[A] International students have the same needs as local students and should be accorded equivalent rights and protections—except in a few areas, such as voting in national elections. A more comprehensive and rights-based approach to the security of international students could be obtained through bilateral negotiations between the countries that send and receive them. China, India, Malaysia, and other nations should seek a systematic regime of protection and respect for their citizens who study in other countries. As a pattern of bilateral negotiations became established, common global standards could emerge.
[B] What did we find The experience of international students differs from that of local students in three ways. First, the lives of international students are more marginal, lonelier, and less informed than those of their local peers. Second, the majority of international students in Australia face at least some barriers to communicating in English that affect not just academic progress but also daily life. Problems of abuse or discrimination are often associated with communications issues. Third, there are pronounced differences between local and international students in areas where cultural identity are at play, not just in cross-cultural relations but in looking for rental housing, seeking a job, and so on.
[C] National and state governments should also subsidize affordable housing, for a mix of international and local students, in areas where students study and work. The governments should also require inspections of students’ rental housing. They should provide supervised transport, especially at night. The police should patrol hot spots where violence is occurring or might occur. International students should receive adequate information about safety and security upon arrival in their new countries.
[D] We defined student security as including the full range of issues affecting the empowerment and protection of international students: financial support, housing, health, safety, work issues, and relations with their universities and the government’s immigration department. We also looked into international students’ personal networks, communications, and intercultural issues. We conducted the empirical work for our study in Australia, but our research and that of other scholars show that the underlying issues are common, to some extent, to all countries.
[E] The fundamental problem, however, lies with nations’ regulatory frameworks, which should be modified for a globalized world. We must find ways of moving international- student security up the policy agenda of national governments, multilateral forums, and global agencies. Australian international education, for example, is now regulated through the Education Services for Overseas Students Act. It imposes obligations on provider institutions, mostly in relation to consumer protection and immigration compliance. But safety on campus is not mentioned. The act does not cover students’ lives in the community outside the campus, where most problems of security occur.
[F] But delve deeper and you will find that although most students succeed abroad and have satisfying experiences, certainly not all of them do—and some have major problems, which can range far beyond loneliness and difficulties adjusting to new cultures. Some international students are victims of terrible crimes. Unfortunately, their security is not adequately ensured by the countries where they study, which still treat them as outsiders and their rights as privileges that can be ignored. Even though global mobility in education has rendered such an approach obsolete, national regulations have not kept pace.
[G] What should be done to improve the safety and security of international students For them, security means not only protection but also the capacity to operate as free human agents making choices. For many international students, acquiring communication skills is almost as important as acquiring degrees. Universities in English-speaking countries should make English-language communication a formal requirement for degree status.
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