International Student Security

Abstract

More than three million students globally are on the move each year, crossing borders for their tertiary education. Many travel from Asia and Africa to English speaking countries, led by the United States, including the UK, Australia and New Zealand where students pay tuition fees at commercial rates and prop up an education export sector that has become lucrative for the provider nations. But the 'no frills' commercial form of tertiary education, designed to minimise costs and maximise revenues, leaves many international students inadequately protected and less than satisfied. International Student Security draws on a close study of international students in Australia, and exposes opportunity, difficulty, danger and courage on a massive scale in the global student market. It works through many unresolved issues confronting students and their families, including personal safety, language proficiency, finances, sub-standard housing, loneliness and racism.

Beyond the “National Container”

“…Having said this, we are not suggesting that an Australian intercultural approach is a panacea for international higher education. At the same time, it is important to acknowledge and address the human right issues faced by international students and the systemic barriers (such as racism, immigration, housing, personal security, and so on) that leave such students vulnerable and exploited in Australia and elsewhere (Marginson, Nyland, Sawir, & Forbes-Mewett, 2010). This means shifting decision-making structures to consider transnational phenomena and making curriculum, pedagogy, and systems changes to reflect an intercultural approach to education, and addressing racism, personal safety, and other forms of marginalization/exploitation experienced by students crossing national boundaries.…”

UK policy discourses and international student mobility: the deterrence and subjectification of international students

“…This conceptualisation of international students is 'trapped within a set of nation-centric assumptions' (Rizvi and Lingard 2010, 194), which makes the country of origin the main factor for explaining individuals' behaviours and beliefs. Other dimensions such as religion, social background, wealth, prior education, disability, gender, or age are rarely considered either in the literature or in policy circles (Marginson et al 2010). Students are assimilated into groups for which an identity is created on national and regional levels (Lomer 2017), so that it is meaningful to discuss 'East Asian students', for example.…”

“…It encourages students to understand their position in international education as governed by consumer/provider relationships. This means they are empowered to exert consumer rights, such as complaints and feedback, rather than the rights of a citizen, such as protests or lobbying (Marginson et al 2010), or those of a partner in the co-construction of education. From the subject position of a consumer, students begin to perceive education (or rather a degree) as an acquisition rather than an activity.…”

What Students are Telling us about Why They Left Their ICT Course

“…The issue of least concern was the possible security risk associated with attending evening classes (4% agreement). Although security concerns have often been mentioned in the literature as a reason for attrition (Marginson et al, 2010), the vast majority of ICT students and participants in the online survey were male and domestic, and perhaps because of this have not been so influenced by this issue. The most frequent response to the reasons relating to the course experience ( In a recent Australian survey of over 30,000 students, ICT students were found to have the lowest levels of academic challenge, higher order thinking and enriching educational experiences of all disciplines considered (ACER, 2010).…”