International students in Australia: their challenges and implications for university counselling services

In the last ten years, an increased number of international students have been a significant feature of tertiary education institutions of Australia. An article in an Australian newspaper, „The Age‟ on May 7 2005 [1] argued that the money gained from international students is critical for the financial viability of a number of Australian universities. For the financial year 2003-04, the economic surplus from international students was reported at AUD 5.622 billion for the education sector [2]. The Department of Education, Science and Training statistical data for 2004 showed 322,776 enrolled onshore international students [3], of which 164,079 were registered in the Higher Education sector. Students with a permanent home address in China made up the biggest share, amounting to 33,506 for the academic year 2004 [4]. The latest figures published by the Australian Education International (a government body), reveal that the offshore Chinese students contribute to more than double the number of university international student as compared to students from other countries [5]. Expectations are that the number of international students in Australia is only likely to increase in the future. It therefore serves to follow that Australian universities, administrators and staffs have stakes in ensuring that international students possess positive views of their educational and social experiences.