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.
Well done! Your topic selection has a clear entry point. Focus on neglected mental health issues among Chinese abroad. Newsworthiness is high. All hyperlinks open well.
However, I think the title is too long. I suggest simplifying it.
You mentioned that the content of the article would be approached from three aspects. I suggest improving the “cultural isolation” part. For example, Chinese students may not seek help because they are ashamed to discuss mental health issues. This will help the reader understand their dilemma better.
Furthermore, you said that you will interview Chinese students. Have you considered highlighting the particularity of the problem by interviewing the situations of international students of different nationalities?
Finally, when writing Assignment 3, add subheadings and visual data to make reading easier. In the current proposal, these are not prominent enough.
Anyway, looking forward to your Assignment 3 performance!
Hi Qingqing, you did a good job on this proposal. This proposal reveals a seriously underestimated issue – the mental health problems of Chinese students studying in Australia. I particularly appreciate your idea of linking economic pressure, service gap and cultural segregation to the mental health of Chinese international students. However, I think more explanations are needed in your proposal as to why this piece of News is suitable for ABC News. Although international students do provide a lot of economic income to the Australian education market, in the citation support provided in the proposal, the connection between the economic pressure, service gap and cultural isolation faced by international students and their mental health is somewhat far-fetched and not very strong. So, I think you need to find more support to link the three factors to the psychological state of international students. For example, find more specific cases where international students are hindered in psychological services, etc. All in all, this idea is very profound. You have also conducted extensive research and found appropriate data and case support.