As iconic rockers KISS prepare to play one of the biggest events in the Australian sporting calendar this month, you’d be forgiven for missing a link to international student experience. But when I asked a research participant about his decision to study in Australia years ago, he smiled and said ‘Oh, I have a funny story about that!’. His favourite CD at the time was a 2003 KISS album, recorded with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra; when it came time to choose a study destination, and an offer came from Melbourne, the decision almost made itself.
Before you brief your marketing teams to create an Arena-Tours-Of-Australia content strategy, hold the phone. The remarkable thing about this story wasn’t that KISS helped him choose, or how difficult his early months in Australia were, or even the elegant street art he created (with a permit) in the laneways of Melbourne. The most striking aspect was the profound impact of his experience on his professional and creative identity:
“In Melbourne, it came to the surface, this feeling of being an artist. I remember saying, ‘Hey mom, I’m an artist. I don’t want to be an architect”.
These are not the usual international education narratives we share. These stories don’t fit the mould, getting lost in the news of endless enrolment numbers, visa issues, employment stats and more ‘measurable’ outcomes. In this recent research project for English Australia’s 40th anniversary conference, however, these stories surfaced a longer term, life-changing and wide-ranging impact of studying overseas.
Unplanned outcomes and unexpected benefits
Over a series of in-depth interviews with individuals who studied in Australia a decade or more ago, across 5 continents and 11 countries, I heard about twists and turns, unplanned outcomes and unexpected benefits not captured in our student surveys and glossy brochures. I interviewed students who left challenging home lives to take a chance on a new country, overwhelmed by new systems and culture shock but determined to make the most of opportunity. There were others who left promising career paths and turned down promotions to travel halfway around the world and stretch out of their comfort zones, losing confidence, connections and sometimes their own sense of identity in the process.
“You lose who you are, completely. You feel so stupid for not being able to speak. I felt so dumb, all the time.”
Among the challenges were key moments of realisation, whether it was walking alone at night and noticing they felt safe (“I realised what it meant to have quality of life”), establishing long-standing friendships with other nationalities, or returning home with a fresh perspective on their own country and culture. Some changed careers (from architecture to design, from banking to social work) and others changed countries, ending up as far away as Vancouver and London.
The impact of a quiet word, and the power of a platform
Amongst all the change, disruption and adaptation, every interview referenced the importance of people and networks, and especially the educators. Former students recalled the teachers who spotted them at their lowest ebb, took them aside and offered to listen, even if they couldn’t fix the problem. Some students discovered new ways of learning, taking tools and techniques into later studies and professional lives. Other teachers saw students’ potential, and pointed out pathways and options they might never have thought of.
As many commented at the English Australia conference, these are stories that some of us know through personal experience, but which are rarely given a platform outside our personal interactions and staffrooms. In the fast-moving news cycle of student flows, shifting policies and enrolment peaks and troughs, they can anchor us back to the meaning and purpose of our work. Their voices remind us that our actions today matter, even if we can’t always know what impact those actions will have on students long into the future. As one interviewee said, two decades after leaving the classroom:
“It may be just another student for you, but this student will carry you forever because it’s a huge impact you guys have on our lives.”
