The theme for this year’s Australian International Education Conference (AIEC) 2024 is The human element, and there’s nothing more human than thinking about our international students and their wellbeing.
In September, Navitas released The post-pandemic classroom report, that considered the needs of the next generation of international students, those that were most profoundly impacted by Covid-19 disruptions (see TKN 050924 for an overview).
The research found that one of the three key risk factors associated with the pandemic for international students was the impacts on mental health and wellbeing.
Navitas found that a major impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was a significant decline in people’s mental health and wellbeing.
“Thrust into a virtual learning world, and often lacking the tools and experience to deal with such changes, young people experienced high degrees of social isolation, fear of illness or loss, family economic hardship, academic pressure, and general uncertainty about the future,” the report says.
Navitas identifies that international students are more vulnerable to experiencing mental disorders, and are also not using, or are not aware of, the support services available to them. According to the 2021 International student Barometer, only 16 per cent of students used counselling services, and 22 per cent did not know how to access counselling.
When asking Navitas educators about what they were witnessing in the classroom, almost 60 per cent noted a decline in the mental health of students post-COVID.
Navitas suggests that the challenges that school-aged students faced during the pandemic are translating to their experiences in tertiary education. Lack of concentration, moodiness and irritability, fatigue are just some of the poor mental health indicators appearing in the classroom.
“International students are an incredibly resilient and committed group. They leave the comforts and supports of home to throw themselves into a very different world – while going through formative coming-of-age developments. They will continue to do the same in the coming years; but the international education community will need to be alert to the fact that this next generation will need even more support to succeed”, the report concludes.
Professor of Media and Communication, RMIT University, Catherine Gomes, also considers international student wellbeing in her paper published this month, The wellbeing turn: A necessary consideration in international student mobility.
Professor Gomes takes a scholarly approach and considers international student wellbeing in the context of international student studies and research. She suggests that the field of international student mobility (ISM) studies, which has traditionally been centred around migration and mobility aspects, needs to incorporate a wellbeing lens or “wellbeing turn”.
The concept of “wellbeing turn” emphasises that international students’ wellbeing has a significant impact on their decision-making process, and why they choose or not choose a place to study. Gomes argues that this shift has been prompted by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and concerns around perceived failure of overseas institutions to meet their duty of care and of racism and xenophobia.
Although international student wellbeing was a concern pre-COVID-19, “The impact of COVID‐19 on international students, however, highlighted international student mental health like no other global event in living memory”, says Gomes, and the wellbeing of international students has become as important as providing quality education.
Gomes concludes that the international sector already knows “that taking care of international student wellbeing improves [Australia]’s reputation and global competitiveness as an international student destination”, and the scholarship of ISM would do well to recognise it as a significant driver in the future.
If you’re interested in the topic of international students, support and wellbeing, here are some of the sessions at AIEC 2024 that you may want to check out:
- 3.2 ‘It’s not me, it’s you’: are we doing our part to adapt to student needs? (Wednesday, 11.45am, Room 103)
- 2.4 Redefining student success: a holistic approach for international students (Thursday, 10.00am, Room 107)
- 3.1 Expectations versus reality: insights into the international student journey (Thursday, 11.15am, Plenary 1)
- 2 The human element – navigating life and learning as an international student (Friday, 10.30am, Plenary 1)
Download a copy of The post-pandemic classroom here.
Download a copy of The wellbeing turn: A necessary consideration in international student mobility here.
