South Australia has set targets to attract more international students but are we doing enough to integrate foreign scholars and capitalise on the qualities they bring to our state?
LAST year, more than 27,700 international students made a temporary home in South Australia to pursue their education.
They bring cultural variety, money and possible future skills to the state and its campuses and, by 2014, Education Adelaide hopes to boost the state's international student population to 62,000.
However, there are concerns the state is failing to capitalise on its influx of foreign students who, with proper support and incentives, could remain in SA as skilled workers of the future.
There are also concerns that the young people who travel here do not get the most out of their Aussie experience and that they have trouble integrating with the community and making friends with local students.
Universities Australia chief executive Glenn Withers said tertiary institutions were making an effort to improve the experiences of foreign students, but more needs to be done.
"It's something that is being taken increasingly seriously, particularly with how classes are being treated," he said. Dr Withers said many students from overseas also struggled to find part-time work to support themselves as they complete their degree. "What we really need is to make it easier for them to get a job that provides a few hours of work and is linked in with their studies," he said.
Adelaide cannot afford to be complacent about its efforts.
"Not only is there competition within Australia from Melbourne, Sydney and Perth, but universities in France and Germany are now teaching in English to attract international students."
A recent survey by Education Adelaide and the Adelaide City Council showed international students in SA found it difficult to mix with the local community and other Australian university students.
Of the foreign students who said they lived in share housing between 2004 and 2008, 70 per cent lived only with other international students. Overall, the visitors were dissatisfied with public transport and the proximity of housing to shops and the city. However, earlier research in the four fastest growing international student markets of China, India, Vietnam and South Korea, found the overall perception of Adelaide to be positive.
Many potential students related quality of education with Adelaide, which ranked third as a learning destination for potential students behind Sydney and Melbourne. Research also found students who preferred Adelaide nominated its quality of education, safety and better cost of living.
An audit of the University of Adelaide by the Australian Universities Quality Agency found it was to be commended for programs and frameworks it had developed, such as its International Student Centre. But it still faced the problem of melding its foreign and domestic student body. "One of the most urgent matters for the university to address is the social and cultural integration of international and domestic students," the 2008 audit said.
UNISA received an overall thumbs up for its efforts to grow and support its international student body. A 2006 audit of Flinders found international students had stronger academic progress than domestic students, though "some concerns were expressed (by students) including around enrolment and grievance systems".
Adelaide University Union president Lavinia Emmett-Grey said there was national recognition that foreign students needed ongoing support after O-Week.
"Their needs are a lot greater (because) they're not just coping with university issues but settling in to the city and finding accommodation too," she said.
Ms Emmett-Grey said international students were "far more willing to get involved" in campus activities than domestic students. "The thing that concerns me is that there's not a reciprocity from domestic students to engage them back," she said. "The domestic students don't want to break down the cultural divides."
Ms Emmett-Grey said international students also had particular problems with some educational requirements and "responsibilities". "(For example), a lot of students don't understand what plagiarism means," she said.
William Ng, 23, moved from Malaysia to Adelaide in January to complete a Masters in International Hospitality Management at UniSA and decided to also take on a mentor role to other international students. He said he acts as a "big brother" for those struggling to cope with Australian life.
"I spend a bit of time consoling my friends, some of whom cry almost every night," he said.
"I've spent a bit of time holidaying in Australia and I came here for World Youth Day in Sydney last year, but they are just not coping. I tell them that they will get to go home, they're not here forever.
"There is support, but probably not enough on the one-on-one basis; they feel as though they've got no one to talk to." He added: "Some of my friends said 'why go to such a boring place', you should be in Sydney or Melbourne, but I didn't have much of a choice." Mr Ng said "definite barrier" existed between local and international students.
"Generally Asian students are timid when it comes to mingling, so you can't solely blame the unis or locals, but maybe more could be done to help integrate," he said.
For Anders Stridh, 25, the biggest challenge in moving from Sweden to Adelaide a month ago was finding accommodation.
"We started looking on the Saturday, in the suburbs, but it was all a bit too far from uni," he said. "I started to worry a little about where I was going to end up, but it's worked out OK." Mr Stridh, who studies several law-related subjects at UniSA, found a room at UniLodge on Hindley St.
THE UniLodge, which can house up to 430 students, has developed a Community Spirit program to integrate students and promote self esteem and confidence. This includes encouraging activities from barbecues to tours of South Australia to having access to counsellors.
Group general manager for marketing and communications Karen Vanderpols said students can struggle with a feeling of isolation.
"Some tend to just stay in their apartments - they are not confident about things," she said. Nationally, the number of enrolled international students rose by a record 20.7 per cent last year to 543,898 - the largest increase since 2002 and the first time international enrolments have exceeded 500,000 in a calendar year. Most students, 127,276 of them, were from China.
International education contributed $14.2 billion to the economy in 2007-08, making it Australia's third-largest export behind coal and iron ore.
National Union of Students president David Barrow said universities needed to stop looking at pupils from overseas as "cash cows" and start valuing what they can add not just to a campus, but to society.
"They see them with a price tag attached, but they need to be treated with the same respect that we treat our own Australian students," he said.
Mr Barrow said while some students may initially feel like returning home, pressure from their families and financial commitments meant they were more likely to stay and finish their degrees in Australia.
The Thai-born acting president of Adelaide University's Overseas Student Association, Aushim Merchant, moved to Adelaide as a 17-year-old two years ago and said overseas students should try to accept cultural differences and learn English.
"I know what I found hardest at first was, where I came from there was no alcohol at all, but Australians have a pretty big appreciation for it," he said.
"Everywhere I went was beer, beer, beer, and I thought to myself 'oh my god'.
"But you need to come with an open mind and realise that things will be different. If you don't, then that's when you can end up a bit secluded."
