It is certainly true that a number of Indian students have been the subject of unprovoked attacks in Australia in recent times. It seems that the world’s media have made sure that this is global news. I’ve even had a British student (with a very Anglo name I might add) write to me with concerns for his safety during his study, scheduled to commence in Sydney in July.

What is not true is that we can determine, with any authority, the real risk to other Indian students, or any other students for that matter, as a result of these tragic events. We can begin to look at this issue from the perspective of personal safety research data for the world’s countries and cities.

But the media generally likes to make sure that the facts don’t get in the way of a good story, and sometimes the public are very happy to lend a hand. Take these comments from bloggers to the Times of India, for instance, “Even Before the advent of immigrants to that country, Australia was notorious for crimes, the reason remains very simple, poor economy, falling literacy rate, unemployment and racism, like many other countries” and “[the] youth of that country are left with very little choice but to target rich Indian students” while another preferred to entertain more of a regional conspiracy, “Maybe the ISI or other Pakistanis are paying white Australians to bash up Indians.”¹

Presenting this issue as a cause for alarm, in whatever form that takes, makes eye-catching news. It is the very real uncertainties about international student safety that are overlooked in favour of that ‘good story’.

Almost one year ago exactly, the US company Mercer published the 2008 results of its annual survey of quality of living rankings for 215 of the world’s cities, including rankings of personal safety²

It identified five Australian cities in the world’s top 50 cities in terms of personal safety, with Melbourne, Perth and Sydney equal 29th on the list. Brisbane and Adelaide came in at equal 49th place. It is perhaps worth noting that while no US city made the top 50, five Canadian cities came in at equal 22nd. Only one UK city made the cut – Glasgow at no. 43.

So. if it was strictly a numbers game, you as a prospective international student in 2008 might choose to study in Luxembourg; no. 1 for personal safety. Or, if you prefer a more national approach, why not choose Germany with seven cities in the top 50?

Do these attacks really signal that the safety status enjoyed by Australia’s five safest cities has dramatically changed in the intervening year? I think not. If we were to treat the Dalai Lama as a somewhat unexpected authority on the issue of personal safety in Australia, we might even say that it has improved: “it would be wrong to blame the entire nation for the acts of a few people” … “The behaviour of the native Australians is fast turning positive towards people of other cultures who have settled there”³ Or maybe this only applies to the permanent residents?

There is no doubt that the Indian students affected by these attacks suffered as victims of crime; but it would be premature to conclude that Indian students were a premeditated target. Had these victims been, say, Korean immigrants, would we automatically conclude that Australians had it in for Koreans? Again, I think not. Had they been white Anglo Australian students, what conclusion would we have made then? It is important to note that Australia’s ethnic and cultural diversity is generally higher than other nations in our region –the source countries of the majority of our international student population.⁴ This makes claims about racially-based crime an easy target, when the reality might be much more complex than first imagined.

What this story should focus on is the real risk to residents of Australia – permanent and temporary – of becoming victims of crime. And the prevailing statistics would suggest that the ‘risk’ of being safe is very high by global standards.

But this does not mean that there is not work for us to do. Australia’s High Commissioner to India is quoted as saying “there is no question that all these are criminal acts. For some of the acts the motivation might have a racist element. I will not rule out that some of the attacks were racist”⁵ Racism and crime are familiar bedfellows, and a careful examination of racist elements in these crimes should be considered, along with all of the other criminological elements we might expect to apply.

Should international students be afraid to come to Australia to study? On the contrary. In the Anglophonic world, Australia and Canada stand out as shining examples of safe living, with the UK and the US some distance behind.

And should our international student population choose to study at home, they might face quite different prospects. Singaporean students, for example, would enjoy living in the world’s 9th safest city, while students from Karachi would face life in the 213th ‘safest’ city.

Let’s all maintain a vigilance in caring for our students; be they domestic or international; temporary or permanent.

¹ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/opinions/4659992.cms?curpg=1

² http://www.mercer.com/referencecontent.htm?idContent=1307990

³ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Blaming-entire-Australia-for-racist-attacks-wrong-Dalai-Lama/articleshow/4641295.cms

⁴ p. 190 of Levinson, D. (1998) ‘Ethnic Groups Worldwide’ Oryx Press

⁵ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Blaming-entire-Australia-for-racist-attacks-wrong-Dalai-Lama/articleshow/4641295.cms

The Irish Independent (June 10th) reported that every year €500m is brought into the Irish economy by international third level students from outside the EU. But that New Zealand, a country with a comparable population, is much more successful than Ireland is in attracting them. The difference, according to the Independent is that New Zealand has put a clear policy in place and formed an alliance between government, education providers and supporting organisations to deliver stated objectives. The view expressed is that the absence of a government policy in Ireland has meant they are not claiming their ‘share’ of the global market for international education.

News from the UK, as reported by the Telegraph, is that British sixth formers could be “crowded out” of university places because of an increase in applications from candidates from the rest of Europe, according to vice-chancellors. An unprecedented surge in applications by young people to start higher education in the UK in September has seen the number of British candidates rise by 8.8 per cent from last year. Applications from the rest of the European Union are rising even more quickly, up by 16.4 per cent. Yet even though 43,367 more Britons and 3,576 more Europeans are chasing places, the Government has set a controversial 10,000 cap on the number of additional places available across the sector. A combination of the cap, the rise in EU applicants and a rule that prevents universities from discriminating in favour of homegrown talent means that British sixth formers risk losing places to well-qualified rivals from abroad.

The stories of violence and racism against international students in Australia have continued to appear in the media since our last update. The following is just one extract from The Australian (June 12th) and discusses some of the consequences of these events:

Protests in the wake of attacks on international students have forced a national quality crackdown on education and training providers to shore up the reputation of Australia’s $15.5 billion education export industry. Education Minister Julia Gillard also announced another taskforce as it ratchets up its response to the attacks that have attracted international news coverage and sparked street protests. The Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs in Hobart today agreed to urgently carry out targeted audits of education and training providers. It follows Victoria’s earlier move to launch a “rapid audit” of providers suspected to being in breach of regulations. The crackdown is expected to largely target those small private education providers that have been the target of complaints from students.

It is certainly true that a number of Indian students have been the subject of unprovoked attacks in Australia in recent times. It seems that the world’s media have made sure that this is global news. I’ve even had a British student (with a very Anglo name I might add) write to me with concerns for his safety during his study, scheduled to commence in Sydney in July.

What is not true is that we can determine, with any authority, the real risk to other Indian students, or any other students for that matter, as a result of these tragic events. We can begin to look at this issue from the perspective of personal safety research data for the world’s countries and cities.

But the media generally likes to make sure that the facts don’t get in the way of a good story, and sometimes the public are very happy to lend a hand. Take these comments from bloggers to the Times of India, for instance, “Even Before the advent of immigrants to that country, Australia was notorious for crimes, the reason remains very simple, poor economy, falling literacy rate, unemployment and racism, like many other countries” and “[the] youth of that country are left with very little choice but to target rich Indian students” while another preferred to entertain more of a regional conspiracy, “Maybe the ISI or other Pakistanis are paying white Australians to bash up Indians.”¹

Presenting this issue as a cause for alarm, in whatever form that takes, makes eye-catching news. It is the very real uncertainties about international student safety that are overlooked in favour of that ‘good story’.

Almost one year ago exactly, the US company Mercer published the 2008 results of its annual survey of quality of living rankings for 215 of the world’s cities, including rankings of personal safety²

It identified five Australian cities in the world’s top 50 cities in terms of personal safety, with Melbourne, Perth and Sydney equal 29th on the list. Brisbane and Adelaide came in at equal 49th place. It is perhaps worth noting that while no US city made the top 50, five Canadian cities came in at equal 22nd. Only one UK city made the cut – Glasgow at no. 43.

So. if it was strictly a numbers game, you as a prospective international student in 2008 might choose to study in Luxembourg; no. 1 for personal safety. Or, if you prefer a more national approach, why not choose Germany with seven cities in the top 50?

Do these attacks really signal that the safety status enjoyed by Australia’s five safest cities has dramatically changed in the intervening year? I think not. If we were to treat the Dalai Lama as a somewhat unexpected authority on the issue of personal safety in Australia, we might even say that it has improved: “it would be wrong to blame the entire nation for the acts of a few people” … “The behaviour of the native Australians is fast turning positive towards people of other cultures who have settled there”³ Or maybe this only applies to the permanent residents?

There is no doubt that the Indian students affected by these attacks suffered as victims of crime; but it would be premature to conclude that Indian students were a premeditated target. Had these victims been, say, Korean immigrants, would we automatically conclude that Australians had it in for Koreans? Again, I think not. Had they been white Anglo Australian students, what conclusion would we have made then? It is important to note that Australia’s ethnic and cultural diversity is generally higher than other nations in our region –the source countries of the majority of our international student population.⁴ This makes claims about racially-based crime an easy target, when the reality might be much more complex than first imagined.

What this story should focus on is the real risk to residents of Australia – permanent and temporary – of becoming victims of crime. And the prevailing statistics would suggest that the ‘risk’ of being safe is very high by global standards.

But this does not mean that there is not work for us to do. Australia’s High Commissioner to India is quoted as saying “there is no question that all these are criminal acts. For some of the acts the motivation might have a racist element. I will not rule out that some of the attacks were racist”⁵ Racism and crime are familiar bedfellows, and a careful examination of racist elements in these crimes should be considered, along with all of the other criminological elements we might expect to apply.

Should international students be afraid to come to Australia to study? On the contrary. In the Anglophonic world, Australia and Canada stand out as shining examples of safe living, with the UK and the US some distance behind.

And should our international student population choose to study at home, they might face quite different prospects. Singaporean students, for example, would enjoy living in the world’s 9th safest city, while students from Karachi would face life in the 213th ‘safest’ city.

Let’s all maintain a vigilance in caring for our students; be they domestic or international; temporary or permanent.

¹ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/opinions/4659992.cms?curpg=1

² http://www.mercer.com/referencecontent.htm?idContent=1307990

³ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Blaming-entire-Australia-for-racist-attacks-wrong-Dalai-Lama/articleshow/4641295.cms

⁴ p. 190 of Levinson, D. (1998) ‘Ethnic Groups Worldwide’ Oryx Press

⁵ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Blaming-entire-Australia-for-racist-attacks-wrong-Dalai-Lama/articleshow/4641295.cms

It was in the late 1990s that I started my research into the homestay industry. At the time it was an unstudied domain and it was clear that there were a number of unscrupulous players in the field. However, with the lack of legal and industry based regulation many of the unpleasant incidents could be swept under the carpet. This sense of obscurity was not only limited to homestay. Other forms of international student accommodation, such as boarding and student housing, were also relatively unstudied.

Things have changed somewhat over the past decade. Some research (albeit very limited and certainly not cross-sectoral) has been undertaken with regard to homestay and boarding. Regulations have been tightened considerably with regard to boarding and student housing, although homestay remains relatively unregulated in a legal sense, despite an onus on educational organisations to ensure the quality of accommodation that they provide. It was the ongoing ‘unknowns’ of student accommodation that spurred me on to my most recent research into the non-academic welfare of adolescent international students. Not surprisingly, student accommodation featured quite heavily.

Of the 318 secondary school overseas students who responded to the survey, homestay was, by far, the most popular choice of accommodation, with 44.4%. This was followed by those residing in boarding houses, which accounted for 19.5% of the questionnaire participants. The other forms of accommodation ranged from living with a parent (16.9%), to those who stayed with relatives (10.9%) or who shared rental arrangements with friends (8.3%). Although boarding seemed to be the most favoured mode of accommodation by the participating staff members the students’ responses were very different, and in my mind, surprising.

The overseas student questionnaire enabled me to measure the levels of culture shock that were experienced by the international students. When compared with their accommodation types, those who lived by themselves or with friends suffered most acutely, while boarders and adolescents residing with their parents experienced very little angst in terms of psychological adjustment. The moderate levels of culture shock that homestay students encountered were not surprising given the fact that they are in contact with the target culture most of the time. Interestingly, the adolescents who lived with close relatives experienced slightly higher levels of culture shock than those in homestay.

Given the fact that homestay students experienced relatively high levels of culture shock I was astonished to find that 77.2% of the homestay students indicated that they would recommend homestay accommodation to their friends. This result was particularly surprising in the light of general and ongoing criticisms regarding quality control issues in homestay. In contrast, the boarders were fairly evenly split between those who would advocate boarding (50.8%) and those who would not (49.2%). Considering that the boarding school students experienced noticeably less culture shock, it is interesting that the recommendations do not reflect the relative ease of their transition.

The question then remains: Why was homestay so popular with the students? One could speculate that the constant contact with those from the target culture enables the students to develop more confidence in their English language abilities. It may also indicate that the overseas students feel a sense of security living in a family-type situation where their needs can be met. Whatever the reasons are for this result, it is clear that more research is required in order for us to enhance our understanding of student accommodation needs.

Dr Katie Richardson is the Director of International Education Consultants Australia Pty Ltd. She is currently developing a series of testing tools which will enable homestay organisations to examine the beliefs of homestay host applicants and highlight the training needs of homestay hosts. Katie has recently completed her Ph.D which investigated the welfare of adolescent international students