Australia as an Optimal Destination of Living for Graduated International Students - Research Proposal Example

Student Name: Tutor: Title: Australia as an optimal destination of living for graduated international students Course: Australia as an optimal destination of living for graduated international students Introduction Many international students choose Australia as their destination for pursuing higher education. Australian towns and cities attract about 300,000 international students annually. Almost one in three university students are from abroad including countries like India, China, Vietnam, Malaysia and Korea (Gribble & Blackmore, 2012). They result in addition of a global flavor to the Australia university life. Australia is the third most popular destination for international students after the United States and United Kingdom. Australia boasts of having less cost of living as well as tuition fees as compared to USA and UK (Sherry, Thomas & Chui, 2010). Australia promotes creativity, independent thinking and innovation in her universities. International students studying and living in Australia find it to be fun, challenging, and rewarding. Skills like autonomous learning, confidence in communication, critical thinking, and problem solving are highly valued in Australia by lecturers and teachers (Gribble & Blackmore, 2012). They are both rewarded and expected. Internationalization of higher education is becoming popular owing to the various needs of the international communities. Statement of the problem Australia is one of the best destinations for students seeking post high school education. International students have to grapple with settling in a new environment and experiencing a mixture of culture that can have various effects on their academic progress. Having to learn a second language where English is not spoken proves to be a big challenge as the international students try to settle in Australia. After graduation international students desire to get a job and develop their career. Their experiences in Australian universities influence their decision to stay and look for jobs within Australia or move back to their home country or any other country of their choice. The ability to network and understand the Australian job market determines how fast they can land a job in Australia. Academic performance and ability to adapt to the new ways of living in Australia is very important. Some of the students who find it hard to settle in Australia move on to other countries that respond positively to what they have to offer in the job market. There are various issues that influence the decision to settle and work within Australia for international students. Adaptability, language mastery and understanding the labour market of Australia are important factors which are considered. This research explores the factors contributing or discouraging the choice of Australia as destination of living for the international students who is through with school. This research investigates Australia as an optimal destination of living for international students who have graduated. Significance of the problem Understanding the life of international students in Australia and the challenges that they face is important to future government plans and policy formation that can help Australia remain a destination of desire for international students. The research problem gives in higher education a clear picture and how to better education in universities or how to help international students overcome challenges like finding a suitable job after graduation. Parents and guardians of international students have to understand the challenges that their sons and daughters go through while studying abroad in order to support them better. Other international students will use the outcome of this research to gauge Australia as a destination of choice for higher education as compared to other places in the world. Stakeholders in education have to understand the needs of international students for proper planning and provision of educational infrastructure. Researchers will find the information about findings of this research useful for further research on international students and their stay in Australia after graduation. Objective The research aims to unravel the factors that lead to the choice of Australia as a destination of living for international students after their graduation. The research will gather background information about international students coming to Australia and their experience within the Australian Universities. This research seeks to establish challenges of international students facing in the new environment. The research further explores the desire of international students to continue staying in Australia after graduation. Through the research it will be easy to tell the challenges of international students getting Australian citizenships as well as the performance and satisfaction of university students in Australian universities. Hypothesis and assumptions The hypothesis of this research is that the international students desire to stay in Australia after their graduation and find a job. It is assumed the students participating in the research only came to Australia for higher education in Australian universities. Limitations The budget of the research may not allow for an in-depth and comprehensive research to be carried out. Financial constrains limit the deployment of resources and engaging more research assistants in the research. Travelling expenses and the cost impeccable research tools limit the results of the research. Time is another limitation that will be experienced. Adequate time to cover a wider area and involve a larger sample size will be affected with the constraint of time as the time available is not enough. This research depends on the cooperation of the respondents. Having respondents who are not cooperative will affect the outcome of this research. The interpretation of questions asked by the interviewers by the respondents will determine the accuracy of answers. Language barriers will also be a limitation since other correspondents will not be very conversant with English hence leading to misinterpretation of questions. Literature review/background knowledge Australia is one of the popular destinations for pursuing higher education. Many students who come to Australia for higher education desire to live there after their graduation. Living within a new culture can be a very isolating experience sometimes (Gribble & Blackmore, 2012). International students desire to get international work experience to add up to their foreign qualification and have a career portfolio that put them in a position to access the home country and global labour markets. Availability of post-work options is a determinant of the choice of a study destination (Isibor, 2008). There is a knowledge gap on previous research that focused on Australia as a popular destination for international students and not as an optimal destination of living for graduated students. This knowledge gap prompts the need for this research to explore Australia as a destination of living for students who have graduated. Many international students have migrant parents hence their strong desire to remain in Australia and look for work after their graduation since they have no alternative place to go. Government sponsored students from China are send to study abroad in countries like Australia to bring knowledge and they go back upon graduation (Sherry, Thomas & Chui, 2010). The Chinese government sponsors its students to study abroad with the aim of realizing a strong economy. Students from other parts of the world have different reasons of choosing to remain or not staying in Australia after their graduation. This research explores the trend of many students who prefer to remain in Australia after their graduation instead of looking for jobs in their country of origin or elsewhere. According to Ong (2009) the multicultural setting of Australia and its diverse environment is very attractive to some international students who have adapted well and desire to stay on and work in Australia. Nerad & Evans (2014) argue that in spite of tightened rules concerning post-study migration, research show that international students continue to focus on residing in Australia after their graduation. Some students aim to remain permanently in Australia whereas others target to remain temporarily in Australia in order to get work experience within their areas of specialization. Work experience is of significance to international graduates in Australia despite their long term objective. By mid-2014 the unemployment rate in Australia for 15-24 year olds was 14.1% which was the highest since 2001, whereas the employment rate for fresh graduates fell to its lowest point in more than two decades (Nerad & Evans, 2014). In the competitive labour market both international and domestic graduates embrace the pivotal role of work experience as a way of making them stand out of the pool of many applicants. Many international graduates have the belief that Australian qualification boosted by relevant work experience enhances their chance of success in the home country (Cooper, Orrell, & Bowden, 2010). This research will expose other factors that contribute to Australia being an optimal choice of living for graduated international students. The research design Methodology The methodology is the scientific and systematic gathering and analysis of data. The methodology outlines how different data will be gathered and interpreted in the course of the research. The methodology provides the methods applied in collecting data in a research. Type of research Data sources Both primary and secondary sources will be used in the research. The primary data sources will include questionnaire transcripts, interview recordings, photographs taken, notes taken in the field, and telephone transcripts (Fletcher-Watson, 2013). Secondary data will also be involved in the research and these will include government records, university records, information from textbooks, magazines, and periodicals, and other sources in archives. Any relevant published data will be used in the research. Sampling The sample size will be determined according to the resources available and the time available for the research. Stratified sampling by city and university will be used to obtain a representation that cut across international students across the country. It will be random sampling picking individual international students to participate in the research but care will be taken to balance both the male and female gender. Getting individual participants will be through convenience sampling. Qualitative Case study Case study will involve the choice of individual student cases to explore them as a representation of the experiences of international students in Australia. Students who had stayed in Australia for more than three years seemed to have adapted well to a multicultural environment hence showing optimism of staying longer in the country. Students who got distinction or credit in their exams described their satisfaction level as great as compared to students who got a pass who likely described their satisfaction level as bad or very bad. There are exceptional cases where students described their satisfaction level as bad even after having an average mark of distinction in classes covered. Students who managed a pass in their exams showed no optimism of finding a job that matches their qualification after graduation. Most of the students pointed out cultural differences as being the biggest problem encounter in the course of their stay in Australia. Language was also mentioned as another challenge. Majority of the sampled students chose Eastern Australia as where they would want to live for their career development plans. Grounded theory Grounded theory is a qualitative research method that was developed by Strauss and Glaser. Grounded theory is a systematic methodology applied in social sciences comprising of the discovery of through via data analysis. Grounded theory operates in the reverse manner from the traditional social science research (Berg, 2009). Grounded theory approach comprise of constant comparative analysis. The data analysis process permits the researcher to commence to develop a theory with regard to the research question. Coding is important in grounded theory (Charmaz, 2009). The choice to stay in Australia for graduated students is influenced by the course taken, the country of origin, the ease of getting a job that matches the students’ qualifications and adaptability to language and culture. Majority of students who had stayed longer in Australia described their satisfaction level as great or good hence indicating they adapted well to the new environment with time. Most international students mentioned the environment as the favorite part about Australia. Students who had already graduated described their satisfaction as great but their main challenge was being away from home. The ability of the international students to find a job that matches his degree influenced the decision to stay in Australia after graduation. Staying longer in Australia made the international students to adapt to language and cultural differences. Quantitative Survey The surveys were conducted online where international students at various degrees of study were asked to fill out the questionnaire. Access to internet by international students made it easier for collection of data through surveys carried on social media. Seventeen questions touching on years of study, nationality, satisfaction of education and living experiences; choice of residence area, job search; challenges experienced, effects of policy changes, gender, acquisition of Australian citizenship, and multi-culture experience. Answers to these survey questions provided adequate depth about the international students experiences in Australia and what are their expectations and their anticipated life after graduation. Students in their first year mostly pointed out language and cultural differences as a challenge. Graduated students missed home when talking about challenges. The answers to the survey interviews online were printed and analyzed. Experiment Experiments are an important tool of carrying our qualitative data. They resemble case studies by in this case the participants will take part in a controlled experiment that the results analyzed. Instrument of data gathering This research will utilize gadgets such as tape recorders, questionnaires, and telephone. Cameras will be used for taking photos while video recorders can be used in the interviews. Ethics procedures The research will take place with informed consent of all the participants and relevant authorities. The participants or respondents have to be assured of their privacy and confidentiality of the information that they will provide. The information given by correspondents should not be disclosed to any other person without the consent of the correspondents (Berg, 2009). The participants have to understand the aim of the research before taking part in it. The participants have to give their consent voluntary without being coerced. The participants should have the legal capacity to provide voluntary consent. Omission of data that has been provided by the respondents jeopardizes the entire outcome of the research. Falsification and fabrication of data that was not provided by the respondents sets a dangerous precedent for the entire research (Fletcher-Watson, 2013). The right methods will be applied in the gathering of data to ensure that the right data is gathered. Any data obtained from previous studies has to be acknowledged to avoid plagiarism with is very serious crime. Principles of ethics It is important to have a strict code of conduct in the course of the research and ensure proper conduct of research assistants in the field. Decorum, courtesy and politeness while interviewing respondents is required of all research assistants. Any attempt to influence the answer or the manner of answering of the respondent is improper and unprofessional (Thornberg, 2012). Asking leading questions and misrepresenting information provided by the respondents will not be tolerated. The research assistant will be thoroughly trained on how to conduct the research ethically without bias, malice and personal prejudices in interpreting the data gathered. Truthfulness of recording data The data recorded has to be a true representation of the data that was originally gathered in the field. The tools and instruments for data gathering and recording have to be accurate and tested through a focus group or pilot study. Faking or presenting phony information jeopardizes the truthfulness of the research and its findings. Distortions in data presentation set a ground for misconceptions if the research is used for further research (Thornberg & Charmaz, 2012). The research assistants should always ensure there is no faking and true representation of data collected in the field is recorded. Everyone participating in the research has to uphold authenticity and truthfulness. Data has to be presented and interpreted accurately to avoid misconceptions. References Berg, B.L., 2009, Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences, Seventh Edition, Pearson Education Inc, Boston, MA. Charmaz, K., 2009, Shifting the grounds: Constructivist grounded theory methods In J.M. Morse, P.N. Stern, J. Corbin, B. Bowers, K. Charmaz, & A.E. Clarke (Eds.), Developing grounded theory: The second generation (pp. 127–154), Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek. Cooper, L, Orrell, J & Bowden, M., 2010, Work integrated learning: a guide to effective practice, Routledge, Abingdon. Gribble, C., & Blackmore, J., 2012, Re-positioning Australia’s international education in global knowledge economies: implications of shifts in skilled migration policies for universities, Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 34(4) 341-354. Fletcher-Watson, B., 2013, Toward a Grounded Dramaturgy: Using Grounded Theory to Interrogate Performance Practices in Theatre for Early Years, Youth Theatre Journal, 27(2), p.134. Isibor N.T., 2008, A Collective Case Study of Strengths, Challenges, and Contributions of International Students in a Large Urban Community College, ProQuest, New York. Nerad, M., & Evans, B., 2014, Globalization and Its Impacts on the Quality of PhD Education: Forces and Forms in Doctoral Education Worldwide, Springer, New Mexico. Ong, D., 2009, The International Students' Handbook: Living and Studying in Australia, UNSW Press, Melbourne. Sherry, M., Thomas, P., & Chui, W., 2010, International students: a vulnerable student population, Higher Education, 60(1), 33-46. Thornberg, R., & Charmaz, K., 2012, Grounded theory, In S. D. Lapan, M. Quartaroli, & F. Reimer (Eds.), Qualitative research: An introduction to methods and designs (pp. 41-67), John Wiley/Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA. Thornberg, R., 2012, Informed grounded theory, Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 56, 243-259. Read More