By Kabir Chisty
Ayush Gupta is contesting the International Student Officer role in tomorrow’s SRC election. Gupta is an international student from India, participating in the election with the ticket Unite!. According to Gupta, the ticket is a collaboration of executives from various societies at UNSW.
Gupta brings a set of policies to the tableat this year’s election. He wishes to have more closed captioning options on Moodle which may include Arabic, Mandarin, Hindi, and other languages.
Among his policies are: expanding access to UNSW’s interest free financial hardship loan to students at academic risk level one, providing concession opal cards to international students, and running workers’ rights seminar for international students to inform them with their working rights and to protect them against wage theft and illegal working conditions.
“International students are vulnerable to exploitation and wage theft unless they know what their rights are,” he said, “which is why I want to run seminars on working rights once every term if I get elected.”
Gupta has committed to providing a better university experience for the students and to work for the interests of the students, as opposed to the university’s interests. Since being at UNSW, Gupta recognised the fact that people like to interact with each other and see through the lens of cultural bond. He hopes to plan and host more cultural events where international students as well as domestic students can interact with each other and build friendships.
Growing up in New Delhi, India, Gupta came to Australia in the January of 2022. His favourite Australian actor is Chris Hemsworth, and his favourite marvel character is, “the one and only”, Iron Man.
Note: Tharunka reached out multiple times to Together candidate Mya Thit Khet for an interview but did not receive a response.