International students question their place in Australian universities

Travel bans contributed to international students’ sense of not belonging.

On February 1 the Australian federal government introduced a travel ban on all incoming travellers from mainland China who are not permanent residents or citizens in Australia. Since then the travel ban has been extended to other countries and eventually all borders have been closed.

This has left over 100,000 international students enrolled in Australian educational institutions outside of Australia. And two weeks ago, the Prime Minister announced that all international students who cannot support themselves have the alternative of going home.

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As a Chinese student enrolled at a university in Melbourne, I am also affected by these messages. In essence, the travel ban delivered the message that despite being ‘temporary residents’ and taxpayers, students from mainland China do not belong in Australia.

This sense of exclusion was exacerbated by the ensuing reactions of some universities, such as refusing to postpone the new semester (implicitly encouraging students to enter Australia via a third country). Universities also encouraged students to enrol and pay the full tuition fees, even though they understood that many mainland Chinese students were stuck at home and were only able to take online courses.

Many international students come to Australia because of Australian universities’ high academic reputations on an international level. However, in the face of the pandemic, many international students realised that maybe Australian universities care more about the financial benefits they reap from them than their academic experience. These developments made me to rethink how universities see international students.

International students come to Australia to pursue high-quality education. At the same time, they also engage with local multicultural communities both on and off campus. During these interactions, many of them form a sense of belonging to their new home, as I did. Establishing a sense of belonging is important because it reflects international students’ psychological and social attachment to Australian society. In a long-term perspective, this satisfaction with life in Australia not only strengthens Australia’s education sector, but also elevates Australia’s profile internationally in a broader sense.

In a time of crisis, international students would expect their home universities to take care of them as they take care of Australian students, especially when little government support is available. As a friend of mine put it: “If the university gives us some subsidies, I would see them as a kind of comfort [knowing that the university still cares about me]. Because it seems that the Australian government has already abandoned us.”

However, disappointingly, it seems that universities do not consider international students as an integral part of their community. This is evident in the universities’ limited financial supports to international students during this hard time. Although many universities allow international students to apply for emergency funds, the fact that most funds are established as a supplement to the governmental scheme can make it seem like these funds exist in name only for the majority of international students.

In addition, refusing to reduce tuition fees despite the changed economic condition in Australia, has added another layer of stress for many Chinese international students who have already been seriously affected by the travel ban.

It will be months before we reach the other end of COVID-19, and universities have already experienced many sudden challenges such as the plummeting income and a rushed change to online education. However, many universities have probably not realised another crisis in front of them. That is, a crisis of belonging. Devoid of citizenship and permanent residency, international students actively find meanings of their lives in Australia via interacting with staff and friends in the university community. However, it seems that their efforts were negated by universities, as shown by insufficient supports and a polite invitation to ‘go home’. If these indifferent responses continue, Australian universities’ goal of internationalisation of education will be significantly impacted. After all, building an international campus means more than enrolling international students.

Zhichen Ye is a student at the University of Melbourne. She is currently completing an honours research project in sociology on international students’ sense of belonging.