Introduction
Australian’s institutions of higher education have continued to experience an influx of international students who are joining Australian universities to quench their thirst for higher education. International students (I. S.) always find themselves in new environments that are different from what they are used to and these results to challenges that they have to overcome in the foreign country for their learning in Australia to be successful (Prescott & Hellsten 344).
Challenges that Students Face
One of the major challenges that I. S. face is the problem of cultural shock. Cultural shock is when a person becomes confused as a result of being in a different culture from the one s/he is used to and therefore the person takes time to adapt to the present culture (Xia 98). Culture is a collective term used to refer to the values instilled in us by the virtue of growing up in a certain community or society. Culture refers to the generally accepted ways of behavior that are acquired and are predetermined by the society which in other words refer to the norms and the predetermined rules of the society. For instance, people in Australia have different cultures from people in India and this also applies to students who meet at the platforms of institutions of higher education in Australia with their different cultural backgrounds (Xia 98).
The change in cultural backgrounds leads to international students learning in Australia experiencing psychological trauma that can impact negatively in their learning process. It is reported that when students experience cultural changes they often feel abandoned and always fail to understand why other students in the foreign country are behaving in a certain way. They therefore take time before adapting to the new Australian culture and in the process experience a lot of stress which does not go well with their education in the foreign country (Xia 99).
In Asia, students are not very conversant in English and therefore, when lecturers are teaching, they often interpret the concepts which seem hard for Asian students to have an easy time when learning (Prescott & Hellsten 345). On the contrary, Australian students are used to English as the language used when they are being taught and therefore needless to say that students from India will always feel alienated in the classroom when the lecturers are teaching. This presents another problem of the way the students communicate in the classrooms.
Communication is very important in the learning process for it is through the communication platform that learning occurs (Prescott & Hellsten 348). Without communication, there would be no learning and therefore lecturers and students regardless of whether I. S. or Australians have to effectively communicate. Students with communication difficulties always shy away from contributing in the classroom discussions and asking questions and therefore very unfortunate for I. S. studying in Australian universities where the learner centered approach is very dominant. When issues of difficulties in communications for international students are not voiced out, it becomes hard for the tutor to be aware that certain students do not participate in class because of the differences in languages (Prescott & Hellsten 345).
University’s Solutions to Challenges
Australian universities have a student centered approach to learning which means that a student is actively involved in the learning process. One of the instructional strategies used in Australian universities is the discussion type of instructional strategy (Ninnes, Kalos & Aitchison 323). On the other hand, taking an example of India, students in India are used to the teacher centered approach whereby the teacher plays an important role in impacting knowledge to the students (Ninnes, Kalos & Aitchison 336). We can therefore say that Indian students are more of passive learners as compared to Australian students. Without further ado, we can clearly imagine a situation whereby a student who is used to the teacher centered approach to learning finds him/herself in a classroom where the method of learning is student centered. It’s a challenge for international students to adapt to the culture of Australian universities where students learn through actively engaging in the class (Ninnes, Kalos & Aitchison 320).
There are ways through which universities can help international students who enroll in Australian universities to adapt to the Australian learning atmosphere. One of the ways is through the universities offering courses that teach English to international students in a bid to help them communicate effectively not only in the classroom but also with students outside the classroom experience.
Student’s Solutions to Challenges
University tutors should also try to incorporate learning strategies that are known to the international students and integrate them with the learning strategies that are used in Australian universities (Ninnes, Kalos & Aitchison 324). For instance, Asian students are used to the teacher centered approach of learning as opposed to the learner centered approach.
I also tend to believe that since Australia is becoming a preferred destination for international students, universities in Australia should move away from their cocoon of comfort and employ tactics like exchange programmes between different universities. Through the exchange programs, Australian universities should send not only the students to study in universities that are not in Australia but also lecturers should be involved whereby there would be tutoring in other universities for instance in Asian universities.
We cannot ignore international student’s participation and contribution in facing the challenges that face them in their new learning environments. To begin with, students should have the right attitude to the challenges that they face and know that the challenges are only temporal and with time they can be overcome (Prescott & Hellsten 346). The students should not use the challenges as an excuse for them to feel alienated but as challenges to help them adapt to the new environments’. They should adopt the right attitude to learning new cultures and this will help avoid the problem of cultural shock because with the right attitude, international students will be very aware that they are in a different cultural context from the one they are used to. With this realization and the right attitude, the adaptation process would be smooth sailing (Xia 98).
I. S. students should invest their time in learning international languages like English. I tend to view the process of learning as self directed and therefore for proper adaptation to the new learning environment for international students, a lot of time should be invested by the student to study English. He/she should be able to spend time with native students and learn how they do things.
Works Cited
Ninnes, Peter, Kalos, Shoba & Aitchison, Claire. Challenges to Stereotypes of International Students’ Prior Educational Experience: Undergraduate Experience in India. Higher Education Research and Development. Vol. 18, Issue No. 3. University of New England, pp. 323 – 340, 1999.
Prescott, Anne & Hellsten, Meeri. Learning at University: The International Student Experience. International Education Journal. Vol. 5, Issue No. 3. Macquaire University, School of Education, pp. 344 – 351, 2004.
Xia, Junzi. Analysis of Impact of Culture Shock on Individual Psychology. International Journal of Psychological Studies. Vol. 1, Issue No. 2. pp. 97 – 101, 2009.