Dreams now a nightmare for many international students in Victoria

Victoria’s coronavirus lockdown has turned many international students’ dreams of studying and working in Melbourne into a nightmare. Cut off from federal government payments like JobSeeker and JobKeeper, losing their existing jobs or unable to find new ones; and switching to digital learning, has left many international students lonely and anxious about their uncertain futures.

For Sai Srushti Kasturi, getting admission to study in Monash University was a dream come true, but having to transition to online study as soon as she came, she never got to study in the campus she admired and underwent a hard time being in lockdown with roommates who bullied and harassed her. Srushti, who never got the chance to meet her classmates in person, had a difficult time making friends in a whole new environment and didn’t have anyone she knew that she could stay with. Fighting to keep her morale high, Srushti found a new place to move to and shifted there soon, but went back to India after the bond ran out. Srushti is happy to be reunited with her family and dog in Hyderabad.

Ahnaf Yousuf Piash, who had finished his bachelor’s degree from Deakin University last November, is stuck in Melbourne while studying for his master’s degree in the University of Tasmania. Piash, who had originally planned to go back home to Bangladesh before coming back to start his course in July, is glad he didn’t. ‘If I had gone back I’d have ended up being stuck there,’ he said.

Although he struggled with his mental health and lack of social life and was unable to get any shifts from his job, Piash says that he is lucky his parents supported him and that the situation of temporary residents in Australia is much worse than that of international students. Most of them are doing Uber Eats or delivery jobs because that’s all they can do; if they go home they’d have a difficult time coming back and that time would use up their TR so that wastes a lot of time and money.’

Sudharsun Venkatesan is one such student, who has resorted to a delivery job after recently completing his master’s degree. Sudharsun, who arrived in Melbourne to finish his last semester just a day before the international travel ban, says that the change was ‘a rude shock’ to him. ‘I took a bank loan for the degree, and for my living expenses I was working part-time in a restaurant and interning for this company which helped me make some money for rent, but the pandemic collapsed that completely. I got a grant which helped me sustain myself for the three months of the first wave, but now I’ve just been doing Uber Eats delivery which is the only thing that’s helping me out,’ said Sudharsun, who was planning to pursue a PhD, but missed out on it due to funding cuts, and is currently looking for other opportunities.

‘This was supposed to be my gallery submissions year, we had to go for exhibitions and get our own personal studios and gallery which never happened because of the pandemic. It’s hard to do a studio-based degree like visual arts from home because you don’t get enough resources and I thought of deferring but that wastes time and delays everything, and you have to apply for a visa,’ said Pooja.

‘I was very depressed when this started but later on I made a routine where I’m getting up, working out, cooking every day, and it really helps if you’re doing activities all day and talking to your friends. At the end of the day, I just think of the bigger picture where people don’t have basic amenities like shelter or food, so you need to be grateful if you have a house and job,’ said Pooja, whose freelance graphic design work had picked up as she could do it all from home, and earn some income on the side.

For Deepak Mallya too, it was his mental health that took a blow during this time. ‘I was already stressed about my research because it’s highly competitive, but once lockdown started it increased. My sleep cycle and eating patterns got completely disrupted, I wasn’t able to sleep until 2 or 3 in the morning, so I used to overthink and got depressed because I’m all alone here. I can’t call up and talk to my parents or friends every hour. I was not motivated to do anything, it was a war from within, but I’m recovering now. I started to follow a routine, and drew strength from my spirituality and it’s helped me get better,’ said Deepak. ‘The university gave hardship payments and there were charities and gurudwaras that were donating groceries and food,’ he said.

Studies by the Department of Home Affairs showed that over 70% of Australian international students have chosen to stay back here, which means the majority of students have put their hopes into our country and community, not wishing to lose the chance of coming back here. Contributing $37.6 billion to the Australian economy in the last financial year, international students have poured not only their dreams and aspirations, but also their finances into the country, and the least we can do in return is to support and help them during this time, so that their journeys now are not marked by hunger, loneliness, and desperation.