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Table Of Contents
About the students
In the period 2001-2005 the total enrolment of international students at Monash increased from 31% to 42%. In 2005, of the students attending internally only, 23% were international, and 29% of those (7% of the total enrolment, up from 1% in 2001) came from mainland China. Two-thirds of these were enrolled with the Faculty of Business and Economics, i.e., 15% of the Faculty's enrolment. A further 17% were enrolled in the Faculty of Information Technology, 12% of its total enrolment.
Information on the student experience in this website is drawn from interviews with mainland Chinese students at Monash University, principally from students undertaking postgraduate coursework degrees in Business and Economics; but the experience they report has much in common with that of both international and local students across this and many other universities.
The fifteen students interviewed in 2005 are from a range of backgrounds: two from northeastern China, one from north-central China; two from or via Beijing, three from Shanghai; some from central China; two from south-eastern China; one from Taiwan. Most are female; four are male; their ages range from 22 to 35. They came to Australia with a variety of educational and work experience behind them.
The seven undergraduates interviewed in 2004, two male, five female, all come from southern China; aged from 19 to 22, two (not the youngest) were in their first year at Monash when interviewed, the others in second or third year.
We have no formal data on their family backgrounds, but while some of the older students are largely or completely self-funded from work-place earnings, most of the younger students must be from significantly affluent families. Three mention attending top-class 'middle' [i.e., secondary] schools; one came to join a brother already studying in Australia; a couple mention family connections in Australia or elsewhere outside China. But students are aware that their studies here represent a significant financial load on their families (as one student points out, there is a big difference in incomes between northern and southern China).
Is it important for you and for example your parents that you graduate with a good mark?
I think it’s good for my future if I have a good mark in my university qualification… And also, it’s not that easy for my parents to support me study overseas, so of course I would like to do as good as I can.
— Anne
In fact the tuition fees is very expensive to many of us from northern part of China. You know, there exists a big gap about salary level. Maybe in Guangdong a family can afford their child spend $30,000 - that's OK. But in north part, if your family is not doing business or earn more money, it's almost the whole money the parents they earn in their life.
— Nana
Jin & Cortazzi ( 2006) point out that over the last two decades the cohort of Chinese students entering Britain for tertiary studies has changed significantly, and their remarks apply with equal force to Australia.
In the [last] decade, numbers of Chinese students in Britain increased greatly (to well over 30,000 in universities and schools) at the same time as Chinese universities expanded. In consequence, while some students abroad are clearly in [the] first rank many may be considered in 'other ranks'. Many of those in the first rank now study in China or only go to top-ranking universities abroad. This means that there is much greater academic diversity reflecting social shifts in family backgrounds: many are from single-child families, children of parents of limited and disrupted education due to upheavals in the Cultural Revolution of 1966–1976, and they obtained lower scores in the Chinese national university entry exam.
While personal sacrifice is still often entailed, for many there has been a social shift towards family collective support of individuals paying higher fees with less likelihood of scholarships, since many come from relatively well-off families with new wealth generated in the Chinese economic boom. Fewer are state selected. The larger number of self-selected and self-financed students includes some who have benefited from 'guanxi' in China (social networks and connections which thrive in business arrangements) rather than from their own efforts. Self-expectations are more diverse, so 'hard work' may have a wider meaning with a more utilitarian motivation for envisaged immediate employment in fashionable fields, emphasising outcomes of high grades for the family rather than an intrinsic interest in learning.
Since Chinese students are attending a wider range of British universities their expectations of institutions are likely to vary. Some students may play safe by choosing modules which match their perceived competence or previous experience in, say, maths or choose courses with fewer English language demands, in order to maximise chances of high grades (expected by families), even if this means studying in a less integrated programme.
— Jin & Cortazzi (2006), p. 18 (formatting modified).
For an interesting comparison of Chinese and Australian students and their respective approaches to study, see Smith & Smith (1999).
Note on the interview transcriptions
In 2004 all interviews were conducted in English; in 2005 the student interviews were conducted in a mixture of English and Chinese, as suited the convenience of interviewer and interviewee, and subsequently translated.
In the interview excerpts that follow it will be largely self-evident whether the text is a direct transcription or a translation of the original.
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All but one are graduates; most got their first degrees in their home town, a few travelled to universities elsewhere in China; two got their first degrees through part-time study after entering the workforce; two came to Australia to matriculate – of these one is now a 3rd-year undergraduate at Monash, the other completed a bachelor degree in Canberra before coming to Monash. One came here via New Zealand.
Ten of them had some work experience before leaving China, ranging from a few months to 10 years or more, in jobs ranging from University teaching and/or research to import-export trade to human relations in a multinational corporation to civil service work. Two already had Masters degrees from China; of these one is undertaking a PhD here; the other came here to do a second Masters.
A few of them had visited Australia at least once before beginning their present study here; three gained Permanent Residency here before or soon after beginning their studies; one came intending to immigrate, but has since changed his mind. At the time of the interview, four had just completed their Monash degree, eight had just completed their first semester; three had completed at least one year of their degree.