Since beginning work as an English teacher in Melbourne in 2005 I have met hundreds of students from the world over. Of these students a good percentage of them have been surnamed Zhang from China, or Lee from Korea. I have had the pleasure of teaching dozens of students named Mohammed from Saudi Arabia and at least half a dozen Nazukis from Kyoto. The presence of these students in Melbourne not only gifts out city with a youthful cultural diversity, it also keeps our economy running. International education is Victoria’s number one export and several recent studies have confirmed the fact that without them, we would be in big trouble.

 

So, knowing how important these students are, I wonder how often the good people of our city take the time out to ask themselves; why have these students chosen to come here? Why, during the golden years of their youth have they decided to leave friends and families behind to come to Australia?

Over the past few months I have been posing this and other questions to many of my former students.  Their answers seem to indicate two common themes: firstly, that the decision to come abroad is not one taken lightly, and secondly, that Australia was not often their destination of choice

 

Take Xiu for example, a former student of mine from Beijing. Like many other students she was driven to pursue university studies in Australia in order to improve her chances of securing a higher paying job in the future. For many students, merely being an expert in their field of choice is not enough to guarantee a good job, and proficiency in English is very important regardless of one’s interest in language learning. As for why she chose Australia, to put it simply, it was her only choice. Australia is still a much cheaper option than other English speaking countries such as England or the United States, proving an affordable option for families who feel that a degree from a reputable overseas institution will improve their child’s prospects.

Immigration is also a popular reason for choosing Australia. Whilst many of the students I spoke to would have preferred to study in America, England or even Canada, Australia’s reputation as a multi-cultural society which provides immigration opportunities is simply too good to ignore. Jarry, a student from Xian whom I spoke with recently explains that whilst the USA may have been his first choice, the expense of living there and the difficulty in actually being accepted by a good US college were simply too difficult. This combined with the fact that he would like to gain some work experience overseas after he graduated made Australia the natural choice, as he had heard that the process of immigrating after he graduates should be relatively easy.

 

Of course there are other reasons. Apart from being affordable and open to immigration, Australia has a reputation of being quite safe and some of our Universities do enjoy extremely good reputations overseas. But the moral of this story is that the students who are enriching our lives both culturally and economically haven’t come here merely for a beach holiday or to take happy snaps of Kangaroos. They have come here to improve their opportunities in life and have made large sacrifices to do so. As such, I think that as Australians, we owe it to them to make their time here as fulfilling as possible.