Melbourne International students may never find a piece of home in Australia
Not me, not me, not me, not me…’ I prayed. Cross fingered.
I am not in an adventure camp dreading the possibility of being picked for a nerve-racking venture. I am not about to be selected to make a controversial speech in front of a million audiences. And no, I am not about to be caught by a tram conductor because I did not validate my ticket.
I am in a seminar room with 15 tutorial mates.
Five more minutes and the tutorial is going to end.
I have successfully made myself ‘invisible’ for a full forty-five minutes when I am struck with the likelihood of being asked about MY idea of responsible media in contrast with the media today.
I am one of the 150,000 international students who have come to pursue a higher education opportunity in Australia Universities.
Active participation and expressing personal opinions may be a trivial and almost insignificant classroom scenario for many Australian students. But for international students, this ‘natural’ form of teaching can be a cultural shock that arouse frantic, palm sweating anxieties.
’What is it about the local students and their never ending debates? They never seem to run out of opinions.’
Over the years, Melbourne has attracted an alarming number of overseas students to tertiary institutions around the state.
Today, 50,000 international students live in Melbourne.
This accounts for 55 per cent of students living and studying in the city.
Most of them come from South East and North East Asia; namely China, Hong kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
A Monash University and the Melbourne city council websites designed to attract foreign students describe Melbourne’s society as a ‘culturally diverse city…that makes it easier for overseas students to feel comfortable’ and ‘a country renowned for…a cultural bridge between East and West’.
The fact is far from the perceived reality.
Having studied in Melbourne for 5 years now, I asked Mai XinXin, a 3rd year undergraduate Melbourne University student from China if she has embraces the Australia’s education system or culture.
XinXin gave a withdrawn, awkward pause and a rather discomfited smile before confessing that she still feels held back during class discussions.
‘I am scare that I may say something stupid’, XinXin said.
This has often been the scene in universities tutorials.
The local community sits in a group while the foreign student community sits in another.
When the tutor asks a simple question of whether the class is ‘following’, the international students will give a polite smile and a nod; follow by a whisper in Mandarin language to one of the friend, ‘what does he mean?’
‘Because of their upbringings, many international students feel that it is rude to challenge tutor’s opinions. Hence, when they are introduced to the education system in Australia… it is a very big cultural shock for them…’ said Ms Lim Say Chin, the Administrative Assistant of Trinity College Foundation studies program supervised by the University of Melbourne to prepare international students for tertiary study in Australia.
XinXin is like most of the foreign students in Melbourne.
She hangs out with her ‘foreign-only’ social networks and for 5 years, has not break the cultural barrier to successfully interact with the local communities.
‘It is not that we did not try, but after a while, we just cannot be bothered anymore’ Qian, an international student from Malaysia, replied.
Many of the international students expressed that ‘they just do not know how to approach the local students’.
When the wall is so hard to break, many of the international students just stop trying.
‘I think it is a great thing that international students are given an opportunity to get to know and mix with their own social groups in Melbourne. It is their chance of finding support in a foreign country that is so far away from home’, said Bree Ahren, the President of the University of Melbourne Student Union (UMSU).
Yes, it is definitely not a problem for international students to mix with their own communities.
But if that is the only community which international students can comfortably mix into, Will it still be a healthy social matter?
The number of international students in Melbourne will continue to grow but these students may never find a piece of home in the city.
None of the international students I have dialogued has the intention of permanently migrating to Australia as residents.
They do not mind staying for the work experience, but living in Melbourne with a home and a family? No.
‘Malaysia will still be my home… it is a different society. Back home, everyone just seems like one whole community. We are not the ‘Asian community’ in Malaysia ’, commented Kelly, an international undergraduate student in Melbourne University.
The social gap between international and locals student has to be bridged.
If this disconnection from the local peers continues, the tendency to stereotype international students will worsen.
International students will constantly be categorized as what Ms Lim Say Chin described as ‘O, the rich brats!’
Likewise, the local students, because of the lack of interaction and understanding, will be seen by the international communities as people who only enjoy clubbing and drinking.
‘I think this division is the result of the society as a whole’, remarked Ms Lim.
‘It is not that both communities do not want to interact with each another. It is just that they do not know how and where to start. There should be more promotional campaigns out there to promote the clubs and societies that can enhance interaction between the two communities. The local communities need to be taught about the cultural shock that international students are experiencing and the international students need to have the chance to experience and embrace Australia’s culture.’
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really impressive. As one of the international student, this article rings me from deep inside since I know what exactly like to live in the other countires. I like melbourne, and once hoped to live here but not really sure now.
anyway, great stutt. I should come and visit your website often.^^
cheers
Y4Ep2h comment6 ,
Nice article. You put forward some interesting challenges for international students. I could also state a challenge for the local students but I’ll make the assumption that a majority of the local students don’t think about this situation which you are trying to bring to the public’s attention. Great work.
I’m definitely not in the majority and I think that’s because 1. I was a semi-matured aged student when I went to Uni, 2. We had a small tight and close night group (with Thai, MY, HK, Indonesian and Indian and some local students) which pretty much all got along (we even had karaoke nights) and 3. I’ve always been fascinated with Asian culture and have tended to have ABC or Australian-Asian (vice-verse) friends.
I wonder is there a difference when you try to intermingle with Australian-Asians? How are international students received then?
I have done some tutoring in the past and manged to offend some international students. Nothing that I’m proud of but something that made me realise I could not in most cases engage with international students the same way. And it wasn’t intentional I was just trying to get them to join-in on the discussion. I tried to open the door but they backed away. Of course this is not always the case because when I was a student there were 1 or 2 international students that would challenge the lecturer and debate other students which was refreshing to get an alternative perspective (and I’m still in contact with these colleagues).
So there is a definite challenge for international students to step outside the comfortable and accustomed norms by challenging assumptions, getting involved in class discussions and making contributions. Feeling uncomfortable and stupid some times is one part of the value-add learning and studying process in Australia.
On the social front this is also a challenge. When I think about the nightlife in Melbourne I recall Asian nights? Asian nights?
Yes, well I know that these are usually run by local Asians and I’m not sure how many international students go to these clubs but I have known international friends that used to go. These are of course not the best functions to break down cultural barriers and intermingle. I’m yet to see a White night or Locals only night but they might be out there but I don’t think this is that important.
The real challenge is to target the secular cultural student groups and have a truly multicultural event or create a truly multicultural student group. A quick look at the Monash Uni clubs (http://www.monashclubs.org/theClubs.php) site produces only the Exchange club, Melbourne Uni (http://union.unimelb.edu.au/clubs/cultural) looks even worse not one listing or suggestion of a multicultural club. RMIT (http://www.su.rmit.edu.au/clubs/clublist.htm) under the spiritual section has a listing for the Multicultural Student Fellowship. I found Swinburne’s student union site (http://www.ssu.org.au/clubs/index.php) but could not see this listings.
Alicia, are you up for the challenge to bridge the cultural divide and make a difference?
Im really glad that u enjoyed the article. well, for now, im just trying to get the issue across to the public attention and it will be great if theres an opportunity to bridge the cultural divide. maybe we can start by bringing locals and international students to the same club!!