User:Codyau

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jason Ngam is a twenty-something Australian of Asian descent who has been an active contributor to student representation at Swinburne University of Technology for the better part of the past decade.

1 Biography
2 Swinburne Student Amenities Association
3 Swinburne Student Union
4 National Union of Students
5 Now
6 User definitions

[edit] Biography

Jason V Ngam completed his Victorian Certificate of Education (with Distinction) at St Michael’s Grammar School, under a full academic scholarship. He went on to study at the University of Melbourne and is currently studying at the Hawthorn Campus of Swinburne University of Technology.

Over the past several years, Jason has been involved with Mirvac, IBM, Telstra and various other independent parties in infrastructure developments employing video communication technology in high density housing complexes, and their surrounding neighbourhoods. Digital mapping of places such as the Victorian Parliament House, Flinders Street Station, and the Melbourne Central Business District has been a focus of Melbourne Digital Explorer, which Jason co-founded in the late nineties.

From 2002 to 2004, Jason was a voting member of the Swinburne Student Union Council, serving in the latter two years as President. During this time, Jason developed his interest in the development of communications between cultural and social community groups, as well as governance structures and policy making in the Education sector. Previous to this, Jason has involved himself in the development of programs for the GLBTI (gay, lesbian, bisexual, trangender, intersex) student community. Jason also has an interest in community work, having volunteered during the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, the 2005 Melbourne Queer Film Festival, and the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

In 2005, Jason was a voting member of the National Executive committee of the National Union of Students Inc, having been elected into office with one full quota in his own right. In this capacity, Jason represented the interests of the Independents. As a queer-identifying member of NUS National Executive, Jason was also an ex officio member of the the National Queer Committee of that body.

Jason was also the elected Higher Education Student Member of Swinburne Council, and a voting member of the Finance, Staffing, Campus Planning & Building Committees of the Council. Concurrently, Jason was the elected Undergraduate Student Member of the Academic Board.

[edit] Swinburne Student Amenities Association

Jason is currently a Director on the newly established Swinburne Student Amenities Association (SSAA) - a wholly owned company of Swinburne University of Technology, set up to ensure that Swinburne complies with its legislative obligations under the Tertiary Education Act and the Higher Education Support (Abolition of Compulsory Up Front Student Union Fees) Act 2005.

In response to the Commonwealth Government's so called 'VSU legislation', enacted in late 2005, many Universities around the country began to develop models and methods for continuing the services that Student Unions had grown to provide over many years of regressive reforms. At Swinburne, the Executive Committee of Council, on the advice of management, established SSAA which was to become the sole recipient of all General Service Fee (GSF) collected from Swinburne students enrolling in 2006. Charged with distributing and monitoring other expenditure of the GSF, the SSAA Board acted early in 2006 to respond to the need for continuing student services.

As Undergraduate Student Director on the Board of the SSAA, Jason has focussed his interests on developing a model for protecting student representation (academic and non-academic) at Swinburne, inputting significantly into Swinburne's internal review of the quantum of student representative positions across all areas of Swinburne. Jason also was a party in ensuring student interests are protected within the Constitution of SSAA Limited.

[edit] Swinburne Student Union

In 2001, Jason was elected into the position of Queer Representative on the thirtieth SSU Council, for the 2002 term of office. As Queer Representative, Jason successfully built on the previous Representative's work towards the provision of a Queer Space at Swinburne's Hawthorn Campus. Working hard all year, Jason's efforts with the Activities Department culminated in September with the first weeklong Queer themed week, which saw an adult jumping castle, community businesses, a Joy FM live broadcast, various drag queens, and a bondage mistress, come to campus to raise awareness of queer issues, and provide entertainment.

The 2002 elections saw Jason elected into the Presidency. As the fifth of over thirty Presidents to hold a consecutive second term of office, Jason lead the thiry-first and thirty-second SSU Councils through a period of fundamental financial, and organisational change, attempting to resurrect the organisation from years of mismanagement by a politicised student union executive.

[edit] National Union of Students

At the 2004 NUS National Conference, and as a participant in the Independent student group, Jason was elected onto the NUS National Executive on a full quota in his own right. Together with Susie Byers, Jason coordinated the Independents during his term on both the National Executive and the National Queer Committee. Also in 2005, Jason was the elected Higher Education Student Member of Swinburne Council, where he worked on (amongst others) the Finance Committee to further progress the interests of general students by ensuring their fees were spent on services that were to their direct benefit.