Negotiating Transnational Life Worlds: Experiences of Chinese Student-Migrants in Australia

Abstract

Student mobility has increased steadily over the last decades, and international students are now more visible in most universities, especially in countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Europe, North America and some countries within the Asia-Pacific region (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2012). As many as one in five degrees conferred by UK universities in recent years is an international student (International Focus, 2009), and international education has established itself as the third highest export industry in Australia (Australian Bureau Statistics, 2011). However, current literature (e.g., Brown & Holloway, 2008; Carroll & Ryan, 2005; Marginson, Nyland, Sawir, & Forbes-Mewitt, 2010) frequently documents the unique challenges that international students face in adjusting to Australian higher education. Specifically, international students have to negotiate different academic systems, communication differences, racial and ethnic distinctions and a lack of social interaction with members within the host society (Arkoudis & Tran, 2007). While they are visibly culturally other within Western universities, and their legal status in the host country defines them as ‘temporary outsiders’, they are not homogeneously defined cultural subjects. Research regarding their needs and cross-cultural adjustment experiences is, therefore, important in order to promote future global intercultural understanding in our current times (Rizvi, 2011).