2001 2014CHINA
SINGAPOREMALAYSIAChina
99,341Singapore
34,325Malaysia
29,051Source: Andrew Norton and Ben Cakitaki, Mapping Australian higher education 2016
(Grattan Institute, 2016) and predecessor publication.
10,000
0
INDIAVietnam
18,989Nepal
8,912
USA
6,666
Pakistan
6,284India
25,386Hong Kong
13,568Indonesia
11,381Singapore
18,277Malaysia
16,344Hong Kong
15,719
Indonesia
9,619China
8,018
India
5,485
USA
3,548
Thailand
3,259
Taiwan
2,687
Norway
2,527Entering the Australian university system presents a totally
different educational experience, which for some takes a little
time to get used to. Most challenging is the freedom to express
yourself and be an individual. Jackie commented: “At the
beg inning we wor r y ‘cause it ’s ha rder to understa nd, but
gradually we learn how to manage our studies better. It’s a
process – we find our way to learn in Australia.” Other students
such as Bryan adapt more quickly: “I love the freedom of the
Australian system – now we get to formulate our own opinions.
This is what hig her educat ion shou ld be.”For Jenny, the Australian system offers “a way to understand
me.” Hav ing spent a semester on excha nge at t he Universit y of
Washington, Jenny draws an interesting distinction between
studying in Australia and the USA. “In the US you have to work
every week ... very intense study ... but in Australia you are
more flexible. I like that way better as I have more flexibility
to think about [designing] and [managing] my own time,” she
stated. Similarly, Runjia, who completed a student exchange
to Chicago, commented on the competition in the USA’s
education system, observing that “Australian students are
chilled.” She also highlighted the stronger industry focus
of the USA design degrees, which place more emphasis
on job readiness.How, then, do the students view Australia?“We are familiar, but we are not really familiar.”- Nudcha, Thailand
The students identified something about Australia that differs
from other Western countries. Nudcha Chayapurnh (Thailand)
observes that “the older you get, you start to realize there is
something refreshing about Australia – something familiar,
something forward looking. I always felt Europe was old and
less accepting and the States was where the crazy people live.”
The students we interviewed feel very free here – a factor of our
open democracy. This freedom extends into the use of
language. For example, Runjia makes an interesting
observation about how she expresses herself in English: “When
I speak English I can be direct about my feelings and thoughts,
[but when speaking in Mandarin] I need to be conscious about
what other people are thinking and be really polite and careful
with my language.”The students are often asked about racism in Australia, but
sa id t hat a ny t hing ex per ienced here is sma ll in compa r ison to
the political and racial difficulties encountered in their own
countries. For instance, Catherine is of Chinese descent, and in
her home country of Malaysia she is discriminated against by a
gover nment system t hat pr iv ileges Ma lay. Jess com mented
that the political difficulties of Hong Kong help her to
appreciate Australian society: “When I am here and watch the
news back home I feel so lucky that I had the chance to get out
of that place.” It is because of the ongoing political problems
and natural disasters in Asian countries that she believes
Asians “are tougher when it comes to race.”Top ten international student
source countries (across all courses)