Over the past several years, large
influxes of overseas students are moving to Australia for a better tertiary
education. According to statistics, Australia is a popular study
destination with more than 200,000 international students in Australian
universities. Many international students are drawn to Australia because its
quality of education and the diversity of the country. However,
Australia is the most expensive country in the world for international
students to study and live in. The table below is the HSBC research reviewed
data of the annual
cost of studying abroad for international students per year in 13 countries
around the world. Australia has
an average tuition fees and cost of living fees about $38,000 a year. Which
are 3000 more than US and 8000 more than UK.
International student has contributed
more than $14 billion to Australian GDP every year. But the social
protections for international student are few and hard to enforce. Some
international students have suffered from discrimination based on religion,
race and culture. There was also
a high-profile series of criminal attacks on mainly Indian students. As a host country, Australia has
social responsibility to secure international student’s welfare and rights. The institutions
of education and government should recognize the need of international student
and make efforts to endorse and support their safety, dignity and rights. “Dominant notions of distributive
justice have tended to fail within two categories. There is the traditional
‘weak’ liberal definition of justice as equality of opportunity and more
radical ‘strong’ liberal version of justice as equality of outcome.” (Gewirtz,
1998) As Gewirtz suggests, quality of
opportunity and equality of the outcome are two categories of
distributive justice. International student should have the same opportunity to
access their education and equal formal rights.
Thousands of
protesting Indian students and supporters hold up placards in Melbourne in 2009
as Australia scrambled to contain outrage over a wave of attacks.
In
9 October 2013, the Australian Government has flags rebuild of international
education sector. The new Coalition government, which is embarking on an
efficiency drive in higher education, is to develop a national strategy for
international education. Although there are few details, Minister Pyne wants to
extend streamlined student visa arrangements beyond universities and is
reviewing the rules for post-study work rights.
Many international students are concerned about being used as a money source when they say they should be seen as ambassadors for Australian education. According to Gewirtz, “Equality of opportunity can be viewed as the existence of equal formal rights, equality of access and equality of participation.” I believe international students should have similar social rights as local students, excluding access to social security schemes.
International education brings a richness and diversity to the culture of Australia. It is essential to send a message to international student and their family that Australia welcomes and is well place to international student. Provide access to social rights and avoid violence will improve the international student’s experience of living and studying in Australia.
Many international students are concerned about being used as a money source when they say they should be seen as ambassadors for Australian education. According to Gewirtz, “Equality of opportunity can be viewed as the existence of equal formal rights, equality of access and equality of participation.” I believe international students should have similar social rights as local students, excluding access to social security schemes.
International education brings a richness and diversity to the culture of Australia. It is essential to send a message to international student and their family that Australia welcomes and is well place to international student. Provide access to social rights and avoid violence will improve the international student’s experience of living and studying in Australia.
Reference:
Gewirtz, Sharon. (1998). Conceptualizing social justice in
education: mapping the territory. Journal of Education Policy, 13(4),
469-484.
Hi Lizhen
ReplyDeleteAustralia is a multicultural country and in fact there are a lot of international students, especially in Universities and higher education. I completely agree with you, international students coming to Australia is one of the major factors that enrich Australia by bringing in different cultures promoting multiculturalism and at the same time paying Australia Thousands of money for education. According to Norrie (2012), Australia rank 8th out of 48 countries in higher education and personally I strongly believe that multiculturalism is one of the major contribution to this result as students from all over the world comes into Australia with their own area of specialisation, for example students from Asian countries are generally good at Mathematics. Therefore I agree with you, international students should have the same right as domestic students, not only because they are the same human beings and we all deserve equal rights but also because international students are contributing as much as domestic students and hence they should receive the same rights as domestic students. However, just as you said, international students are experiencing discriminations against their race, religion and culture. Some of my friends, who are international students also received insult from others where they are being stereotyped and being told to “ go back to your own country” and I think the government is not doing a good job in protecting the right and safety of international students and they should do something about it in order to promote multiculturalism.
Reference
Norrie, J. (2012) “Australia rank 8th in the world for higher education” Retrieved from:https://theconversation.com/australia-ranked-8th-in-the-world-for-higher-education-6976 on 28th Oct 2013
I cannot agree with your idea more, Australia is a popular state for study abroad. I am also one of the international students in Australia, but after I came to Australia I have found out study in Australia in not like I imaged. Like you said our international pay high tuition fees to study in Australia, the school fee is two or three times higher than local students. However we pay high and did not get the corresponding services. In Australia international students have to face languages problems, difficult to be academically successful in the new learning environment and lack of discipline-specific vocabulary in writing (Carroll, J, 2005). In other way, international even do not have the right to use social welfare as local student. Such as international student are not allowed to use the student transport concessions, we have to buy full price tickets. I think this is an obvious equal right between local students and international students.
ReplyDeleteSometimes we have to encounter racial discrimination in school or in public place. In my view, international students as an important part of the sources of Australian economy, especially in recent years, the influx of a large number of international students come to Australia study, meanwhile brought good economic benefits to Australian. In the end, I think Australia government should have more consideration of international students’ right, and offer a better study environment in order to keep the benefit from international student.
Reference：
Carroll, J., & Ryan, J. (Eds.). (2005). Teaching international students: Improving learning for all. Routledge.