Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with Charles Darwin University Global Director Joanne Chrystal

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Katie Woolf spoke with Charles Darwin University Global Director Joanne Chrystal · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We understand that Charles Darwin University has got some work
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: going on behind the scenes preparing for more international students
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: to come back to the Northern Territory and joining us
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: live on the line to tell us more. Charles Darwin
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: University's Global Director Joanne Krystal, Good morning to you, Joanne.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Hi Katy. How are you.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Really well, Joanne? How many international students do we currently
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: have able to study at the moment in the territory.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: We currently have a number of students studying with those
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: in the Northern Territory and other students elsewhere in Australia
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  Speaker 2: who will be planning to come up and join us
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: in Darwin for our next intake in March. But of
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: course we have many students who are still overseas at
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: the moment. We seem to get back into the anti
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: asting as they can.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Has that been difficult for those students that are still
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: overseas waiting to get back to the territory. Have they
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: still been able to study externally or are they having
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: to hold things off at this stage?
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: So a lot of the students can study on line,
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: but it's dependent on their programs. So some of the programs,
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  Speaker 2: for example, like nursing require practical placements, so students really
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  Speaker 2: have to be here within the Northern Territory to complete
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: a lot of their programs. Although CDU has a fantastic
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: online platform and we've been one of the universities in
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: Australia who's been teaching online for the longest, so the
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  Speaker 2: students are having a good experience of studying online, but
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  Speaker 2: of course nothing competes with that experience of joining us
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  Speaker 2: in person, face to face and studying on campus with
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  Speaker 2: us in the NT.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, and I'm sure that there are several international students
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: that are that are really kind to get back to
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  Speaker 1: the territory. Where are things that right now in terms
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: of those students being able to get back for the
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: March in Tech.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: At the moment, we're working closely with the Northern Territory government.
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  Speaker 2: So we have submitted a proposal to the Northern Territory
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  Speaker 2: Government requesting permission to have most lights come in within
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: the next couple of months, and we're just working with
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: the government at the moment and waiting on confirmation of
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: that and what would.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: The process have to be for those flats to come in,
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  Speaker 1: Joeanne did I obviously then those students would need to
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  Speaker 1: do some time in quarantine.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely. Yeah, we would be similar to the last flight
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  Speaker 2: that we had. We would be completely adhering to the
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  Speaker 2: requirements and regulations of the Northern Territory Government, the Australian
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  Speaker 2: Government and the Northern Territory Chief Health Officer. So the
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  Speaker 2: students would be required to complete a COVID nineteen test
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  Speaker 2: prior to departing their home country and then of course
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  Speaker 2: immediately upon arrival in Darwin Airport, they would be transported
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  Speaker 2: to Howard Springs Quarantine facility, complete fourteen days of quarantine
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  Speaker 2: and complete negative COVID nineteen tests while they're there.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: And how many students are you hoping to get big
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: for that matching tech.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: We're hoping to get as many as we can, Katie.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: You know, we have some new students and we also
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: have some existing students who have been caught up in
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: the hard border closures that Australia have implemented. So yeah,
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: it's all the dependent on what approval we get from
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: the government at the moment.
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  Speaker 1: But is it sort of you know, one plying loud
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  Speaker 1: fifty people or are you talking in the hundreds?
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, talking in the hundreds. If we can We're hopeful
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: to get approval for multiple flights. We believe that the
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: first flight we brought in without a success. The students
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  Speaker 2: all tested negative to COVID nineteen, they completed their quarantine
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: and they've now they're now back in the NT and
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: happy and healthy and dettoed. So we believe that we
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: can use that model to upscale for the future, and
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: we hope to receive government approval for multiple flights.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: And Joanne, how does it work in terms of the
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: costs society idea? Is it something that Charles Dallen University
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: has to you know, for the bill for or are
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: students paying for themselves? How does it work.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: For the future flight? That's still something that's being determined
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  Speaker 2: at the moment. We would be looking to implement a
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: similar model to the last one. So that was where
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: are the students paid for their own flights?
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  Speaker 1: Okay? And how important is it for charlesdown University at
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  Speaker 1: this point in time really to be able to get
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: international students back.
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  Speaker 2: It's really important for us to be able to get
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  Speaker 2: international students back. They're a hugely valuable part of the
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: CDU community here. You know, many of the students have
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: already been studying with us and invested time, and I've
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: been living in the Northern Territory. But it's also I
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: believe important in the Northern Territory community. International students generated
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  Speaker 2: one hundred and forty five million dollars to the Anti
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  Speaker 2: economy in twenty nineteen and supported more than six hundred jobs.
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  Speaker 2: So yeah, it's really important to both a CDU community
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  Speaker 2: and the larger ANTI community, I believe, Joan.
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  Speaker 1: How soon are you expecting to know whether those flats
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: can go ahead and whether you'll be able to get
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  Speaker 1: the students here.
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  Speaker 2: That's a really good question. We're hoping to get approval
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  Speaker 2: as soon as we can, and as I mentioned, working
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: with a government really closely improvising them as much information
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: as we can as soon as we can. So yeah,
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  Speaker 2: hopefully in the next couple of months we would have
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  Speaker 2: our first our next flight to arriving, but all dependent
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  Speaker 2: on government.
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  Speaker 1: Joanne, there's always some criticism when we talk about bringing
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: international students to the territory or anywhere else in Australia
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  Speaker 1: that you know, should they be prioritized ahead of Assie's
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: trying to get home. You know, I suppose, like I said,
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  Speaker 1: it's always one of those issues that gets raised. But
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  Speaker 1: I mean, what would you say to people listening right
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  Speaker 1: now who think that, you know, Ossie should be prioritized first.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, but I think that's completely understandable that Australians should
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  Speaker 2: be you know, they should be given priority to return
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  Speaker 2: return to the country, completely understandable. For our last flight,
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  Speaker 2: we did have initial discussions with the government and had
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  Speaker 2: offered to include Australians on the flight, but the Australian
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  Speaker 2: government advised that they had their own plan to bring
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: Australians back. And what I would say is that the
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: international students don't impact the caps on international arrivals, so
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  Speaker 2: they're not taking a place of any Australian when they're
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: coming into the country.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: Well, they're both very good points to note, and yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I think that you know, plenty of people will be
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: pleased to hear that that it doesn't actually impact those
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  Speaker 1: caps in any way. Joanne, please keep in contact with us,
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  Speaker 1: let us know you know when you get that approval
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  Speaker 1: and if indeed it is able to go ahead. Thank
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  Speaker 1: you very much for your time this morning.
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: We absolutely will thank you so much, have a good day.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: Thank you. That is CDU's global director. There Joanne Crystal,