Challenges Faced by International Students in Australia

This literature review explores the challenges faced by international students in Australia, including transition issues, language barriers, and difficulties in finding employment. It highlights the importance of work integrated learning and the need for support services to help international students succeed. The review provides valuable insights for students, educators, and policymakers.

Running head: BUSINESS RESEARCH ANALYSIS
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Topic: Challenges faced by International students in Australia
1.0 LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1 INTRODUCTION
The past decade has witnessed a significant increase in the number of international
students which has been one of the key feature of tertiary education of various institutions
in Australia. Akanwa, (2015) stated that funds raised through admission of foreign students
are key source of financial viability of several universities in Australia. In the year of 2017,
799,371 international students will enrolled in different educational programs in Australia
(Studies in Australia 2019). The majority of the students are opting for higher education
and contribute to the half of the foreign students. The education industry is one of the
largest export industries for the Australian economy and contribute effective to the growth
and GDP of the country. This clearly indicates that the education industry is critical for the
steady growth of the economy in Australia (Liamputtong 2011). Various students consider
themselves as high quality export commodities instead of individuals having basic human
rights. The majority of the international students studying in Australia are Chinese or Indian
and there is a massive population from the Asian countries in Australia. Past studies have
shown detailed investigation made by scholars on the transitional issues faced by the
international students. Ong (2010) suggested that teachers have to be considerate enough
to modify their teaching methods to support the learning of international students. This
literature critically evaluates the past literature to highlight the key challenges faced by
international students in Australia. The evaluation of the past literature will shed light on
the several challenges faced by the international students in adjusting to the new culture
and education system.
1.2 TRANSITION AND ISSUES RELATED TO ADJUSTMENT TO THE UNIVERSITY SETTING
Wang, Andre and Greenwood (2015) states that first year of university is stressful
for majority of the students as it is the time for adjustments. Various contribute significantly
to the increase in the stress level of the student which include financial difficulties and
academic requirements. The other important factors include wellbeing and health of the
individuals including issues like personal autonomy, loneliness and interpersonal
relationships. Liamputtong (2011) opined that stress of the international students are
compounded exponentially due to limited support from the family and cultural differences.
Heng (2018) conducted a study on the issues faced by the international students
and the result show that two third of the participants in the survey were not adequately
prepared for their first year university exams. On the other hand, Ahmad (2015) found out
that majority of the failures and high number of withdrawals from the university students
were due to the transitional issues than the lack of academic ability among the students.
Wang, Andre and Greenwood (2015) stated that present research showed that emotional
health of the international students were a key factor contributing to the deviation in their
studies. On the contrary, Salmona et al. (2015) argued that emotional health is related a
number of other variables rather than being solely depending on the adjustment issues
faced by the students. The author argued that emotional health provides an accurate
reflection of the maladjustment problems. Another study performed by Liamputtong (2011),
showed that transitional changes had significant impact on the poor results in academics
of international students which led to withdraw of various students from the curriculum.
However, there were no evidences which suggested that there is difference in
ability among the local and the international students in dealing with transitional changes.
On the contrary, one of the major differences between the students which remained
unexplored was the anecdotal evidence. This signified that repercussion of failure in

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academics and their inability to deal with the transition had more severe impact on the
international students. The department of Immigration and multicultural affairs, being
responsible for the visas of the student, stated that student need to remain enrolled in their
chosen course or this results in cancellation of their visa. This causes numerous student to
leave Australia due to poor academic performances and further pursue other courses due
to visa cancellations.
1.3 INCREASE IN CHALLENGE FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
Wu, Garza and Guzman (2015) states that international students have to
experience greater changes during the period of transition in comparison to the local
students. These students are forced to deal with the various differences in the cultural
values, customs and norms in the host country. Banjong (2015) opined that these students
also face issues with non-verbal and verbal communication and dealing with the
interpersonal communication. On the other hand, these students are also forced to deal
with issues of taking added responsibility of acting as an adult away from their
communities and families. Liamputtong (2011) argued that combining these challenges
with the limited access to social resources network leads to development of higher level of
stress among these students. Choudaha (2017) analysed the period of stress and found
out that the students experience highest level of stress within the first six months of their
stay in a foreign country.
Lin and Scherz (2014) states that for majority of the students in the first semester of
their medicine and other health science related curriculum provides various challenges to
these students. International students, being a part of the total population have to face
more challenges than other students during the phase of transition. The Australian
Universities have become more reliant on the income generated from the enrolment from
the international students to maintain their viability. Therefore, it is duty of the universities
to make attempts that are sincere to assist the students in developing positive experience
during their stay at the universities. The student are forced into a new educational setting
where they have to deal with not only the transitional challenges but also the cultural
differences. Banjong (2015) states that these experiences lead to frustrations and distress
among the student which makes them question their choice of studying in a foreign
country. () performed an in depth analysis through interview of various international
students from a well reputed university in Melbourne suggested that lack of knowledge of
counselling services, spoken English and proper utilization of the traditional support
networks are few of the personal difficulties of the international students.
1.4 CHALLENGES IN SPEAKING IN ENGLISH
Henderson, Barker and Mak (2016) states that students spoken English has been
one of the key functionalities that affected the all major social and academic interaction.
The ability of the international students to communicate effective with the local students
was highly dependent on their ability to fluently speak English which affected their
perception of communication. Lin and Scherz (2014) supported this statements and found
similarities on the studies conducted on the Asian students in the United States. The
absence of proper communication skill was found in more than 97% of the samples which
resulted in serious difficulties in communication. According to Gomes et al. (2014), they
supported the above statement through their study which showed that language
competency is one of the most significant issues for the international students.
Liamputtong (2011) claimed that international students choose Australia for higher
studies as they have the perception that they have the scope of developing better
language skills. The majority of the students in the earlier stage of transition have a strong
desire to interact with the local students but they have not been able to eventuate this

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expectation. This is evident in studies conducted in other countries, such as in North
America which showed that international students have stronger desire to interact with the
consumers. Wu, Garza and Guzman (2015) argued that the interaction between the local
and the international students are dependent on the difference in the cultural distance
resulting in lower frequency of communication or interaction. However, the international
students are faced with greater disadvantages as per the study conducted by Akanwa,
(2015). This is due to the fact that international students are faced with greater adjustment
demands. The evaluation of the cultural distances by using the Hofstede’s cultural
dimension shows that Chinese students and Australian student lie at the opposite end of
the spectrum. This is the reason that students face twice the difficulty in overcoming the
hurdle of low frequency of interactions between the groups. Therefore, the student would
require higher adjustment capabilities to develop positive relationship with the local
students.
The student from the Mainland China have different perception of themselves while
developing their language proficiency. These students consider themselves to be
competent with strong academic background and grades. Liamputtong (2011) states that
students view of their capabilities changed immediately after they experience lower grades
as the unexpected changes causes’ confusion. These students face immense difficulty in
expressing their feelings and emotional state due to the lack of skills in formulating and
articulating words to describe their internal state. Akanwa, (2015) argued that Universities
provide limited services to the students that do not possess significant confidence or skills
in communicating in English. It has also been seen that students that were able to
overcome language barrier have gotten into positive interaction with the local students
resulting in better exposure to the host culture. A study conducted by Wu, Garza and
Guzman (2015) showed that increase in language fluency have positively impacted social
interaction, academic studies, general adaptation and language competency.
1.5 NEED OF WORK INTEGRATED LEARNING
Jackson (2015) highlighted multiple barriers for international student for securing a
stable job. The author conducted several interviews in different Australian Universities
which showed that international students were not adequately equipped for selection and
recruit processes compared with the local counterparts for the transition into the Australian
labour market (Jackson 2017). Evidence collected from the Australian industry showed
that companies in Australia are less likely to hire to international students due to the
concerns with cultural differences and communication (Jackson 2017). Moreover, the
organisations have a lack of understanding of hiring non-Australian citizens into the
organisation (Jackson 2017). This shows that work experience is a critical area for all the
international students in landing jobs in the Australian market as well as in their home
countries. The multinational organisations employ graduates having relevant experience
which is one of the missing skill repertoire for the international students. This is the reason
that the foreign students are seeking means to gain work experience so that they can get
placed in Australian organisations.
Work experience learning is one of the platforms for improving the employability
among the students along with the development in career learning. It has facilitates in
development of both technical and non-technical skill development. The Australian
universities are dependent on the funds from the international student and they prefer
choosing countries and universities that are willing to provide job opportunities to these
students (Jackson 2017). Therefore, it is essential for the universities to implement work
integrated learning so that international students have higher scope of getting hired in
recruitment and selection process.

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1.6 CHALLENGES DURING THE WORK INTEGRATED LEARNING EXPERIENCE
International students generally aim for large multinational organisation having
positing of reputable graduate programs, keeping their expectations of post graduate
employment on a higher side. They make financial commitment towards their studies and
hence they are less accepting of lower pay scales and are also not much willing to start on
the lower side while building their career (Jackson 2017). Employers, at the same time,
prefer the hiring of domestic graduates who can accommodate easily into the workplace
along with those who can be easily recruited without any concerns regarding visa
regulations. Evidence suggest it is because of this there is lower participation rates in work
integrated learning and higher frustration among international students. It can sadly stated
that international students simultaneously underrepresented in work integrated learning
experience activities and being kept away from the same quality of work integrated
learning experience that domestic students get (Jackson 2017). This scenario might be
because they lack professional networks and are thus, forced to complete work integration
learning in their home country. This makes them fail in capturing the value of insight into
Australian work practices. Furthermore, generally international students receive less
support and assistance from their families at the time of work integration learning which in
turn might inhibit their performance as they are under a lot of pressure due to juggling their
commitments at work, society and study (Oliver 2015). What worsens the situation is that a
lot of international students have to work part time while they are studying, all the while
facing pressure from their families involved in their study choices to make them succeed
(Jackson 2017). In addition to this, because of their poor resourcing of centralised services
that are designed for supporting international students in Australia they become unable to
manage their specific needs during work integration learning.
Oliver (2015) has found that today’s employers have high expectation in regards to
communication skills. As described by Jackson (2017), English language proficiency or
professional workplace English is extremely valuable and important if one has succeed in
both their work integration learning experiences and graduate level employment. Even
though, work integration learning provides valuable opportunity for the development of the
English language proficiency with regards to the workplace situation, host employers
always expect a benchmark level of performance. Among new graduates and probable
placements recruits communication is a highly demanded skill, denying the international
students of various placement opportunities (Jackson and Wilton 2016). However, it is a
widely known fact that international students need additional assistance in enhancing their
communication skills for them to excel in their studies and later on to gain an extended
Australian study experience.
One more challenges that can be added is the absence of familiarity among the
international students. What can impact the productivity and performance at the time of
cultural adjustment includes a comparatively weak understanding of the appropriate
behaviours, conduct, values, norms and terminologies, common to professional setting,
and a wide difference with their own culture (Jackson and Wilton 2016). An additional
challenge comes in the form of the industries desire for critical practitioners questioning
current practices and challenging the status quo for generating innovative ways of thinking.
This is expected out of the emerging professionals. Work integration learning is
extensively considered a valuable platform for the development of such tendencies.
However, some international students face difficulty in engaging with these process at their
workplace. For instance, Asian students consider the asking of a question to their
supervisor as a way of challenging them and deferring their authority (Jackson 2017). An
added difficulty is the extensive use of reflective writing, which is actually in alignment with
the good practice principles and is a major part of work integration learning program
assessments. Work integration learning is an important platform for the development of a

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clearer sense of self with the help of reflection and feedback. However, international
students, due to their lack of familiarity with these processes, struggle reflecting on
personal experiences and being self-critical.
1.7 SUMMARY
The literature review has clearly described the different challenges faced by the
international students while adjusting to the environment and succeeding in getting
suitable jobs in the Australian market. The evaluation of the past literature clearly shows
that Australian Universities have been treating these individuals as commodities as they
are only contributing to them financially. However, these Universities have been reluctant
in providing the international students with all round growth in developing their
communication and technical skill levels.

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REFERENCES
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Akanwa, E.E., 2015. International students in western developed countries: History,
challenges, and prospects. Journal of International Students, 5(3), pp.271-284.
Banjong, D.N., 2015. International students’ enhanced academic performance: Effects of
campus resources. Journal of International Students, 5(2), pp.132-142.
Choudaha, R., 2017. Three waves of international student mobility (1999–2020). Studies
in Higher Education, 42(5), pp.825-832.
Gomes, C., Berry, M., Alzougool, B. and Chang, S., 2014. Home away from home:
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36.\
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