With a course of time, Australia has evolved as one of the most popular and selected destinations for higher education. There are more than half of million international students studying and living across Australia. Being geographically and culturally different from many countries, thousands of international students suffer from physical and psychological trauma. Here, we have listed some challenges faced by international students in Australia
1. Financial Hardship
Not only in Australia, but international student face financial hardship in almost every part of the world. Likewise in Australia, not a thing is free and cheaper in Australia. And the most breaking thing is that the tuition fees of Australian universities are really expensive. Paying over 20,000 AUD per year is very frustrating and hard. On the other hand, the rents and accommodation costs are also higher. In Sydney, one bedroom flat costs around 300-500 AUD which is very expensive.
2. Difference in Education System
In general, study in Australia is exciting and productive but the education system might be different from many countries. On the other hand, Australian universities offer bachelors 3 years bachelor program whereas other many countries follow four year threshold for bachelor degree. Similarly, course and credits are divided in weeks and hours which might be very new and furthermore, awkward to numbers of international students.
3. Language barriers
Although, Australia is the land of diversities and multicultural aspects English is the most spoken and local language of the country. Many international students cannot cope up and communicate frequently because of language barriers. Australian people speaks very fast which will be difficult to understand for non-native speakers. Besides, Aussie accent and slangs are also the factors creating communication language barriers for internationals.
4. Cultural Differences
This challenge is one of the common and frequent for most of the international students in Australia. In general, Australia is very developed in terms of infrastructures, society, awareness, literacy and many other fields. Australian people are very open and straight forward and most importantly, they are very interactive and fun loving. However, the set of practices and things they do might offend you or vice-versa. For an example, your country might found it uncomfortable to see women in Bikini but it is completely fine in Australia.
5. Workplace harassment
Although, not every international student have to go through this workplace violation has caused a headache for many international students. One of the major issues with this is underpaid and verbal abuse. According to the Australian government, the minimum hourly wage is 17.70 AUD but employers violate the law and hire students to pay below minimum range which is illegal. As Australian Fair Work Ombudsman has been actively working to eradicate it but students hesitate and frighten to file a case against their employer. And this is the reason why these cases are still prevailing.