Ways of Providing for International Students in Melbourne - Case Study Example

Abstract The report takes a qualitative paradigm in investigating the problems facing international students in Victoria. International education in Australia in general has faced problems in the recent past. These have been reported in the media and even resulted in a number of studies. This research report utilises such secondary sources and carries out a small scale primary research using focus groups to collect data. The results from the primary research are discussed guided by the themes of the challenges collected form secondary research. The report makes conclusions out of the data and gives recommendations to the government. One of the major recommendations is establishment of stricter laws to avert racial violence by leaning institutions and government. Introduction International schools are some of the icons of globalisation and internationalization in the modern world. However, the modern globalisation in engraved in images, products, brands money rather than the globalisation of people. Some governments have been at the fore front in limiting globalisation of people through various ways (Wylie). This brings up the question, what is the use of governments and educational stakeholders of establishing and developing international schools if governments are bent on limiting globalisation of people? This question is well answered by George Walker who in his paper presented during a biennial meeting of the Heads of Standing Conference of International Baccalaureate Schools held in Accra in March 2000. In his paper he challenged the perception of international schools as being set up for the internationally mobile student. He views international schools as avenues of international of education rather than just schools to serve travelling students. Such disparities in the perception of international schools and their role calls for a closer look into the issue. Wylie says that “international education involves communication between students, teachers and curriculum writers in all parts of the developing and developed world” (23). Nonetheless, the author recognises differing perceptions held by a number of authors who view international schools rather than international education as a product of westernization and neo colonialism. The author notes that such perceptions are based on the misguided view that international schools are most appropriate in underdeveloped countries whose local educational institutions and curriculum do not fit internationally mobile students. The schools are also meant to cushion internationally mobile students from the culture shock in the learning process. Brown and Lauder have another perspective which alleges that international schools are one of the many platforms that developed countries have coined for partnership and mutual benefits and close to trade agreements. They support their claims by citing ADC Peterson, one of the founders of IB who said that “we sought not to produce a generation of rootless world citizens but one of Americas, English, French, Germans Mexicans Russian and others who understand each other better, sought to cooperate with each and had frontiers” (Brown and Lauder 41) From this understanding, international schools are not meant to serve all international students but special categories of international students mainly from traditional powerhouses. International schools face a number of challenges among them political pressure which are passed on to students. Zsebk notes that governments use education as a political tool in some cases. He notes that majority of the educated people in the world went through government funded schools where more often than not, the government approves the curriculum. Issues such as the teaching language and management style are used for political purposes and to promote government policies. Examples can be seen in forced language leaning of Nazism and Communism to more current concerns such as teacher recruitment and hiring to influence education. Nonetheless, divorcing education from politics could be catastrophic. Politics gives structure and leadership to the education system (Zsebk). In the course of offering leadership and structure, the government uses its policies to assimilate international students forcefully. International students face a number of challenges and difficulties that emanate from a personal level while others are institution based. Language difficulties according to Sawir are the greatest problem affecting international students. Financial difficulties is another issue. A research at the University of Victoria showed that about 75% of all the students in the university come from families in the bottom half of Melbourne’s social economic distribution. The same report indicated that more than half the students in the university speak another language other than English at home and have a father born outside Australia. Visa problems. A 2008 report carried out in the Australian showed that in 2008 alone, 299 students had been detained in Sydney and Melbourne due to visa related cases. The root causes of these visa problems were varied ranging from expiry to poor performance and class attendance. Purpose The research aimed at identifying the problems afflicting international students in Victoria. the research looked at the problems from a personal level to the institutional and national level. From the findings of the research, the report makes some recommendations to the government n ways of improving the situation and managing some of the challenges that are faced by international students. Scope and limitations This study is limited to personal views of members of the focus groups and published data on the subject. The research utilised the most current reports on the situation of international schools and education in Victoria and from a global perspective. A possible problem may arise in the observance on the right of privacy which may limit data collection. In one way, personal views and responses from in focus group members might have inflamed political personal inclinations that affect data collection. Again, the issue of group thinking might develop which limits the depth of data collected. Methodology The research utilised both secondary and primary sources of data. The secondary sources included published reports, books and articles pertaining to international student population in Victoria. Government reports and reports from international schools in Australia and the general issues and challenges facing international schools were consulted. The sources were identified through key terms and their relevance in answering the research questions. The primary sources of data for this report were 4 focus group discussions each comprising of seven international students attending schools in Victoria except for group four which had four members. The responses from these students were recorded and results analysed. The research used a selected sampling during a international students day forum held at University of Victoria. Students from the attending campuses were asked to form groups with no single group containing more than two students of same nationality or learning institution. The parameters for choosing respondents was; must be 18 years and above, must be enrolled in learning institution located in Victoria, must have been born outside Australia and must be able to communicate in English well. Practical, legal & ethical issues A potential risk is that it might not be enough time available to assemble and gather all the focus groups more so given that their composition is set to be as diverse as possible. Given that, the research subject is highly politically sensitive. As such, the focus group discussions should be guided carefully guided so as not to degenerate into political debates. A possible problem may arise in the observance on the right of privacy which may limit data collection. In one way, political views are personal and respondents in focus groups might feel inclined to keep them as so given the political aspect of the problem in question. Organizing the numerous focus group meetings would be costly to this research project. The costs would thus be prohibitive and thus only an established and possibly independent research organization is capable of carrying out this kind of research. Results The focus group discussions were guided by six main themes that the published reports have identified to be the major problems affecting international students and international schools. Groups were given the topic and the members were discussed among themselves. The members were also allowed to discuss issues not initially identified by the research. Language Majority of the international students in Victoria are from non English speaking counties more so in Asia. They report that they have difficulties in expressing themselves well in English despite taking preliminary courses in English language. One of the respondents in focus group 2 said that “I have undergone my preliminary course in the English language and performed exceptionally well, but I still find it difficult to express myself in English at times. I have the greatest difficulty in slang which is very popular among students.” These views were supported by all groups. Cultural shock Cultural disparities. Many students find it hard to take in the Australian culture and as it greatly differ with the culture from their home countries. Many authors recognise culture shock as a core problem for international schools and students. One respondent from focus group 4 said. “I am Chinese by birth and by upbringing which implies I am Chinese to the core. This is obvious from my looks language accent and the like. Majority of the local people and even some teachers encourage us to act and feel Australian in order to fight the cultural shock, however, I find nothing Australian in the way of doing things, just strange ways.” Another respondent from focus group 1 reported that she had a problem with same sex relationships which her university condoned. She said “I am from Philippines and a staunch catholic. Never have I in my life witnessed so much immorality in terms of gay relationships. My university seems to condone these through lax regulations in student hostels. The university tends to devote much energy in preventing students tutor relationships that students’ relationships have been given a wide berth. The ease and convenience of same sex relationships in hostels is based on the fact that boys are restricted from visiting girls’ hostels and vice versa.” Finances Many international students in the Victoria have student visas which bar them from engaging from gainful part time employment. With many of them in the country alone and far away from their families, they are often faced with financial difficulties. A recurrent issue in the discussion was that the cost of living in Australia was way high than in their home countries which create problems when it comes to their families sending them pocket money based on their country’s cost of living. One respondent from focus group 2 said. “I am Indian and we Indians are accustomed to bargaining the price of products back home. So when I ask for maintenance money from my parents, they always complain that I spend more than the whole family does on a monthly basis. So they always caution me to bargain for everything something that I find it is not popular here. The idea of bargaining is so strong in India that my parents literally bargain my upkeep money trying to deduct a dollar or two. Curriculum issues Australia follows a different educational system and curriculum than a host of Asian countries home to majority of foreign international students in Victoria. Some Australian institutions are unwilling to accept student transfer from foreign universities. The most common reason given by these institutions is that education levels are not up to par. One respondent from focus group 3 said “I was in my second year in my undergraduate course in economics from one of the state universities in India. I opted to come to study here in Australia and I obtained a referral and transfer letter from my university. However, when I enrolled in on of the universities here, the administration was unwilling to allow me to continue with my course from where I had stopped after completing my language course. I was forced to start all over again from the first year.” Racism There are many levels of racism identified by the various groups. Focus group 1 unanimously agreed that some international students from given countries only amongst themselves. This affords them the ease and convenience of speaking in a common language apart from English. Two focus groups out the four unanimously agreed that there was rampant hostility and violence directed towards Indian and Pakistani students. The group members cited individual cases while others cited media reports over cases of violence and hostility against some specific races. Conclusions Culture shock is the greatest challenge to international students which negatively affects learning in many ways. The issue of sharing knowledge and information varies across cultures. With the knowledge that learning best takes place in social environment which are highly influenced by culture, it can be noted that institutions have not been able to fully facilitate cultural understanding for academic purposes apart from integration into the Australian society. The existing mechanisms established to asst international students adapt life in Australia are based on national prejudices instead of personal issues. English as a foreign language poses new and unique challenges to non English speakers. However most English tutors tend to use a blanket approach in teaching English to students as a second language without taking into consideration the association and distance between English and their mother tongue. These issues impact the learning of English which tests and examinations might not be able to test. Recommendations The governments should streamline acculturisation programmes set out by different universities. The involvement of government, though frowned upon by some experts in education creates a firmer structure that creates stability and consistency in offering education. Some of the social programmes that some institutions establish to help international students adapt to the life in Australia may at times aggravate the problem. The government should offer a framework for which individual institutions can base their programmes. Both commonwealth and state governments should take a firmer stance towards racially instigated violence. The numerous cases of violence against foreign students have given Australia as an education exporter a bad name. Racism is one grave injustice against human rights and should be repressed by all means. Furthermore, root causes to such occurrences should be investigated and addressed. Racial violence might be a symptom of an underlying problem in the society. Individual institutions should also complement government efforts in eradicating racial violence. They can do this through stricter regulations and counselling sessions. Victims of racial violence and discrimination should also be offered psychological help to enable them to recover and integrate well in public and school communities. The syllabus of the English language course for international students should be overhauled. As Lowe and Lauder observes, some international students form cluster groups of their own to allow them to practice their culture and use their language. They therefore allege that poor skills in communicating in English discourage them from interacting with English speaking locals and other international students References Brown, C & Lauder, H the political economy of international schools and social class formation in Bates, R. schooling internationally: globalization, internationalization (walker. in Hayden, M. & Thompson, J. international schools & international education: improving teaching Zsebk, P. The politics of international education in Hayden, M. & Thompson, J. international schools & international education: improving teaching Wylie, M. global networking and the world of international education in Bates, R. schooling internationally: globalization, internationalization Messinis, G, Sheehan, P & Miholcic, Z. the diversity of student population at Victoria university. Read More