University students are our future leaders, contribute significantly to the economy and have been struggling over the past year due to COVID and I feel we are not doing enough to help them, particularly international students.
Imagine, for a moment, that you are an 18-year-old girl from Malaysia and you are fortunate that your parents saved enough money to send you to Australia to study. Your friends think you are so lucky, that you get to spend three years in cosmopolitan Melbourne, 'the most livable city in the world'. You are so excited to get started and experience life away from home. New fashion, food and friends. Awesome!!
You arrive in Melbourne with a buzz in the air waiting to see what your university can offer you and meet some new friends. The apartment you pre-booked through your agent is right in the middle of the CBD, walking distance to Uni and is a great launching pad to experience the city. It's small but cozy. The first day of class is nerve-racking as you are unfamiliar with the language, city and people. But you feel hopeful, even though there is COVID rampaging through the world.
Then lockdown happens. You retreat to your tiny apartment with three other students, no privacy and little room to move. Classes are no all online so you a locked to your laptop most of the day attending online lectures and trying to understand what you need to do to pass. Each class is super expensive for your family so you are desperate not to fail. But it's so hard to hear the lecturer when they talk so fast.
You don't know any other students so you do mostly solo assignments unless you have to choose a group and join with strangers that you can't really connect with. There is no fun. Joy. Physical connection. You miss home, your parents, your friends, your bed. You are 18 years old and alone and no one seems to care.
This was the reality for many international students who came to Australia last year and if we want to attract them back to our country we need to do better. Why do we need international students? Consider these three reasons:
1) International students provide a huge boost to our economy directly and indirectly through all the services they spend money on while here.
In 2019, the ABS estimates 57% of the A$40 billion that international education contributed to the Australian economy, or A$22.8 billion, came in the form of goods and services spent in the wider economy.
2) Cultural diversity. Many international students leave Australia after getting their degree due to a lack of quality job prospects. But the ones who stay bring with them a skilled profession, diverse ideas and experiences to add to the business and cultural community in Australia.
3) Strong work ethic. May overseas students are supporting their whole family. Parents, uncles, aunties and friends have all saved to contribute to that one bright child getting an opportunity to study abroad and help the rest of the family in the future. They work hard and strive to get ahead. They pay their taxes and appreciate the opportunities provided to them. They are great Australians.
Being a lecturer in Digital Marketing at RMIT I teach a few classes of 60+ students each semester and have seen some of the issues students have been having. Many are struggling with the lack of community and connection last year, particularly the international students who didn't get a chance to connect with their classmates and missed out on many social occasions which is so much of what University is about.
To help them, I have an idea. It's just an idea at this stage but I wanted to get it out there for feedback and consideration from students and Uni folk.
What if there was a community based platform that supported students connect with each other and to the University - CampusLife.
Features we could include are:
Ability to search and find students at your Uni and your class specifically for group assignments
Social events and fun stuff
Find a room mate
Sell your stuff when you go home, buy stuff when you arrive
Walk home safety feature
Help finding mentors in your field of study
I know of a few similar packages but none of them seem to be used very much and I wonder why? Any advice is appreciated!
The mission is to improve life for all university students, but particularly those from overseas to ensure Australia remains the destination of choice to study abroad.
Andrew
