International students make up almost 6% of the total higher education population in America. One can go a long time back in history to trace the presence of international students from a myriad of backgrounds that western developed countries like the US, UK, and Australia have attracted and retained throughout years and decades. The enrollment of these students in western universities and colleges depends on a number of crucial factors like financial aids, familiarity of cultures, leniency in employment systems, ease of immigration, etc. But above all, what perpetuate youngsters leaving their homes and families to chase a career in a foreign land rife with countless opportunities are their big dreams. Strung in those dreams, little do they usually know that their knowledge of the reality of some pivotal constituents of residence in a foreign country is somewhat jagged around the edges. Chasing a foreign degree comes with an eternity of struggles, challenges, and uncertainties, which vary depending on the distinguishable educational and political systems of different countries. In this essay, I will look into the main struggles, lives, careers, and mental well-being of international students in western countries. Being an international student in America, I will also bring the comparisons of the American life for us to the lives of other international students in other western countries like UK and Australia into light. I intend to focus distinctively on Asian students given that I am from Bangladesh, and I want my essay to be insightful for more Bangladeshis like me who want to go abroad for higher education. As I continue, I myself want to explore facts I’m yet to be familiar with, those that I should have considerable knowledge about.

Classroom Culture and Cultural Adjustments

    American dream is a common sight amongst students all over the world, especially in Europe and Southern Asia, as evidenced by a recent study that shows Asians make up about 60% of the international student population in the United States (Mensah, p. 215). The main reasons they go to western countries are the education facilities and opportunities they covet but can’t always meet in their home country. In some cultures, professors hold the highest place in the campus. Students conform a norm of addressing their professors the “right way.” Thus, addressing their professors in an informal way sometimes becomes a real dilemma for them (Mensah, p.216). Participating in a class activity is another concerning issue. Western students are always seen to be actively involved in group activities and workshops without even being called upon, whereas students from other cultures often suffer utter diffidence to speak up, express their views, or even ask questions. Feeling inferior is not uncommon for them among their western peers, making inter-student interaction a real challenge. Studies have shown that culture shock does not have an exception for any western country. The term itself implies that students leave their homeland with their very own expectations of cultural adjustments, which may be positive most of the times. However, in the face of reality, their minds often take a transition and perceive difficulties with fitting in and the stress resulting from it to be “made abroad” and may not seek help.

   Social integration is not a priority for all international students. Nevertheless, support systems in the institutions aim to address the needs and help they may seek while adjusting to a new environment. International student support in the UK and USA include academic support (English language tuition, study skills development, etc.), counselling services for those who are suffering psychologically, and social/personal support (financial advices, health advice, etc.). (Bartram and Terano, p.33). “The key way in which US Universities support international students is through facilitating their active involvement in building student communities and associations” (Bartram and Terano, p.36). Building communities allows students to engage in meaningful activities and develop peer support mechanisms. But in the end, it all comes down to building high aplomb in oneself. Those with good communication skills surpasses those who suffer acute diffidence and low self-confidence.  

 

Financial Issues and Employment

   “There are so many affordable good colleges in other countries but you chose USA” – a statement I often came across during my application. American colleges and universities are known to be overly expensive that going into debt under the brunt of high tuition has become one of the biggest obstacles on the way of acquiring a foreign degree for international students. According to world statistics, US has the highest percentage of people going into debt because of college expenses. Before international students are allowed to study in the US or to transfer from another institution to the country, they are required to show adequate and appropriate financial sources and support from parents/guardians, public or private agencies, scholarships or institutional support in the US, or any other legitimate means. Parents and guardians also save monies for a long time for their children’s higher education. However, circumstances change as students pursue their academic programs. In the US, the only way an international student can legally work is by obtaining an on-campus job for a maximum of 20 hours a week during the academic year. Off-campus jobs are only allowed if they are internships mandatory in the course of study. Hence, difficulties with expenses often put the students at a point where they suffer acute psychological fatigue, stress, and depression that their academic performances get severely impacted. There are occasions when students are left with no other choice but to drop out and leave the country when they and their families can’t deal with the expenses anymore. I have personally witnessed such cases when the students ran out of money and came back to their homeland.

  Expenses upend the lives and career of many international students and is seen the most amongst students from poor or developing countries like Bangladesh and India. While my brother was pursuing his undergraduate program in Civil Engineering at CCNY, my father was diagnosed with lung cancer. My family went through a financial disaster during his treatment and after he passed away until my brother graduated. My brother had to manage at least half the tuition himself through his on-campus tutoring job, CPT, and sacrifices in daily activities in order to minimize expenses. Spending $5 on lunch would be too much to ask for during this time of his life. Being under pressure of completing the degree in the least amount of time possible and challenged by expenses at the same time become the worst dilemma for many international students, especially Asians. This expansively impact their social life as they have no time left between academic pressure and running off to work, all while spending the bare minimum on basic human needs and often rationing food.

   But financial situations are not the same everywhere; going into debt is not a ubiquitous case in all western countries. In Australia and Canada, college tuition is almost less than half of that in the US on average, and even less in the UK. Financial difficulties are still a major source of stress for international students in Australia. But unlike countries like Canada, US, and the UK, there are very limited or no restrictions on working for them in Australia, so there are a greater number of opportunities and leniency available to them to mitigate their stress. With a student visa, they can work unlimitedly during vacations, anywhere they want. However, this calls for responsibilities from the students as full-time studentship and a minimum GPA are still required for a legal student status. The jobs available to a student with no college degree often does not require marketable skills, and hence they tend to pay the bare minimum. Thus, considering all the restrictions of a student status, they don’t help students much but can allow the students to not sacrifice basic needs to afford roof over their heads if something goes wrong with their sponsors. In the UK, students can work for 10-20 hours a week while studying on campus similar to US. The same rules are extended to the US but with even more employment restrictions.

Racism

   International students: a vulnerable student body. When students are part of the majority people ethnicity and race in the country, they seldom come across oppressive discrimination and its severe consequences. Only when they are in the country from a different culture, racism becomes salient, violating their volition and psychological well-being to an extent where their sojourn often becomes a foreboding prison of fear and depression. Cases related to racial discrimination for almost all the western countries are engrossing, but US stands out the most among them.

   Some African and Caribbean students claimed that they didn’t totally comprehend the concept of race when they first arrived in the US when they were interviewed.  Other interviews of students from different nations conclude that they arrive in western countries with their very own assumptions about race, and they learn about its reality through social media as well as their personal encounters during their residence in the country. Studies among Asian students show that they face “macroaggressions” that display the complex interplay of race, ethnicity, and discrimination. These include being excluded and avoided, ridiculed for accent, rendered invisible, and having their intelligence and personal characteristics ascribed. Violent verbal or physical attacks are also common racist acts in the States. The September 11 terrorist attack sent a wave of oppression among the Muslim immigrants during the 2000s, which have been an amplifier of Muslim demonization over the years, and this didn’t even stay confined within the US.

  The Unites States has seen and suffered a lot over the past four years under Trump administration. His racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, antisemitism, and overall bigotry has spread across the country for four years. During the Covid-19 pandemic, this administration used a directive that threw international students under the bus. ICE deported many of them who had online-classes only during the semester, when they needed to be supported the most during a global pandemic. On another note, ICE lately issued 700 letters to a group from 1100 international student suspects to inform them of their invalid status that was revoking their work permits. Among them, 15 got arrested for fraudulence. According to ICE, deporting these students opened up the same jobs for American employees. This added a huge dose of irony to the news because NBC incongruously claimed that the companies those students worked at don’t even exist (Gardella, 2020). On the other hand, ICE puts forward their grandiose notions of the protection they are known to offer for American jobs, from criminals and terrorists, etc. They suspected 3300 OPT students lately who may have been staying in the US fraudulently. They basically demonized possibly as many as 223,000 OPT students based on 3300 suspected cases, among which 1100 remained after further investigation, 700 got warnings, and 15 got arrested for trivial swindling of the system they used to work at for their own benefits. This shows that precarious treatment and unfair discrimination transcend the parameters of social and cultural norms to the political systems of the US up to this day.

   In the UK, especially in Britain, no international student goes without fear and trepidation of racial discrimination either. Among them, Blacks and Asian students tend to face the highest risks of abuse that often escalates to crimes. Studies claim that the real incidence of racism in the UK is higher than suggested by official figures. Bangladeshi Muslim students often suffer verbal attacks that include pejorative comments about their nationality and religion. Muslims suffered the most during the 2000s when they saw a clear link between their safety and the September 11 terrorist attack, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the growing Islamic fundamentalist terrorism, and negative media reporting that portrayed them as either a threat or a problem (Brown and Jones, p.1009). Though these alleviated during the last decade, racial discrimination has still been perpetuated widely. Encounters of physical attacks is not an uncommon sight in the UK either. Students are generally unprepared for the treatment they receive, especially if the perpetrators are in education with them and are expected to be open to diversity. Hence, racism can have a lasting effect on both the psychological and social well-being of international students, impacting their academic performances as well.

   But even during the Covid-19 pandemic, UK has shown an increase in recruitment and retention of international students in universities as opposed to the US, where changes in visa policies and stringent lockdown measures have shown a considerable decline in the enrollment and arrival of students from other countries. According to researches regarding racism in Australia, international students are usually treated as “exploiters of the immigration systems” and “rorters (a confidence trickster)”. Reception by host students is not too prevalent through the country, but amidst a population of only 25 million in a land of as expansive as 7.6 million squared kilometers with immigrants from diverse backgrounds, racism is somewhat insignificant compared to that in the USA and UK. Interviews of a collection of international students suggest that many of them found adjusting to the Australian culture not too much of an issue, though others expressed difficulties on the matter.

Immigration Policies

  The H-1B, a non-immigrant US visa for highly skilled workers in specialty occupations, is highly sought by international graduates (OPT employees with student visas) of American universities hoping to be retained in the country. But not many students are aware of the industries it favors or its numerous deficiencies. Even if an international student obtains a degree in a tech-related field, the H-1B lottery severely limits the number of visas given out, even to qualified individuals. Thus, the chances of immigration to the US for international students is replete with numerous uncertainties, no matter how impressive one’s resume is.

   A vehicle for the retention of international students in the UK is to be provided with the opportunity to stay in the Member State and seek work after graduation. That is, with no OPT, they will have to receive sponsorship by institutions or companies for a work visa. Yet, unless one has an outstanding resume, they are generally unlikely to acquire sponsorship immediately after graduation.

Australia offers TR (Temporary Residence) to graduates. They gain immigration points based on their academic achievements, the points they gain when they work under specialized fields, their spoken English, and education level. After they reach a certain points requirement, they become eligible for applying for PR (Permanent Residence).

   Experiences of international students in campuses are seldom overwhelmingly positive, unless you have amazing communication and social skills to make friends and have sustainable financial support with adequate certainty. Again, certain areas come down to one’s level of aplomb and psychological strength no matter which country they are in, though they won’t have similar rights everywhere. From my own knowledge from other people’s experiences, curving the path through all the struggles given that you have appropriate support in lines you don’t have control over shall grant one to be stronger than ever before once they have graduated. Making a wise decision about the setting best for them for higher education is one of the most decisions international students have to make in life. Although I have chased the American dream for a few years now, as I write this essay, I have no idea where I will be after 6 years from now, even after working hard. Maybe I will move to Australia because they are amazingly welcoming and lenient, much more than most other continents, and to live around siblings. A number of similarity arises when it comes to racism and employment opportunities in the UK and USA. Yet UK is still somewhat more munificent than USA with work permits for international students – mitigating their stress regarding financial issues while they are studying. On the other hand, US colleges are known to be more prestigious in terms of academics, especially for students from different nations, despite being overly expensive. What remains is the students’ personal situations, including financial standard of their families, experiences with other cultures, and all means of support in the host country to allow them the best possible journey while studying abroad and to graduate with the best outcomes.

References

Bartram, Brendan., and Terano, Mayumi. “Supporting international students in higher education: a comparative examination of approaches in the UK and U.S.A.” Learning and Teaching, vol. 4, no 2, 2011, pp. 30-44.

Brown, Lorraine, and Jones, Ian. “Encounters with racism and the international student experience.” Studies in Higher Education, Vol. 38, no. 7, 2013, pp. 1004-1019.

“DHS, ICE provide update on Operation OPTical Illusion.” YouTube, uploaded by wwwICEgov, 21 October 2020, https://youtu.be/ZcLZhkmtgpY

Gardella, Rich. “ICE arrests 15 foreign students for allegedly using visa program for staying in the U.S. fraudulently.” NBC NEWS, 22 October 2020.

“Home.” WENR, 29 July 2020, wenr.wes.org/.

Paltridge, Toby, Mayson, Susan, and Schapper, Jan. “Welcome and exclusion: An analysis of “The Australian” newspaper’s coverage of international students.” Higher Education, Vol.68, no. 1, 2014, pp. 103-116.

Sarkodie-Mensah, Kwasi. “International students in the U.S: Trends, Cultural Adjustments, and Solutions for a better experience.” Association for Library and Information Science Education, Vol. 39, No. 3, 1998. pp. 214-222.

Stein, Sharon, and Andreotti, Vanessa. “Cash, competition, or charity: International students and the global imaginary.” Higher Education, Vol. 72, no. 2, 2015, pp. 225-239.