Types of Social Challenges Faced By Indian Students in Melbourne Tertiary Universities
Overview of existing research
Whereas there have been worrying acts of hostility, Australia is commonly considered an excellent practice country in its international student experiences, migration policies, and assimilation of people from diverse backgrounds. Despite a normally upbeat track record, room and chance for improvement are always there, as recent shortcomings in the experiences of international students in Australia indicate.
Recently, foreign students living in Australia have been physically attacked and in fact murdered. Victimization is a shameful and painful experience and must not be condoned in any institutional arrangement or public policy, yet, it still happens even in the most advanced nations. Australia is no exception for in recent times; violent attacks have been witnessed on Indian students, which, according to Morell (2009) have instigated massive mass movements by Indians students and business communities in Australia to advocate for equality.
The reported numerous cases of international students' assault in Australia have been alarming, and numerous sittings and debates have held to determine the cause, effect and resolve of this predicament. Deliberations that have been held between key industry players in the country have led to one major question, which will also form the basis of this review.
When a foreign student is assaulted and physically harmed, is that student a casualty of a general crime or race related crime? This is a significant fundamental issue in this debate.
There are an estimated 630,000 international students in Australia, with these numbers continually growing. However, there has been a notable decrease in the numbers of Indian students going to Melbourne universities as Whinnett & Hussain (2014) note, owing this to the increased attacks that seemingly target the Indians students. Notwithstanding that a small number of students have been assaulted, the consequences are very critical, since these attacks have suspected racial connotations against Indian students, according to Henderson (2010). Some of the ramifications include devastation for the victim and his / her family, a bad indication of a general lack of safety, an insult to and contravention of human rights, problems for private sector business corporations that trade with this population and rely on it for labor. Moreover, it breeds problems for educational institutes whose investment policies and educational features consist of international students who are, in most cases, affected by such incidents. Australia reaps heavily from international education, and there will be unfavorable economic ramifications of any diminution should the country be deemed as an unfavorable destination.
In early 2010, an Indian student was murdered, an incident that caused major distress in the Indian media and intense bilateral deliberations at the highest diplomatic and inter-governmental levels. Adding to battering and murder, there are examples of numerous cases and incidences of suspected racial abuse of Indian students in Australian institutions.
Equally, there are assertions in the vocational educational area that many foreign students in Australia are not genuinely there for educational purposes, but actually to work or to secure permanent Australian residency and eventually, citizenship, and that the classes in which they register for and join are secondary to their chief interest. This is suspected as a major cause for the increased attacks on Indian students who take vocations as taxi drivers and shop attendants in the view that by taking up these jobs, they deny the natives their job chances. Hence, as Verghese (2009) asserts, it has been somewhat hard to establish if the attacks are racially motivated or if they are cases of general crime. Nonetheless, it is evident that international students in Australia and especially Indian students face a lot of discrimination and social challenges, on campus, and that this worrying report entails the participation of all concerned industry players to address it appropriately.
Support of the background
For a long while, the presence of foreign students has enriched Australia's educational institutions and society, fostered diversity and built lasting relationships at an individual and institutional platform between community, business and government leaders. However, there are shortcomings when undesirable experiences occur. Risks are common to the victims of assault, to the universities, to the private education givers, to the solidity of communities and the stability of the Australian government. Australia's overall international standing is also at risk.
Reiterating the review question made previously, when a foreign student is battered, is that student a casualty of a general crime or race related crime? Reliable indications show that social crimes involving Indian students in Australian universities are mostly reflective of underlying intra-racial tensions. Verghis (2009) posits that when the students venture into the Australian streets, their social challenges become amplified as discrimination is virtually connected to racial appearance, socio-economic status, location, gender, and age. Young Indian males are invariably the victims of ridicule and subsequent victimization in and out of campus.
Male Indians in Melbourne universities also face challenges in gender discrimination, witnessed in the increased likelihood of Indian men being racially abused both in and out of campus than Indian women. Moreover, women are less likely to expose themselves to risk. In addition, Indians in Melbourne universities face problems in lacking language proficiency, as numerous cases of Indians being attacked indicate that they have been victimized by being ridiculed on why they could not talk "normally" as they got beaten up. New Indian students especially become visible targets when they are perceived to talk differently, as opposed to Indians who have lived in Australia for a protracted time and learned the social mores and customs of the aboriginal Australians.
Additionally, Indian students also face increased negative impact on risk factors due to socio-economic status. For instance, poorer Indian foreign students experience a higher crime rate in their neighborhoods of residence. Such students have to work to afford the high cost of living in Australia, and they normally work at night in high-risk casual jobs like taxi driving and fast food joints. The combination of environmental factors like being out at night and employment puts increases their risk of attack.
Most Indian students who go to study in Australia find themselves having to take up jobs to sustain themselves in university, as well as, to meet their daily needs. These working students occupy a trivial place in the country’s labor force. Most of these students are not in a union and mostly, Australian unions are much opposed to international workers and cheap labor. These students are thus forced to work in insecure jobs and depend on public transport, increasing their exposure risk.
These students are overrepresented in these paltry jobs, and are normally employed in co-ethnic or ethnic businesses, are paid without due official payment procedures and are overworked. Employers who employ these students because they are easily available and cheap only increase the students’ vulnerability to exploitation.
Additionally, as dependents of public transport working into the night, they are further increasingly exposed to physical and verbal harassment. Presently, it is seemingly unlikely that there exists any easy mechanism to compel employers to be directly responsible for the students' safety in commuting to and from work. Even guaranteeing an acceptable and decent working atmosphere is intricate and resource exhaustive. Lastly, there exists a possibility that even middle-class Indian students could be targeted as they are deemed vulnerable and likely to have valuable possessions.
Strengths and weaknesses in current debates in the literature
Strengths
New laws formulated following a spate of increased attacks on Indian students now require universities to formulate a statement of obligations include responsibilities in racial prejudice and an express statement of the position of the full fee paying Indian student. Frances& Bandyopadhyay (2013) assert that peak bodies are now in collaboration with the Australian government to develop such statements to remap the learning atmosphere for the Indian students. Nowadays, they are ensuring race is given the attention accorded to other types of discrimination by collaborating with other institutions to endorse openness on racism against Indians and minority groups. Moreover, they have facilitated the students to report incidences of racial discrimination and other forms of harassment by forming appropriate agencies to deal with such issues. Melbourne universities are now addressing racism against their own students off-campus, by encouraging and ensuring all staff are trained to identify and tackle racism and other forms of violence.
Universities have undertaken to give information to present and prospective future Indian students about the steps the institutions are currently taking to tackle racism in their respective institutions. Moreover, the government and universities continue to set up interactive strategies to facilitate linkages between international students and the wider community, including enhanced awareness and understanding of support services and rights. Information portals providing a single source of comprehensive, authoritative accurate and updated information for international students, especially for Indians and other minority groups regarding their tenancy, employment rights, and obligations, personal safety and student support services.
Currently, Indians students in Australia have access to an autonomous legislative complaints body, as the universities offering international education are required to use this as their external appeal and complaints process. The Australian government continues to strengthen migration policies for international students to encourage them to focus on their education rather than having them study in campus and seek employment outside. This is achieved by ensuring that all applicants, before leaving their native countries have the requisite finances to live in Australia. These new requirements are strengths in assisting in reviewing and addressing the social challenges faced by Indian students in Melbourne universities.
In addition, increased government support has continued to give rise to non-profit support groups for the victimized students to help them deal with harassment and other social challenges they experience in the campus. Among the array of such groups are community legal organizations, ethnic communities’ organizations, professional organizations, student organizations et cetera. Because these organizations are mission-driven, they have a comparative advantage in handling these situations. They have been engrossed in supportive advocacy for international students by giving information regarding safety, racism and other social crimes against Indian students and other minority student groups in Australia.
Since Indian students face the greatest social challenges in Australian universities, community volunteers have assisted international students to report cases of racially motivated crime, and other issues concerning their residency (Jaishankar & Ronʼel, 2013). They enlighten students of the available legal mechanisms and perform research into pertinent issues, file and circulate information to Indian students and facilitate greater receptiveness to problems.
Weaknesses
There is a lack of ample information as to who the victims are, and, there are no established mechanisms as to accurately establish who the perpetrators are. Moreover, there is a general lack of official data on racially motivated harassment on the Indian students. Additionally, there lacks reliable data on the victims' perspective on whether or not the affront was racially motivated. The complexity in acquiring information regarding ethnicity is particularly difficult to expressly identify race motivation in an affront on Indian students since this information is not captured in the courts, police or prison records. Normally, in these cases of attacks on Indian students, appearance is the only aspect used as a measure of racial profiling and as such, it is difficult to ascertain the intention of a perpetrator.
Moreover, media coverage of violent harassment against Indian students, it is mostly assumed that perpetrators are Anglo racists who hate Indians. Anecdotal evidence, however, indicates that this is sometimes not the case, as perpetrators are, in most times, not Anglo, and are mostly from diverse ethnic groups. However, Petrosino (2014) argues that it would be naive to presume that perpetrators are marginalized, destitute youth targeting Indian students. As such, it is difficult to ascertain if offenders are racists or opportunists since the personal troubles of the offenders cannot be comprehensively asserted, and neither can it be known as to who influences the perpetrators the most. They could be influenced by personal frustrations from disengagement from society's mainstream, social networks, the schools they attend or their employment status.
Additionally, little is known about their economic situation, their drug and alcohol profiles, their gang affiliation status, and their engagements in high-risk behavior and if they carry weapons. Drawing from the arguments and deliberations of Jaishankar & Ronʼel (2011), it is imperative to establish whether the assault on Indian students is a general crime or is racially motivated and as such, it is important to address this important question: Are the perpetrators forming subcultures along socio-economic or ethnic lines, and, are they, in a sense also victims? Additionally, Indian students in Melbourne universities face exploitation and co-ethnic violence in housing, employment, et cetera.
International students are mostly viewed only in the regard of their economic value to the host nation, and the focus is invariably on expenditure, instead of focusing on their social and living conditions. This surmounts to neglect on the part of the responsible Australian authorities in that they seem not to care about the welfare of the Indian students, even with the numerous cases of harassment reported in the media over the years.
Diligent care on the part of the concerned industry players would shield the Indian students from other numerous social challenges they face, including educational colleges which behave voraciously and unethically, exploitative employers, landlords and immigration agents. For instance, it is alleged that some landlords will not lease to Indian students, with some even demanding sexual favors for rent. This amounts to racial and sexual discrimination. The concerned authorities at all levels must understand the context of the Indian student.
There is undoubtedly a problem for Indian students’ living conditions in the Melbourne universities. It may be supposed to be a bigger crisis than it presently is, yet, it still needs to be addressed. The complexity of the problem is augmented by the concern that it is a situation in which no one agency entirely owns the problem. Issues are palpable in the aspects of transport, housing, law enforcement, education, human rights, community and social affairs, immigration, and even in international relations and diplomacy.
Confronting these problems at times entails being reactive and at other times becoming proactive. It calls for awareness, policy-wise, of any inadvertent outcomes from policy innovation, especially when dealing with the general living and well-being of individuals in another sphere other than the natives’. The exercise demands extensive foundational knowledge, which must be accentuated with improved data collection and suitable and meticulous social science. A thorough evaluation of social and cultural sustainability efforts by all concerned parties is called for.
In a greater sense, what is lacking in effectively addressing Indian students' social problems in the universities is an extensive, multicultural strategy for Australia. For the last two decades, Australia has not promulgated any such policy, even as the world has significantly changed its meaning since then. Ramia, et al., (2013) say that for these institutions, authoritative and visible ethical regulation is another crucial element that will make enduring and coherent activities and policies restrain racism and harassment of Indians and other minority groups in Australian higher institutions.
Bibliography
Frances, R. & Bandyopadhyay, D. (2013). Remapping the future history, culture and environment in Australia and India. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Henderson, G.2010.Student assaults teach some harsh lessons about racism. Retrieved from http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/student-assaults-teach-some-harsh-lessons-about-racism-20100104-lq1i
Jaishankar, K. & Ronʼel, N. (2011). First International Conference of the South Asian Society [of] Criminology and Victimology (SASCV): 15-17 January 2011, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India: SASCV 2011: conference proceedings. Tirunelveli: South Asian Society of Criminology and Victimology Dept. of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University.
Jaishankar, K. & Ronʼel, N. (2013). Global Criminology: crime and victimization in a globalized era. Boca Raton: CRC Press.
Morell, V.2009.Indian student rally calls for equality. Retrieved on 24th April 2016 from http://www.smh.com.au//breaking-news-national/indian-student-rally-calls-for-equality-20090607-bzpp.html
Petrosino, C. (2014). Understanding hate crimes act, motives, offenders, victims, and justice. London: Routledge
Ramia, G., Marginson, S. & Sawir, E. (2013). Regulating international students' wellbeing. Bristol, UK: Policy Press.
Verghese, E. 2009.Are Melbourne attacks racist, or simply criminal? Retrieved on 24th April 2016 from http://gulfnews.com/opinion/thinkers/are-melbourne-attacks-racist-or-simply-criminal-1.71705
Verghis, S. 2009. Australia: Attacks on Indian Students Raise Racism Cries. Retrieved on 24th April 2016 from http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1921482,00.html
Whinnett, E, and Hussain, T. 2014. Indian student numbers plunge after fresh attack. Retrieved on 24th April 2016 from http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/indian-student-numbers-plunge-after-fresh-attack/story-fni0fee2-1226795039267
