Impact of Racism on International Students in Australian Education

This report investigates the growing issue of racism within the Australian higher education sector, focusing on its impact on international students. It highlights the increasing number of racist incidents, including verbal and physical abuse, and the adverse effects on students' mental and physical well-being. The report examines case studies, government initiatives like the Anti-Racism strategy, and the failures of educational institutions to adequately address the problem. It provides recommendations for policy changes, including stricter penalties, the establishment of dedicated departments to address racism, and increased awareness campaigns. The analysis emphasizes the importance of combating racism to protect international students, improve Australia's global image, and sustain economic growth within the education sector. It highlights the need for immediate action from both the government and educational institutions to create a safer and more inclusive environment for all students.

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HIGHER-EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA

Introduction
 In recent times, the racism in Australia has
increased substantially especially in the higher
education sector.
 Many international students have been
assaulted, victimised, and murdered due to
racism which adversely affects the global image
of Australia.
 Media articles have highlighted the issues
relating to the security of foreign students
studying in Australia and the issues face by
them due to racism.

Introduction
 The government has introduced various
regulations and initiatives in order to address the
issues of racism such as Anti-Racism strategy.
 There are various actions which can be taken by
the government and education institutes to
improve the current policies to address the issue
of racism.
 In order to understand this issue, various
newspaper articles and case studies will be
evaluated to understand the issue and
recommendation will be given to address the
issue.

Racism in Higher Education
Sector of Australia
 As per the Department of Education, a combination of
542,054 international students enrolled in the
universities, and private colleges in Australia and this
number has grown by 12 percent than compared to
previous year (Robinson, 2018).
 Although Australia is a popular place for the higher
education of international students, however, this
number can be decreased due to growing racism in
Australia.
 In early 2010, a student from India was murdered in
Australia due to racism which resulted in causing
anguish in Indian media platforms along with bilateral
negotiations between the governments of both
nations.

Racism in Higher Education
Sector of Australia
 The incident highlighted the threat of racism
which intentional students face in Australia which
studying.
 The Indian students are the second largest
number of international students after Chinese,
and these cases result in reducing the number of
students who visit Australia for higher education.
 The reduction in the number of international
students adversely affects the economy of the
country since the educational sectors have a
significant impact on the economy of Australia
since it worth over $20.3 billion (University
Australia, 2016).

Racism in Higher Education
Sector of Australia
 Australia promotes diversity in the society,
therefore, people of different ethnicity, race,
caste, and culture lives in the country.
 In the education sector, the culture is diverse as
well because a large number of students join
Australian university and education institutes to
get higher education.
 As per O’Sullivan (2018(), around 20 percent of
Australians have experienced racism in their
lives in the past 12 months based on the colour,
race, caste or religion.

Racism in Higher Education
Sector of Australia
 In the case of education sectors, students face
racism during their day to day lives in the
campus and outside.
 Most students suffer some form of verbal abuse
during their studies, and many reported
physical abuse based on racism.
 As per the study of Brown and Jones (2013) on
152 international students, 49 had faced verbal
abuse whereas nine students had suffered
physical abuse.

Racism in Higher Education
Sector of Australia
 The educational sector is in the second place
where people face the issue of racism after
workplace in Australia.
 One of the key reason for that is internal
students are viewed as useful for the economy
of the country, therefore, the government has
failed to implement appropriate policies to
avoid racism.
 The educational institutes have also failed to
address the issues of racism in Australia
(Martin, 2018).

Examples and case
studies
 In 2010, an Indian student was murdered in
Australia based on racism (Biswas, 2010).
 The story brought many Indian students
forward who admitted to being abused for
racism.
 The incident shows that the educational
institutes are not taking appropriate steps to
address the issue of racism.

Examples and case
studies
 Another example is the case of Rufaro
Chisango, a black student, who was studying at
Nottingham Trent University.
 Outside his dorm room, students started
chanting “we hate the blacks”.
 Chisango posted a video on the social media
site, Twitter, to show the world the racism which
black people face in Australia in universities
(Salisbury, 2018).

Examples and case
studies
 Telma Rodrigues, a black student at
Bournemouth University, uncovered the racist
comments by posting them on social media
sites.
 Other students wrote “monkey” on her
bananas, and they started chanting “big black
ape” during the school.
 Faramade Ifaturoti reported similar behaviour
on the campus where other students wrote bad
words such as monkey and N-word on her food
and other stuff (Bouattia, 2018).

Examples and case
studies
 In the University of Birmingham, students
spray-painted on the walls with “Islam must
die” slogans.
 Many Islamic students have reported that they
have faced abuse due to their religion on the
campus.
 The university failed to take any actions against
the students who were indulged in these
activities (Bouattia, 2018).

Initiatives taken by the
Government
 The government is under pressure to address
the issue of racism in Australia.
 However, it has failed to implement appropriate
policies to address the issue of racism in higher
education.
 The international students are viewed for their
economic contribution to the economy of the
country; therefore, the government did not take
appropriate measures to stop racism against
them (Graycar, 2010).

Initiatives taken by the
Government
 Along with the government, the educational
providers have also failed to address this issue.
 Not strict policies have been introduced by the
institutes to eliminate racism from the campus.
 They have failed to punish those students who
engage in racist activities in the campus which
increases their confidence (Dunn, Pelleri and
Maeder-Han, 2011).

Initiatives taken by the
Government
 Since international students contribute to the
economy of the country, the government has
introduced the Anti-Racism strategy to tackle
the issue of racism (Human Rights, 2018).
 The strategy focuses on increases the
awareness regarding racism in the country
between communities.
 It also provides legal protections to people from
racial discrimination and mistreatment in
Australia.

Initiatives taken by the
Government
 The Anti-Racism is a national wide strategy
which also applies to the educational sector of
Australia.
 Based on this strategy, the universities are
forced to take measures in order to tackle
racism.
 They share brochures and conduct student
meetings to raise awareness regarding this
issue.

Initiatives taken by the
Government
 However, these initiates are not enough to
protect the students from racist behaviour.
 Most students use private group messages
when planning for racism which makes it
difficult for the university to catch them.
 There are not strict penalties imposed by the
government on student for “casual” racism
which international students face while studying
(Graycar, 2010).

Recommendations
 The increasing number of cases of racism in
Australia shows the requirement for adaptation
of nation-wide policies to address this issue.
 It negatively affects the global reputation of
Australia due to which the number of
international students will decrease in the
future.
 Various actions can be taken by the
government and educational institutes to
eliminate the racism from the educational
sector of Australia.

Recommendations
 Firstly, the government should amend the Anti-
Racism Strategy by evaluating the issues of
international students.
 The strategy should provide various penalties
which are imposed by the government on
students for racist behaviour.
 The penalties should include both monetary and
imprisonment consequences.

Recommendations
 The government should also enforce the
educational institutes to establish a code in
order to eliminate racism from the institute.
 The code should clearly define the penalties for
racist behaviour with other students.
 The institute should raise awareness regarding
the negative impact of racism between
students.

Recommendations
 The government should introduce a separate
department to address the issue of racism in
the educational sector.
 Since it is a key contributor to the economy of
the country, the government should ensure that
racism in eliminated to attract international
students.
 It will also result in improving the global image
of Australia.

Opinion
 It is important to address the issue of racism
since it affects the students both physically and
mentally.
 Many students suffer from physical and mental
problems due to racist behaviour of other
students.
 The rate of racism is growing significantly in
Australia due to which it is important the
government and educational institutes should
take appropriate measures to address the issue.

Opinion
 The awareness regarding this issue should be
spread across the nation along with its negative
impacts.
 The penalties should be strict to create fear in
the heart of students.
 Educational institutes should not encourage this
behaviour by not punishing the students.

Opinion
 By eliminating racism from the educational
sector, Australia will be able to improve its
global image.
 A large number of international students will
join the Australian institutes if the issue of
racism is eliminated.
 It will benefit the economy of the country which
will result in sustaining its growth.

Conclusion
 Conclusively, the issue of racism is growing
rapidly in Australia it is needed to be stopped.
 The racist behaviour adversely affects the
studies of international students, and they can
suffer from mental issues.
 The government and educational institutes
should implement strict policies to address this
issue.

Conclusion
 The failure to resolve this issue will result in
reduces the number of international students in
Australia.
 It will adversely affect the economy of the
country and its overall growth.
 This issue should be addressed to improve the
global image of Australia in the education
sector.

References
 Biswas, S. (2010) Why are Indian students being attacked in Australia?.
[Online] Available at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/soutikbiswas/2010/01/why_are_indi
an_students_being_attacked_in_australi.html [Accessed 22/09/2018].
 Bouattia, M. (2018) Racist incidents at universities show they aren’t as
tolerant as we think. [Online] Available at:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/11/racist-
universities-not-tolerant-rugaro-chisango-nottingham-trent [Accessed
22/09/2018].
 Brown, L. and Jones, I. (2013) Encounters with racism and the international
student experience. Studies in Higher Education, 38(7), pp.1004-1019.
 Dunn, K., Pelleri, D. and Maeder-Han, K. (2011) Attacks on Indian students:
The commerce of denial in Australia. Race & Class, 52(4), pp.71-88.
 Graycar, A. (2010) Racism and the Tertiary Student Experience in Australia -
Adam Graycar (2010). [Online] Available at:
https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/race-discrimination/publications/
racism-and-tertiary-student-experience-australia-adam [Accessed
22/09/2018].

References
 Human Rights. (2018) Racism. It Stops With Me and the National Anti-Racism
Strategy: One year on. [Online] Available at:
https://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/racism-it-stops-me-and-national-anti-
racism-strategy-one-year/no-place-racism [Accessed 22/09/2018].
 Martin, S. (2018) Universities need to tackle racism head-on, not deny it exists.
[Online] Available at:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/16/universities-racism-
racist-incidents-bad-pr-black-students [Accessed 22/09/2018].
 Robinson, N. (2018) Australia hosting unprecedented numbers of international
students. [Online] Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-18/australia-
hosting-unprecedented-numbers-international-students/9669030 [Accessed
22/09/2018].
 Salisbury, R. (2018) Whiteness characterises higher education institutions – so why
are we surprised by racism?. [Online] Available at:
https://theconversation.com/whiteness-characterises-higher-education-institutions-
so-why-are-we-surprised-by-racism-93147 [Accessed 22/09/2018].
 University Australia. (2016) International education generates a record $20.3
billion for Australia. [Online] Available at:
https://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/Media-and-Events/media-releases/
International-education-generates-a-record--20-3-billion-for-
Australia#.W6YoeXszbDc [Accessed 22/09/2018].