Commentary
International students, do not worry, hope is coming your way!
Ronald
Following the recent media frenzy on the highly regrettable Indian student bashings in Melbourne, there has been an explosion of reports in which international students from different backgrounds described stories of bullying and possible racist attacks being directed at them. Such mounting public pressure has led the Australian Parliament to launch a Senate inquiry aimed at providing a holistic picture of the general well-being and educational experiences of international students while they are in Australia. (For details of the ‘Inquiry into the Welfare of International Students’, check out the senate website.)
Based on the issues raised in this inquiry, the federal government will make future reforms and policies regarding international students. Numerous organisations (some 97 of them) have taken the opportunity to make submissions. Of particular interest to Monash postgrads, will be the submission from the ‘Group of Eight’ (No 38) and the ‘Monash City Council’ (No 59).
Since I only recently converted from international to domestic student, (yes, I did go through the bureaucratically-painful and seemingly-impossible time-consuming process of getting residency – you can tell from my language that I do not have fond memories of the PR application procedure), I have gone through some of the hardship myself and personally welcome this inquiry. For a variety of reasons (cheaper cost, high international ranking, awesome beach lifestyle, etc.), Australia has become an extremely attractive destination for international students. To give you an indication of just how popular we really are, in 2008 this tiny country (0.3% of world population) managed to attract 10% of the international student world market. The federal and state governments has made heaps of money from international students. I believe that it’s only appropriate that the various levels of government re-invest some of the money back into improving the educational quality and experiences of international students. I sincerely hope that the federal government will fulfil its long overdue promises in solving some of the issues encountered by international students and make fruitful reforms based on the recommendations raised.
Summarising all the lengthy issues and recommendations submitted to the inquiry is beyond the scope of this article, however I thought I would give you a brief taste of some of the more prominent ones:
Lack of reliability and integrity of information provided by overseas recruitment agents, especially with regard to course content and study facilities in some tertiary institutions. Recommendation: a tighter system where Canberra regulates and reviews the competence of overseas agents; ALL overseas agents must be registered.
Erroneous assumptions (more often an underestimation) of living costs in Australia. Recommendation: DIAC’s minimum financial requirement (currently at $A 12000 p.a.) for student visas to be reviewed and revised upwards to better represent the actual cost of living in Australia.
Significantly higher cost of obtaining student visas ($A540) compared to other key OECD education destinations (the UK at $A312 and the US at $A386). Recommendation: Reduce Australian student visa application cost so that it is comparable to other countries.
The high cost associated with public school fees for dependents of international students. Only a few states offer fee waivers for children of international students and annual fees can range from $4,000 to $13,000 per child depending on age and area. Recommendation: Make school fees for dependents more consistent and introduce fee waivers whenever possible.
Lack of scholarships specifically designated for international students (covering both tuition fees and living costs). Because of this, Australia lags behind in terms of the proportion of international students enrolled in Higher Degree by Research. Recommendation: Increase the number of scholarships available and ensure that these scholarships completely cover the value of tuition fees.
Exclusion of travel concession for international students, especially in Victoria and New South Wales, the two states which ironically scraped the highest revenues from international education. Recommendation: Allow all tertiary students in every state access to concession travel regardless of type of course and residency status.
Lack of steps taken to ensure safety of international students. Recommendation: National review of campus security standards to be undertaken and reinforcement of each institution to take the responsibility in regulating the quality of accommodation available for international students.
To any student reading this, I hope this article has been insightful in shedding light on some of the issues surrounding international students. To any international student reading this, turn those frowns upside down because you can now see the small ray of light at the end of the tunnel. Just hope that the changes from this inquiry will happen before you finish your degree!
