Association of Postgrad Students

Wins

UQ APS

Opening a Parenting Room in the Postgrad Lounge

If you haven’t been to the Postgrad Lounge recently you might not have noticed the addition of a Parenting Room next to the Kitchenette. The room includes cabinets to store baby bags in while on campus, a recliner, and a fridge (and soon a changing table). Many of the existing parent’s rooms on campus are in inconvenient locations or simply a bathroom with a changing table, making a sub-prime space for feeding a young-in. We are investigating whether the door between the Women’s Collective and the hallway in 21C can be opened to allow access the parenting as well.

Bigger, better and more inclusive events

Throughout this year we’ve been scaling up our programs, including bringing our ambassadors on board throughout the planning process to deliver experiences that students truly value. These range from our Cocktail party at the newly renovated Patina on Alumni Court in July, to our Campus Careers Expo on August 18th in collaboration with a dozen clubs, 60 suppliers, 40 volunteers, and over 700 students in attendance, or our upcoming Ball in September. But beyond big-ticket items, APS has seen huge success with our exec planning philosophy this year ‘meet them where they are’ , hosting monthly coffee events with our HDR students, visiting our non-St Lucia campuses, and funding student groups and clubs to put on their own postgraduate events focused on their campus area. Advocacy: Lobbying the government to take action on masters Our small win for this year was successfully lobbying the federal government on the Centrelink rules for master’s students. Since 2013, no university has had an opportunity to have a master’s course approved for students to access student allowance payments through Services Australia. While we were unsuccessful in knocking over the silly rules that say ‘only courses which are required for professional entry or guarantee faster entry get Centrelink’ , we’re optimistic that the new government will work with us to make postgraduate study more accessible.

Postgraduate Bursaries

Another win for students this year is the relaunch of the various postgraduate bursary programmes. From Postgraduate Placement Bursaries to Emergency/Crisis Bursaries and Conference Bursaries. To date, we have budgeted more than $20k worth of bursaries to support postgraduate students experiencing financial hardship during their studies at UQ to assist with non-study related expenses.