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;

Story

Life not as you know it for Australia's international student community

by Emma Hartley

Stories/765 , Issues/Discrimination , Issues/Multiculturalism , Issues/Policy

The Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200

1st Jul 2020

International students studying at the Australian National University (ANU) speak out about their experiences.

“That was horrible,” says William*, describing the empty streets of Beijing, “It was like the horror movie Silent Hill.”

Since the February outbreak of COVID-19 in China, international students studying in Australia have experienced a rollercoaster of ordeals. As coronavirus restrictions begin to ease, life may seem to be returning to the pre-pandemic status quo. Yet, despite the introduction of JobSeeker and the temporary increase in social welfare payments, international students have been left out, unable to qualify for these programs. Queues of international students lining up for food handouts have become a common sight and, back in April, Prime Minister Scott Morrison told international students, “it’s time to go home”.

The experiences of international students over the past few months have been hugely varied. Some were stuck in China when the outbreak occurred. Others have lost work because they don’t qualify for JobSeeker. Along with domestic students, the transition to online learning has been different for everyone. So what does this mean now that society is opening up again?

Staying in place

William is a student at the Australian National University (ANU) studying International Relations, but he was in Beijing at the start of the COVID-19 outbreak. He quickly realised he couldn’t go anywhere. He ended up staying with his family during the lockdown, unable to go out at all for two months. His family lived in a large apartment complex; a community of people living almost on top of each other where security was tight. “Every time you wanted to leave this community,” says William, “you had to show the security guard your identity.” To compound his isolation, Beijing had turned into a ghost town. A city home to 20 million people with suddenly no one on the streets was a sight William found unsettling. Eventually, he was able to return to Canberra after the first week of classes but not before going through Thailand and self-isolating for 14 days before continuing on to Australia.

Zhang Yi, a 21-year-old studying Information Technology, managed to return to Australia in time for the start of the academic year. She was in China on the day of the breakout on 21 January and was on a flight ten days later. In Canberra, she went into a voluntary 14-day self-isolation period in her share-house where she relied on delivery services and friends for food.

27-year-old Juris Doctor student, Epi Terbio, was already in Canberra at the outbreak. Epi is a Senior Resident (SR) at Toad Hall, an on-campus self-catered residence at ANU for postgraduate students. His role as an SR means he provides support and pastoral care for the fourteen students that would normally live on his floor. However, this year student numbers have dwindled. One student from China never moved in and since the outbreak, the number of residents for whom Epi is responsible has dropped to nine.

This decrease in numbers has occurred across Toad Hall, the population of which is around 97% international students. It’s a tight-knit community. “We’re used to eating together, having potlucks,” Epi explains, “This semester has been really trying, not spending the same time with them is really difficult.” Even though Toad Hall has allowed students to break their contracts with the residence to make it easier for them to move out, Epi has chosen to stay, feeling it his responsibility to look out for his fellow residents.

Rucha Tathavadkar, a 23-year-old linguistics student, has had some of her roommates move out. Although her family lives in India and most of her friends live outside Canberra, she has been able to keep touch online. When it comes to her experience of everyday life, “Nothing has changed much.”

Hostility

What does change, observes Zhang Yi, is people’s behaviour when she coughs or sneezes in public. Because of her appearance, people’s body language immediately becomes alert. She says that she hasn’t experienced any verbal racism but knows friends who have.

The same cannot be said for William. He originally did not wear a mask when outside: “’Because I’m Asian I could easily be targeted.” But his girlfriend and family insisted and so he began to wear one in public. However, his concerns were confirmed while at a Canberra petrol station. Inside the store, William saw a man talking to the cashier. The man turned around and saw William. “Stand back five feet,” he demanded, although William was already respecting the 1.5 metre distance rule. “I would have punched him in the face if I was a citizen and not on a student visa,” declares William.

Nonetheless, he disagrees with China’s warning to students against going to Australia for study, citing "racist incidents” that have occurred in Australia during the pandemic. He links this to the Chinese government’s overall negative reaction to Australia’s proposed independent investigation into the coronavirus pandemic. “It’s such a Cold War thought,” remarks William, “It’s like something from a textbook coming to life.”

He is disappointed that many Australians assume the standpoint of the Chinese government represents all Chinese people. William himself is worried about the Chinese government increasing censorship and surveillance – he grows ever more fearful of returning to China while increasingly hopeful of permanently migrating to Australia once he graduates. “The climate is changing”: this is the only way his parents can communicate their own concerns to him about the political situation in China. They, too, seem to want him to stay in Australia.

Financial pressures

Adding to these burdens, the fact that international students must pay their tuition fees upfront, at a much higher price than domestic students, yet are restricted to a 20-hour working week, puts them under significant financial pressure. The pandemic has only exacerbated the situation.

Zhang Yi is one of the many international students who relies on their family to help with tuition payments. She admits that she has stopped asking her parents for money. Since businesses had to close in China after the Spring Festival, many Chinese families are under financial stress. She has applied and received $750 as offered through the ANU Student Association emergency grant, but it is only a one-off payment. Having lost her job at a Japanese restaurant in mid-March, Zhang Yi has only recently been able to start looking for work again in the Canberra hospitality industry. However, restaurants have only been offering around five hours of work a week – a sharp drop from the sixteen hours Zhang Yi had worked at the Japanese restaurant.

William is also acutely aware of the pressure that tuition fees puts on his parents. He admits that he only speaks for a certain group of students in that his parents are still able to financially support him, but he works hard at his studies, knowing that graduating with a degree from ANU will offer him better job prospects. Nonetheless, it does seem somewhat absurd to him that he is paying such high tuition for courses that are now delivered online.

Zoom University

“It’s like doing uni but without all the fun stuff to look forward to,” explains Epi, “I came to study in Australia so that I could experience the study environment of studying overseas.” The transition from in-person to online learning has changed the dynamic for Epi who describes himself as extroverted, and highlights the importance of in-person discussions in his law classes. He finds he doesn’t contribute the way he normally would – conducting classes over Zoom has altered the rhythm of the discussion flow.

Zhang Yi finds that online learning, “makes my study even harder.” She has reduced her study load from four to three courses. For information technology, a lot of which involves teaching students about hardware, the content is very difficult to communicate over Zoom. The digital format also makes it hard to problem solve. Both she and Epi hope for the return to in-person learning for next semester.

Looking forward

For Rucha, although she has not been able to pursue a thesis for her master’s degree as originally planned, at least finds that this pandemic period has offered an opportunity to work on things she would not normally have time for such as her creative writing.

Zhang Yi’s parents want her to go back to China after graduation in 2021, especially as ticket prices are still too expensive for her to fly to her family now. Either way, she plans to leave Canberra at the end of her studies with plans to move to either Melbourne or Sydney for work.

Despite the grim reality now facing the Australian economy, Epi is definitely still considering his prospects of staying in Australia after he graduates. He hopes that when he graduates in about two years’ time, the economy will have recovered enough that obtaining a job will be feasible.

William is still determined and will not let the economic decline affect his studies. Studying International Relations means that a lot of the jobs in related fields require vigorous security background checks which are a lot harder for non-citizens to attain. His ambition is to work for Amnesty International – “Cuba or North Korea, I don’t care.”

*Name changed to protect the student’s identity for fears of potential repercussions from the Chinese Communist Party.

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