Stranded international uni students denied re-entry can’t wait forever

Time is ticking away for some of the international students stranded in their home countries by the pandemic travel ban.

Hira Ghumman, UNSW medical student stranded in Canada by COVID-19 travel restrictions.

Hira Ghumman is hoping international students will be allowed to re-enter Australia by the second half of this year so she can complete the crucial clinical component of the third year of her medical degree.

If not, she will have to work out what to do about the fact she is stranded in her native Canada, with hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in tuition so far.

“It’s a heavy topic,” Ghumman says from her hometown Oakville in Ontario, where she is staying with her parents and three siblings. “We’re just taking it kind of day by day and I’m just praying for the best.”

Department of Education, Skills and Employment data shows about 92,000 student visa holders, of whom 78,000 were enrolled in higher education, were outside the country in November last year.

READ MORE: Alan Tudge’s healthy ambition | Top gong for maths trail blazer |$10bn hit to unis |

For Ghumman, the best outcome would be for the federal government to grant a travel exemp­tion in time for her to fulfil the contingency plan her university, the University of NSW, has pulled together to keep her in the course.

Ghumman’s group of third-year medical students had begun the clinical component of their course working in hospitals in February last year, but it ended abruptly with the COVID-19 lockdown. UNSW responded with a pivot to bring forward coursework that was planned for later in the year and moved the clinical experience work to the end of 2020.

That worked well for students residing in Australia; they were able to complete the year.

But Ghumman, like many other international students she knew, decided to return to her home country to wait it out, believing she would be able to return in a few months.

“As an international student I was very worried,” she says.

“The opportunity to come home and be with my family during this dif­ficult time was definitely a blessing.”

When it became apparent that international travel was out of the question for some time, the university devised a further contingency plan: Ghumman began her fourth year, which is largely devoted to research and can be done remotely.

She is completing that in the first part of this year and hopes that come September she will be back in Sydney and able to embark on the clinical months required to complete third year.

The stakes are high. “I’m quite worried about that,” Ghumman says. “UNSW has been very helpful providing the contingency plan and being supportive to all international students, but I’m not sure how much longer they can support us. If I’m not going to get there by July I don’t know how they work around the third year clinical — and fifth and sixth years are entirely clinical.”

If all goes well, she will be back with her cohort next year.

It has been a difficult year at home. “Canada has a completely different time zone from Australia — I had to wake up at 8pm to start my class and I would stay up to 5am because that’s when my classes were. Obviously they have to (have class times) according to the majority of the people.

“I also think that online learning provides some sort of disadvantage as compared to hands on and face-to-face learning.”

If there is no reprieve from her academic exile, Ghumman will face a difficult discussion with her father, an anaesthetist, who is funding her degree.

She will not reveal how much has been invested so far but the UNSW website shows the indicative cost of the six-year medical degree for international students beginning this year is $480,000.

She says the federal government should let international students return but she has mixed feelings on the subject.

“Choosing to go to study in Australia — I had a lot of faith because I wanted to go to the top university in a wonderful country — so I have been feeling a little disappointed sometimes,” she says.

“I understand that Australian citizens are a priority for the Australian government. But international students have also contributed in terms of fees and also with careers and degrees. We are contributing so much towards the Australian economy but it feels like the Australian government has left us to fend for ourselves with no support.”

She has been left questioning the need for such high fees when she is “studying in a disadvantaged situation” and whether she is receiving the education for which she is paying.

“Our futures are also resting on the line. Health is a priority, (but) other countries like Canada have opened borders for international students. We can’t wait forever.”