Amid all the consternation over caps, a new paper has emerged with the reminder that international student wellbeing is the true cornerstone of Australia’s international education appeal.
Catherine Gomes (RMIT) suggests that international student mobility scholarship evaluation should extend to student wellbeing, because the COVID pandemic “fundamentally changed” their “expectations and aspirations.”
On the basis of previous studies, including the COVID experience of Internationals in Australia, she presents issues, which appear to establish a context for more work on wellbeing, including:
- Friends: pre-COVID, Internationals befriended each other, “because of the commonality of experience” – but those with Australian friends were better informed on life outside study. The small group without either were alone before the pandemic, which “normalised” their experience.
- Personal challenges: the disruptions of the pandemic were especially hard for Internationals, dealing with the same disruptions and discord as Australians, but without the support of family and community. Gomes cites the experiences of two students who participated in a 2021 study as an illustration of how tough it was for many.
- Coping: “there was no template on dealing with the suspension of the international student experience itself.” However, Gomes records how Internationals coped, for example the PhD student from Africa who created a Zoom community based on music from home.
The takeout: “in the case of Australia, in particular, incorporating the wellbeing turn in ISM scholarship recognises what the international sector has already known – that taking care of international student wellbeing improves this country’s reputation and global competitiveness as an international student destination.”
