Australian strike hits Singapore students

SINGAPORE: She was supposed to check her exam results on an online portal on Friday. But before the student, who is studying for her RMIT University degree through SIM could do that, an email from RMIT stopped her short.

Her results had been held up — along with those of over 2,000 students here — as some RMIT faculty were involved in a strike by the National Tertiary Education Union in Victoria, Australia. Therefore, exam results have been withheld over a dispute on pay and working conditions.

But the delay looks to be a short one, as the university and the union will likely sign a memorandum of understanding on Saturday which will lift the industrial bans in place, including the withholding of the exam results.

An RMIT spokesperson told TODAY that it will be "business as usual" when the agreement is signed — the university will resume the release of results immediately. About five of the university’s modules — mainly in business — were affected.

RMIT students in Australia are not affected, as they have yet to sit for their exams, while graduating students whose results are withheld would also not have been affected as they can apply to the union for exemptions.

An SIM spokesperson said about one—third of the 6,000 students who took RMIT exams in April and May were affected, and RMIT had informed the university that it had been working to resolve the issue as soon as possible. This is the first time in SIM’s 22—year partnership with RMIT where a strike has affected students here.

The 20—year—old business management student received her results for three of the four exams she took. "I was surprised, but I think everything is fine because it sounded like someone is handling it. We were told that our re—enrolment next semester would not be affected," she said.

Other RMIT partners in Singapore told TODAY their students have not been affected by the strike. The Singapore Institute of Commerce — which offers RMIT programmes in engineering — was informed of the situation but were told it would not affect them, said its spokesman.

The strike was also supported by other universities in the state, like Monash and Deakin, but institutions offering their programmes here said they were not aware of it and had not been informed of any impact on students here.


— TODAY/so

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and so, I have result for one out of three module out..