Life as an international student: Sometimes, it feels like we’re second-class
IT’S a city that’s deeply loved by international students, but at times, not a love that’s felt as mutual due to ever-changing visa regulations and lack of recognition of the talent international graduates bring to the table. Indonesian student Marcella Purnama shares her heartaches as well as hopes for future generations of students.
I love Melbourne. I love studying here. I still think it’s the most liveable city in the world. That being said, I have my dark moments too. As an international student, I’ve experienced frustration and discrimination. I feel like I’m constantly being regarded as a second-class student.
There are many experiences I can share, but there are two things in particular that I would like to talk about: the ever-changing visa regulation that drives me nuts and the (un)equal job opportunities provided to international students.
My hate-hate relationship with visa
In 2012, I witnessed a mass exodus of international students back to their home countries.
Jobs were scarce, and virtually no one wanted to employ international students. Some students decided to stay and try their luck in securing Temporary Residency (TR) visa and hopefully a job before the one and a half years were up.
My degree in Psychology and Media Communication, albeit at the number one university in Australia, was not enough to grant me a TR visa. So instead of facing a prolonged period of uncertain unemployment, I went home.
Even though a TR visa gives you the right to work, it doesn’t mean it gives you equal opportunities to find work.
I went home because even though I had fallen in love with Melbourne, I wasn’t deemed “skillful” by the Skilled Occupation List. I went home because having work experience at my home country seemed like the better option compared to facing unemployment in the city I called “home”.
After graduation, I worked as a content writer in both non-profit and corporate settings in Jakarta. In mid-2014, I decided to return to Melbourne to pursue post-graduate studies.
Ironically, I witnessed a similar trend.
Friends and acquaintances who had secured a TR visa after graduation were packing their bags. In their one- to two-year post-study stay, they were only able to secure part-time jobs at local cafes and supermarkets. Some worked as concierges in service apartments. While some of them were able to secure gigs in their fields of study, it was still not enough to make them stay.
Having invested more than $100k for our education here, why do international student graduates still have to jump through so many hoops to stay? And even though a TR visa gives you the right to work, it doesn’t mean it gives you equal opportunities to find work.
This leads to my second point: With the unemployment rate among fresh graduates in Australia looming like the tower of Babel, it will be even harder for us internationals.
(Un)equal opportunities in finding work
Why is it that hard for international students to secure internships, part-time or full-time jobs? Are we really not trying hard enough?
Actually, we are trying really, really hard.
I understand that employers prefer to hire locals. After all, they have the same culture, and they tend to be better in communicating their ideas.
But just because we take longer to respond as we are constantly translating our thoughts from one language to another, it doesn’t mean what we’re saying doesn’t matter. Just because we don’t participate as much in debates and conversation, it doesn’t mean we have nothing to say. And just because we speak in accented English, it doesn’t mean we’re not smart.
Over the years, I have become more skeptical about my shot in being able to secure a job here in Australia. But I hope more employers would embrace hiring people with different cultures and ways of thinking in the workplace.
Last semester, I enrolled in an editing subject where I was the only international student out of 14 other domestic students. In week 7, my tutor suddenly asked me in the middle of the tutorial, in front of all the other students, “Marcella, do you follow this? Can you understand what’s being taught?”
It was one of those times when I really felt like a second-class student. The tutor was probably just asking out of concern, but it hurt, because it showed that in her mind, I might not be good enough. In her mind, I was another international student who might not understand English well. It hurt because I had been working hard.
If this happened in an educational setting, what about the workplace? Would such “discrimination” be even more apparent?
Over the years, I have become more skeptical about my shot in being able to secure a job here in Australia. But I hope more employers would embrace hiring people with different cultures and ways of thinking in the workplace.
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I look forward to a Melbourne that would welcome international students who have spent a significant part of their lives and made significant financial investments through their education to stay.
The Victorian government has done a lot of good – they have introduced the iUSE pass to provide students discounted public transport fares, post-study work visa option, and more. But there are things that can be improved.
A quick scan through the Immigration Department website reveals that I’m still, despite studying a post-graduate degree, unable to secure a visa after my graduation. I’m not eligible for post-study work visa, nor is my skill featured in the Skilled Occupation List.
It might not happen in my generation, but I look forward to a Melbourne that would welcome international students who have spent a significant part of their lives and made significant financial investments through their education to stay – not forced to return home because of visa issues and not having a fighting chance for employment in the first place.
Marcella Purnama returned to Jakarta to work after completing a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Melbourne in 2012. She is currently back in Melbourne pursuing a Master of Publishing and Communications at the University of Melbourne.
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