Silent pressure of international students: The mental health issue of Chinese students in Australia need to be addressed

Genre: feature article

 

Background and angle of the topic:

In Australia, the group of international students from China is facing a silent mental health crisis. Faced with academic pressure, cultural conflicts, loneliness and financial pressures, many students choose to remain silent or struggle to get enough help. In the year 2024, data released by Australian Department of Education, China remains Australia’s largest source of international students, accounting for 22% of international students. However, there are very few mainstream media release feature article about the mental health issue of Chinese students.

 

The article will focus on three core issues:

• How economic pressures can overwhelm psychological support. In Rising cost of living forces international student to prioritise rent over mental health care – ABC News, A Chinese student said that while psychological counselling is helpful for her, the cost of each session was too high, making it impossible for her to continue treatment. Rents and the cost of living are rising, and some students are forced to abandon psychological counselling services.

 

• The issue of the suitability of universityservices. In Guide for enhancing international students’ mental health and wellbeing – Department of Education, Australian Government released in November 2024, it is proposed to pay attention to the mental health of international students, but in fact it is implemented by universities and there is a lack of evaluation. Although most universities in Australia provide mental health services, there are gaps in cultural fit, language support, and resource coverage. For example, we can see the services offered by the University of Sydney’s official website Counselling – The University of Sydney.

 

• Cultural isolation. The loneliness of language and cultural differences makes many Chinese students feel helpless and unwilling to ask for help. Chinese students’ suicides in Australia highlight mental health crisis amid ‘extreme isolation’ | South China Morning Post (scmp.com)shows that Extreme loneliness and cultural isolation are one of the deep-seated reasons for the psychological crisis of some Chinese students.

 

The mental health of Chinese students is a comprehensive issue that covers language, culture, system and social support system. To truly solve this problem, society needs to establish more psychological support mechanisms for international students. And there must be a concerted effort between schools and the community to provide more viable services.

 

Interview:

• Some Chinese students. To understand their daily life and expenses, including accommodation, daily expenses, part-time work experience and more, to show their difficult struggle between earning, spending and self-care. And I will know about whether they have psychological problems, if so, what caused them, and whether they are being helped.

 

• Counsellors from the University of Sydney, as well as Chinese students who have experienced mental health counselling, to explore the limitations of the current university psychological support system.

 

Publication: ABC Online News

As Australia’s public news media, ABC Online News has a responsibility to focus on this neglected issue. At the same time, the audiences of ABC Online News reaches a lot of young people, and the audience is loyal. The topic of my article is in line with the target audience.