international education
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there may be a case to look into their entry
standards, because it’s very unfortunate
if you rely on one commercial company
based in another country to make these
decisions for you.
We also have to understand that, in
Australia, we always accord our universities
with autonomous academic credentialing,
and we don’t want to interfere with that too
much. But my understanding is that on this
occasion this particular university is being
interviewed by the national regulator as
we speak.
International students want the local
experience when they come to Australia, yet
the program suggested many of them aren’t
getting this. Is that your understanding?
This is a two-way street. Unfortunately,
student behaviour can often lead to lack
of integration.
So, for example, certain cultures are
much more comfortable living in shared
houses with the same culture, and that
means from day one when they arrive
in Australia they’ve often organised their
accommodation through a cousin, a friend
of a friend or whatever, and they’re living in
a shared house, often in a remote suburb.
So, in that shared house environment, they
speak in their own dialect.
When they go to campus, they hang
around with students from the same
culture. And there are cases where the
English-language speaking ability can go
backwards because of their own behaviour
– they are not attempting to integrate with
the Australian culture and with people from
different cultures who are using English as
the main form of communication.
So, student behaviour cannot be
overlooked as a reason for why some
of these unfortunate lack of integration
situations occur, but most universities
are doing the right thing. They’ve got any
number of activities and events focused on
trying to better integrate overseas students
into the Australian setting. That happens
from day one in orientation week with,
for example, every university handing out
football passes, or having buddy programs
where the domestic students are given
certificates and other forms of recognition
for buddying up with an international
student. Wollongong has had a wonderful
example for many years now. The local
community have the ‘invite an international
student home for dinner’ program, and
many hundreds of international students
who attend the University of Wollongong
and other providers there will take
advantage of that opportunity to engage
with Australian families. So, there are any
number of programs available.
I think it also comes down to issues
around jobs as well. Often international
students can work in our economy up
to 20 hours a week. Sometimes they get
jobs through word-of-mouth from other
international students, so even in the job
setting they’re working with students of
the same culture and ethnic background.
So, it’s a difficult one because to what
extent do you proverbially ‘bludgeon’
people into trying to integrate when there’s
a lot of factors in play?
I’ve had that experience myself. I was
an exchange student to Tokyo, Japan, for
one year when I was 17, but fortunately
for me I was the only foreign student in
my school, so it was sink or swim. I had to
engage in that culture. But when you come
to a country like Australia as part of a larger
cohort – it wouldn’t matter if it was only
three or four students – the inclination is to
hang together and not engage much.
One troubling part of the Four Corners
program was Daniel Maganare’s experience
of being excluded in a tutorial group
because his peers weren’t speaking in
English. He later dropped the subject.
Do you think this is fair? Is it common, and
if so, is it something universities need to do
something about?
I would totally agree that in a tutorial group
situation, English must be the language
used by students. They’re here to utilise the
English language as the lingua franca, and
it’s totally wrong when groups speak in a
language other than English.
I’ve never heard of another situation akin
to Daniel’s, and if I were in his shoes, I’d
go to the institution and say: “This is not
appropriate. I want to be part of a tutorial
group that uses English as a medium
language.” I can’t exactly recall whether
he took advantage of that complaint
mechanism or not, but my answer to
that is no, it shouldn’t be happening in a
university setting.
In all that, of course, we have to
acknowledge that many full-fee-paying
international students who come from
countries in Asia don’t come from the same
pedagogical systems we have in Australia.
In other words, myself having gone to a
Japanese boys’ senior secondary school
for a year, it’s largely rote learning. You bow
to the teacher at the start of each lesson,
you bow at the end. You take copious
notes from the teacher and that whole
pedagogical way of doing things in Australia
around critical thinking and project-based
teamwork, which is such a great attribute to
the Australian educational system and why
many Asian students come here, because
they want to be able to become more free-
thinking. Unfortunately, not coming from
that background, they often find it very
difficult to contribute initially in project-
based teamwork.
What part of the international students’
story wasn’t covered in the Four Corners
program?
Well, yet again, for a third time in as many
years, Four Corners did not in any shape,
manner or form explain the incredible soft
power and soft diplomacy benefits that
have accrued to Australia by educating the
world’s and, in particular, our own region’s
future leaders.
They didn’t highlight any case studies
of alumni who have gone from Australia –
graduating from one of our universities, or
even a TAFE situation where they’ve gained
a high-level technical skill – and gone
on to be leading scientists, academics,
entrepreneurs and even politicians in their
own countries.
The program left viewers to think
that many of these students go on to a
migration outcome. In fact, a treasury
department report that came out last
August with the home affairs department
indicated that 84 per cent of all fee-paying
international students who come to
Australia go back to their home country
after completing their period of studying
and a post-study work right visa for two
years. So, that whole migration carrot
effectively closed down some years ago
compared to Canada or New Zealand,
which still provide a means of students
getting onshore migration outcomes to
their education over in those country.
So, I was disappointed that some of
the wonderful integration stories – and
the launching of young people as global
citizens into so many worthwhile careers
elsewhere – never came to the fore.
And all of that, of course, if we do
this, will help young Australian students
enhance their inter-cultural competency
by mixing with international students in
the classroom. ■
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