Landscape Architecture Australia — February 2018

LANDSCAPE ISSUE 157 024 — 025

ASIA IN AUSTRALIA

REFLECTIONS ON AN

AUSTRALIAN EDUCATION

Jillian Walliss and Heike Rahmann caught up with a group of

international landscape architecture students to learn about their

experiences in Australia and why they chose to study here.

—

Tex t Jillian Walliss and Heike Rahmann

Illustrations Tom Harper and Brock Hogan (Placemark)

A

cross Australian universities, the media and the
broader community we have grown accustomed to
various attitudes toward Asian students. It is not
uncommon to hear claims that these students are here to
“ buy a deg ree” to ga in ea sy access to residenc y. Some
academics begrudge the need to internationalize their
curriculum, while others (frequently knowing no other
language themselves) complain that the students have poor
English skills. Formed by particular experiences, these views
are often generalized to describe the wide spectrum of “the
international (Asian) student.” Rarely do we spend time
finding out why these diverse students choose to study in
Australia and what they think of our cities, education system
and attitudes, so we sat down and spoke with students from
Thailand, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and China
who are currently studying at RMIT University and the
University of Melbourne. We began with discussing the
dominance of Chinese students in these settings.

“I was very confused when I first got here.”

• Jacqueline, Hong Kong

In some instances, Chinese students dominate particular
programs of landscape architecture. The 300-point Master of
Landscape Architecture at the University of Melbourne, for
example, has a large proportion of Chinese students, while they
a lso for m a substa nt ia l cohor t in R M I T Universit y ’s Ma ster of
Landscape Architecture. Most of the students we spoke with
were not surprised by the many Chinese studying in Australia,

reflective of the value Chinese place on international education

and the sheer size of their population. Chinese students can be

found studying in universities across the world: “When you are

in Melbourne and Sydney you see many Chinese and Asian

faces, but then when I was in Switzerland doing my

undergraduate degree, 50 percent of students were Chinese,”

said Bryan Choong (Singapore).

Many Chinese students are conscious of breaking from their

cultural group; however, this is difficult when they first arrive

at an Australian university. Jenny Yu (China) commented: “At

the very beginning the Chinese students are shy – coming from

different education, different culture, but over time [and] with

more experience they become more confident.” Jackie Gu

(China) stated: “I sit in the middle – I have [the] same cultural

background as Chinese students but talk a lot with the local

students.” They are very mindful of working hard on their

English and trying to minimize the use of their native tongue.

“We understand landscape architecture through English

language, not Chinese.” Interesting language negotiations

occur between the Asian students, who, on average, speak

three languages. Bryan stated: “I rarely speak Mandarin to the

ma in la nd Chinese. T hey have to spea k to me in Eng lish. T hey

say I speak Mandarin like a robot reading from a textbook.”

For some students, entering classes with a large proportion of

Chinese students can be confusing. Jacqueline Yu, who arrived

in Australia from Hong Kong in 2017, commented: “At some

point I thought I was studying in China.