Opportunities and Challenges Faced by International Students in Sydney

This literature review discusses the opportunities and challenges faced by international students in Sydney. It explores the challenges of learning and socio-cultural adjustments, educational expectations, individual problems and safety, accommodation and financial hardships, and public transport. It also highlights the opportunities for social integration and community safety.

Running head: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FACED BY INTERNATIONAL
STUDENTS IN SYDNEY
Opportunities and Challenges faced by International Students in Sydney
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

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OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FACED BY INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS IN
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Table of Contents
Literature Review.......................................................................................................................2
Background............................................................................................................................2
1. Challenges..........................................................................................................................2
2.1. Learning and Socio-Cultural Adjustments..................................................................2
2.3. Educational Expectations............................................................................................3
2.4. Individual Problems and Safety..................................................................................4
2.5. Accommodation and financial hardships....................................................................4
2.6. Public transport...........................................................................................................6
2. Opportunities......................................................................................................................6
1.1. Social Isolation........................................................................................................7
1.2. Community Safety...................................................................................................7
1.3. Information Provision..............................................................................................8
Conclusion..............................................................................................................................8
References:...............................................................................................................................10

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Literature Review
Background
“The path to career success is not an easy one for international students and
graduates in Australia” (Gribble, Blackmore and Rahimi 2015). According to Rumble and
Harry (2018), the number of international students who come to study in Sydney have
crossed about half a million. It has emerged as one of the significant locations for higher
educations. This section of the paper is going to elaborate on discussing about the
opportunities and issues that are faced by the international students who comes to study in
Sydney. The main aim of this literature review is to explore the experiences of the
international students for revealing the challenges and difficulties that they face while coming
to complete their studies in Sydney and with the same, it shall also shed light on the supports
available for them in this city.
1. Challenges
2.1. Learning and Socio-Cultural Adjustments
International Students who come to study in Sydney, also bring a rich cultural
paradigm along with them and they highly aid to the economic development and cultural
diversity of the city. This enhances the approach of the learning, and also shapes their own
expectations from their lecturers, support staffs and administrators. After the enrolment of
these students in Australian international education program, they face with a significant
challenge of new academic and cultural domains. Acculturation, language, social cultural
adaptation, communication, adjustment and learning problems are some of the very common
problems faced by them (Baylis, Smith and Owens 2017). The need for English language
standards however make sure that the students are well-prepared for the great cultural shift
which they are required to make for successfully adjusting with the education system of

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Australia, but the finding of several researches have highlighted that the issues are much
more complicated than just proficiency in English language. The style of learning, level of
participation and collaboration, independence and structured learning are some of the more
extensive subjects of conflict. With the same, the students belonging from UK or USA might
not feel any difference in terms of adjusting socio culturally in Sydney but the students who
are from Africa, Asia and from the other European nation experience a cultural shift. Most of
the students tend to feel lonely, disturbed and might also suffer from homesickness as well.
With the same, most of the students coming from abroad do not have English as their
first language. Most of the international students belong from Hong Kong, Macao, South
Korea, Pakistan, India, France, Sweden, Germany, Vietnam and Kenya. Hence, they are more
fluent in their own language rather than in English. Though it is mandatory that every
students should be qualified in English proficiency test in order to get Australian visa, still the
Australian style of speech, the accent, the lexical differences are troublesome for most of the
international students. In Sydney, student get their tutorials and lecturer motes in English
medium only. They do not get any other option to choose from. Therefore, there are some
international student who have complained that the professors in the Sydney colleges speak
too fast and that they make use of come idioms and abbreviations that they are not familiar
with. Hence, the English language proficiency has a great impact on the overall experience of
the quality of life that the international students get in Sydney.
2.3. Educational Expectations
It is to mention that as per David (2014), educational system differs from one nation
to other. The educational system of Sydney too, has its very own distinctiveness that makes it
different from rest other educational systems. As because of the fact that the international
students come from different backgrounds, they feel quite confused and takes time to get
accustomed with the education system of Sydney. More often, they are directed towards

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working independently or in some specific groups for completing their assignments and
tasks. Hence, they are required for critically evaluating all the situations and present an
appropriate solution. There are many students who get unsuccessful in coordinating in proper
manner and in this way, their performance gets deteriorated.
2.4. Individual Problems and Safety
Individuals’ problem or issue are very common for every aspiring individuals
wherever they go and this is no way different for the international students as well who intend
to visit Sydney. There are hundreds of students who feel lonely and isolated or homesick
while completing their studies in Sydney. This is particularly more common for the
individuals who do not have the habit of staying away from their families. Also, there are
many student who fall ill or sick due to change in climate as they are not habituated to it.
Moreover, safety is one of the other significant concerns for the students who comes
from international boundaries to Sydney. According to Fish (2015), the authorities of the
Chinese consulate in the Sydney city was asked for providing better protection for the
students after getting the reports of extreme cases of assaults and robberies there. Above
175,000 international students in New South Wales, and Chinese international students make
the greatest group at most of the universities of Sydney (Moodie, 2017). Moreover, in this
context, it is to state that the issue with safety is present deeply in the minds and hearts of the
International Students. Although there are many students who gain the awareness of the
unsafe areas in Sydney right before entering into the Sydney but there are also many who
have no idea about the same. In a survey conducted by Ryan et al. (2016), few of the
international students have claimed that they have heard Redfen is an unsafe area in Sydney.
They have expressed their strong concern in regards to the safety issues.

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2.5. Accommodation and financial hardships
Recent studies indicates that the international students often find it difficult to gain
suitable accommodation in Sydney. Chavez and Menjivar (2017) have claimed that “Due to
their lack of understanding of rights and responsibilities, average age and inexperience in
living away from home and/or renting properties in Australia, international student are often
exploited, discriminated against and through this, face many diverse problems when securing
adequate housing and residing in Australia”. Also, according to the study of Yadav et al.
(2018), on the issues faced by Nepalese females has revealed that finding accommodation in
Sydney was the most difficult challenge that those students ever faced for coming to study
here as they are unaware of the places in the city and hence, were unable to make things work
on their own. Also, the students from Indonesia, too, had faced similar difficulties. With the
same, there are several cases reported where it has been claimed that because of high cost of
accommodation in Sydney, students are bound to share their room or accommodation with
too many people. Many students, particularly the ones who belong from the Asian nations
live collaboratively. This is often perceived to be unfortunate by most of the international
students who seek for integrating into the local Australian community and improve their
proficiency in English. With the same, this also has a very detrimental impact on the privacy
and study habits of the international students. Furthermore, it is also to mention that the
students belonging from international boundaries also experience some sort of racism and
discrimination in Sydney city and questioning on their financial stability. According to Tran
and Nyland (2017), “International students are often subject to exploitation in their search
for accommodation”. They have claimed that “There are lots of people that are taking
advantage of this group of students. Some people are renting really low standard housing
and charging high above market rates. We have heard of people converting a garage with no

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windows and put students in, just basically exploiting them. I read about in the City for
instance, one of the city apartments that ends up having about 10 students living in”.
According to Deresky (2017), international students who come to study in Sydney
also face financial difficulties to a significant extent. For making their ends meet, most of the
international students work in low-paid temporary jobs during their study period. As per
Inglehart (2015), 70% of the respondents have said that they had undergone financial issues
during their study in Sydney. It is also to mention that financial hardship is much more
complex as because of the fact that in the New South Wales, the international students are not
given the eligibility for travelling concessions.
2.6. Public transport
There are several challenges with the public transport that rotates around their
accessibility and costs. Both the service providers as well as the students have shared this
view alike. It is also to mention that the overseas students have claimed the cost of public
transport in Sydney to be too high and hence, were greatly disappointed for not being eligible
for the student travel concessions that are provided to the international students by most of
the developing nations. With the same, as per the study of Benson Chappell and Yates
(2018), some international students have reported that they found difficulties in
understanding the rail and bus systems of Sydney. One of the international student in the
survey had commented that “The instructions such as notice boards, announcements, and
signs on the bus stops are not being very clear. The announcement system here is not clear
either so it’s hard to understand when they announce the following stop in the train. Here
there are many different lines, so it is a bit confusing”. In addition to this, the service
providers too have claimed that there have been several incidents in Sydney with the ticket
inspectors there that have distressed the international students to a great extent.

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2. Opportunities
It is to note that the window of opportunities for these international students for
meeting the other students comes from their respective institutions or universities where they
get support services. There are some universities in Sydney that develops different programs
for these students. These students use these programs as a main source to meet other local
students. However, more often they meet with the international students instead of the local
ones. Also, there are several students who go to churches for integrating into local
communities.
1.1. Social Isolation
Social isolation greatly impact the study outcomes of the international students. Most of
the students who leave their own nation in order to study in Sydney often face this challenge.
As per (Harmon 2015), “Social connections affect academic work so much because if you
don’t have anyone else that you can say ‘do you understand that the same way I understood
it”, and if you don’t have anyone to ring up and say ‘I missed first half of the lecture, can you
give me the notes’, if you don’t have anybody that you can study with before an exam you are
at disadvantage.” There are thousands of students who feel lonely and isolated or homesick
while completing their studies in Sydney. This is particularly more common for the
individuals who do not have the habit of staying away from their families. However, it is to
mention that there is a Super V Multicultural Volunteer Program in Sydney that helps the
volunteers belonging from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds for contributing to the
local communities. They provide these international students with opportunities for meeting
new friends and then establish some new supportive networks. Moreover, it is also to mention
in this context that by means of the Local Community Grant program, the Sydney
Multicultural community services and UTS have been granted funds on the projects for

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addressing the shortage of accommodation and tenancy detail problems that are faced by the
international students.
1.2. Community Safety
Safety is one of the other significant concerns for the students who comes from
international boundaries to Sydney. It is present deeply in the minds and hearts of the
International Students. To address the issues in context to Safety in Sydney, Safe City works
with the international student colleges and the Sydney Police in providing security and safety
advices and translating the information sheets (Ryan et al. 2016). The police presents the
materials to the international students who newly arrive in the city and then provide them
with necessary advices regarding the ways of protecting them as well as them properties.
With the same, the Safe City staffs also attend the “student orientation days” on different
campus that are in partnership with the Police and this makes it an another mean of
disseminating the security and safety advice. Some of the special initiatives in this regard are-
a) Translating the Student Safety Sheets that are developed in eight different
languages
b) Distributing the Student Safety Sheets to the international universities and
colleges in Sydney
c) BizSafe workshop for the business community that is Chinese speaking
d) The “Steal From Person Campaign” that targets the international colleges and
universities
1.3. Information Provision
Sydney has produced different multilingual information for the individuals who comes
from linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds, comprising of the community
directory in ten different languages. With the same, it has also produced Telephone

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Interpreter service information cards in sixteen different languages along with the
multilingual welcoming posters. These information are spread to different community
services and organisations.
Conclusion
Hence, from the above analysis it is to state that the lives of the overseas students in
Sydney are very challenging. More specifically, lack of proper accommodation seems to be
the most significant issues that they face. Accommodation in Sydney was the most difficult
challenge that those students ever faced for coming to study here as they are unaware of the
places in the city and hence, were unable to make things work on their own. There are many
studies that suggest different needs and requirements for the international students. The most
common issues and challenges reported by most of the international students studying
Sydney are that of finding accommodation, social isolation, financial hardship and public
transport. Cultural and language barriers, along with the shortage of knowledge regarding the
rental market and how it works in Sydney, plus their unfamiliarity with the tenancy
regulations over there create real difficulties for the international students to survive in
Sydney City. With the same, acculturation, language, social cultural adaptation,
communication, adjustment and learning problems are some of the very common problems
faced by them. One of the most effective way for ascertaining this is by conducting an
analysis for their needs that would involve both the student, education as well as community
service providers. This would ensure a well-balanced view to be gained and this might help
them in addressing the requirements of the international students more properly while
planning their future support systems.

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References:
Baylis, J., Smith, S. and Owens, P. eds., 2017. The globalization of world politics: an
introduction to international relations. Oxford University Press.
Benson, P., Chappell, P. and Yates, L., 2018. A Day in the Life: Mapping International
Students’ Language Learning Environments in Multilingual Sydney. Australian Journal of
Applied Linguistics, 1(1), pp.20-32.
Chavez, L. and Menjívar, C., 2017. Children without borders: A mapping of the literature on
unaccompanied migrant children to the United States. Migraciones internacionales, 5(18),
pp.71-111.
David, H., 2014. Skills, education, and the rise of earnings inequality among the" other 99
percent".
Fish, E., 2015. China's millennials: The want generation. Rowman & Littlefield.

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Gribble, C., Blackmore, J. and Rahimi, M., 2015. Challenges to providing work integrated
learning to international business students at Australian universities. Higher education, skills
and work-based learning, 5(4), pp.401-416.
Harmon, G., 2015. Australia as an higher education exporter. International Higher
Education, (42).
Moodie, G., 2017. International student recruitment: lessons from Australia. Higher
education, 300, pp.350-000.
Rumble, G. and Harry, K., 2018. The distance teaching universities. Routledge.
Ryan, R., Dowler, B., Bruce, S., Gamage, S. and Morris, A., 2016. The Wellbeing of
International Students in the City of Sydney.
Tran, L.T. and Nyland, C., 2017. Rethinking the issue of rights for international students.
In Educational Reciprocity and Adaptivity (pp. 138-155). Routledge.
Yadav, U.N., Tamang, M.K., Paudel, G., Kafle, B., Mehta, S., Sekaran, V.C. and Gruiskens,
J.R.H., 2018. The time has come to eliminate the gaps in the under-recognized burden of
elder mistreatment: A community-based, cross-sectional study from rural eastern Nepal. PloS
one, 13(6), p.e0198410.