Challenges Faced by International Students in Australia

Running head: BUSINESS RESEARCH ANALYSIS
Business research analysis
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BUSINESS RESEARCH ANALYSIS1
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

BUSINESS RESEARCH ANALYSIS2
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