dr Gillian Vogl, Research Officer, Faculty of Education, University of Wollongong

Contact Details:	pkell@uow.edu.au
Resources:	http://media.uow.edu.au/news/UOW042216.html
	http://w2w.uow.edu.au/
Project Partners:	The IMB Community Foundation
	Wollongong City Council
	TAFE NSW Illawarra Institute
	Illawarra Ethnic Communities Council
	Crown Street Mall
	Wollongong Central
	Illawarra Committee for International Students
	Momentum
	UniCentre
	Dion’s Bus Service

Project description

Community issue being addressed; University goals

Many students come to Australia expecting to make friends easily with local students and others in the community. Students often find this more difficult than they expect, with some becoming lonely and home sick. Some experience language difficulties and find the experience, particularly in the first six months alienating and confusing. Some students experience incidents of racism and harassment that reflects badly on the community and their host institution. The research found that the experiences of students were often characterised by anxiety and risk in their interactions. Some students felt unwelcomed and unsure of their reception by the Australian community.

Dr Gillian Vogl and Associate Professor Peter Kell from the Faculty of Education at UOW carried out a project titled ‘Enhancing the Illawarra community’s capacity to welcome and include international students’ to address these issues and were successful in receiving $10,000 in funding from the Office of Community & Partnerships and Internationalisation Committee. The project had two phases:

• research phase: conducting focus groups and interviews and providing finding in a written report
• action phase: setting up a community working group to look at ways to address issues that emerged from research.

A community working group was established in response to this research in December 2006. Working together students, members of the community, university and TAFE staff, council workers and workers with community groups volunteered their time to developing strategies to facilitate the social and cultural adjustments of international students in the Wollongong area and raise community awareness of the contribution that international students make to the community while they study here.

The achievements of this group has have been an excellent example of community collaboration and demonstrates how research and community action is integrated. The Welcome to Wollongong project is an excellent example of an action research project with strong ownership and participation of the issues and the outcomes.

Activity Description (sequence of actions)

The research carried out by Dr Gillian Vogl and Associate Professor Peter Kell in 2006-7 suggests that social integration with Australians is an important reason for students choosing to study in Wollongong. A sense of wellbeing an security is assisted when some formal and symbolic welcome is evident and the presence of students recognised officially.

The Welcome to Wollongong community working group developed a set of proposals including conducting a major welcome event comprising a civic welcome and a mini festival to celebrate the presence of international students in the Illawarra and developing a website to provide information to international students arriving in Wollongong. The project was awarded an IMB Community Foundation Grant of $20,000. This grant received strong support from the W2W working group who as a steering committee developed the Welcome to Wollongong Civic Reception and Festival held in the heart of the City of Wollongong on 29 February 2008; the development of a web site aimed at international students and other activities.

The W2W Civic Reception and Festival was a large celebration of international students in the Illawarra region. The event attracted some 500 students and community members and included a traditional Welcome to Country, Welcome to the City by the Lord Mayor, music, entertainment, information and food stalls. It produced considerable positive media coverage, both in the lead up and following the event including interviews with academics about the research and goals of the community project. The activities in the city also provided an opportunity to survey perceptions of students and members of the community about the presence of the international students

Governance/Management structures

The Welcome to Wollongong community working group was comprised of approx. 30 members made up of students, members of the community, university and TAFE staff, council workers and representatives of community groups such as the Illawarra Ethnic Communities Council. The group also involved members of the business community including the chamber of commerce and retail organisations such as Dions Transport and the Crown Central and GPT.

The project sought to develop a recognition of the experience of international students and their contribution to the Illawarra community. The activities of W2W were designed as a community awareness raising exercise as well as seeking to mobilise students in articulating their needs and also developing strategies to support international students. As a community action project, the constituency is the wider Illawarra community. The participants included international students and their families at the University of Wollongong, the Illawarra Institute of TAFE and private and public schools in the region.

Expectations/Benefits of project

To Community

For international students the Welcome to Wollongong community working group provides a platform to raise issues that influence the nature of their experience with the community and make links with community organisations, business groups, social clubs, domestic and international students and staff.

The Civic Reception and Welcome provided a symbolic welcome to the City of Wollongong; the opportunity to meet the Lord Mayor and Councillors and learn more about the City; the opportunity to meet other international students, domestic students and staff from relevant units at the University; and the opportunity to experience local culture and food. It also profiled the dimensions of the growing business of international education in the Illawarra region.

For the community, the Civic Reception and Welcome provided an opportunity to celebrate the presence of international students in the Illawarra, meet and speak to students, learn more about the economic, social and cultural contribution that they will make and break down barriers to their integration into the region.

To the University

The University researchers will benefit from the experience of working on an action-oriented, community-based research project where their skills and knowledge can be applied to achieve worthwhile community outcomes. The interface of research and community action provides a broader dimension to the research profile of the University as it directly improves the lives of members of the community. The researchers also benefit by gaining a better understanding of the needs of international students and the attitudes of domestic students and community members towards international students. The research emphasised an action research model and this means that students and members of the community are directly involved in research processes that empower students and provide them with a voice to articulate their needs and how these needs may be met. This is evident in the way the website has become a forum for the students (see w2w.uow.edu.au).

This project helps the University achieve its commitment to “community collaboration and service” and to understanding the needs of its communities and to engaging these communities in the life of the University. The University gains by building strong community partnerships which enhance its reputation and support its development.

Responsibility/Roles of each partner

The University brought financial support, research skills and experience to the project.

The IMB Community Foundation provided funding of $20,000 for the project.

The Welcome to Wollongong activities funded by the IMB Foundation community grant were:

1. A Civic Welcome attended by the Lord Mayor, the Vice-Chancellor, TAFE Director and city officials. This was a symbolic and formal welcome for international students. The civic ceremony was co-ordinated by staff from Wollongong City Council and the Office of Community & Partnerships of UOW. 
2. A mini-festival involving artists and community groups as well as information stalls.  This was co-ordinated by the Illawarra Ethnic Community Council.
3. A website hosted by UOW and developed by international students as a source of information which is important to students about living and surviving in Australia and Wollongong.

The community working group was coordinated by researchers in the Faculty of Education  and  comprised representatives from various sectors of the University (Office of Community Partnerships, Accommodation Services, Student Services, UniCentre), representatives from undergraduate and postgraduate students associations WUPA and WUSA, representatives from international students groups (ICIS and Momentum), representatives from  Dion’s Bus Service, Illawarra Business Chamber, Crown Street Mall, Wollongong Central, Wollongong College Australia, Illawarra Institute of TAFE and Illawarra Ethnic Communities Council. The group also employed two international students to develop a project plan and help set up the W2W website.

The community working group met once a month at Wollongong City Council to organise the civic reception and mini festival and also formed three sub-committees - a civic reception sub-committee, a mini festival sub-committee and a website sub-committee.

Results

Evaluation Plan/Strategy

At an evaluation meeting held after the W2W festival, a number of the non-University members of the group indicated that they would be very keen to keep collaborating with the University members to produce an event in 2009. One of the Wollongong City Council representatives said that she has really enjoyed working with such a diverse group of people.

A survey of participants (international students and community members) was conducted at the Welcome. A total of 27 community members filled out surveys, of this 27, only 5 were not aware of how many international students were studying in Wollongong and 18 people thought that the community should be more involved in helping international students feel welcome in the community. Further focus groups will be run with representatives from community and business organisations in April to explore the extent to which these groups are more aware of the issues faced by international students.

A final Report with recommendations will be produced including results from a survey carried out at the Welcome to Wollongong Civic Reception and Festival, on-line and follow-up focus groups with international students as well as suggestions for further research and projects.

A video of the festival was produced by the Wollongong Undergraduate Student Association. This video includes interviews with community members, the Mayor, Vice-Chancellor and the students, among others.  The group will be viewing this as part of the evaluation. We will be conducting further interviews and a focus group with international students and community members in April.

The success of the project, in terms of creating a network with the community and business sector, is also apparent by the fact that the Welcome to Wollongong group has been nominated by two different groups of people for a University community engagement award.