Neighboring colleges: Prospective students listen to an explanation on education in Australia during an Australian Education Exhibition in Jakarta. The program was organized by Edlink. JP/Anthony Dea
Anybody that has had the opportunity to go to university and study and enjoy the life of a university student knows that it is a great experience.
It can be an eye-opening experience and it can broaden horizons in a way that may not be anticipated or ever really expected. Staying in one’s home country to go to university can give this experience but traveling overseas can multiply the effect many times over.
Indonesia, like many other Southeast Asian countries, has a significant number of students traveling each year overseas to continue their education. Traditionally this may have been to the Netherlands and then also Australia but the Indonesia of the 21st century is sending students to nations literally all over the globe.
This is excellent for those students and for Indonesia generally. The benefits of having overseas graduates may take a while for the nation but they will come. The benefits to students are considerable and they can be immediate and profound.
Gaining a university education is not just about getting the grades and passing exams and ultimately being awarded a certificate or diploma as a graduate. University education and living as a university student changes a person, it really does broaden horizons and it is inevitable that this “broadening of horizons” is even greater for students that are going international.
This “broadening” is just a natural element of being a foreign student in a foreign land. New things are inevitably experienced; a new way of living is encountered. This happens even when students believe they are advanced and experienced already. As a postgraduate student becoming an international student is still an eye-opening experience.
All of this “experience” leads to something that is quite difficult to quantify and cannot really be included in any prospectus for a university or a curriculum for a course. An international student becomes different.
An international student achieves a different perspective on living and their study.
The impact on a person of living in a different culture, of living in a country that speaks another language and of living with people that have different traditions is considerable. This, in our world of globalization, can prove a considerable advantage.
No matter how internationalized we might like to think that we have become through satellite television channels, the use of the Internet and other international communication tools and social networks such
as Facebook and Twitter, none of these things can or do for a moment take the place of firsthand immediate experience.
Actually being there, seeing and doing things for yourself is very different from being a remote observer. If a student is immersed into an environment the impact is immediate and much greater; and that “immersion” can take many forms.
Often Indonesian students that have become international learners reflect on how they have become much more independent as a byproduct of going overseas for their studies. There are simple logistical and living things that practically force a traveling student to get on and do things for themselves.
One Indonesian student admitted that she actually enjoyed finally doing things for herself. Coming from an affluent family in Jakarta, she was used to having maids and cooks to do things for her.
Living in Sydney required that she learned to cook for herself and she was pleasantly surprised to find that she actually enjoyed the experience of cooking. Laundry and cleaning were not enjoyable however.
Although things like these might not seem so important, they do in fact add to the character of a student. Being able to cope with the challenges of study and with the realities of living in an entirely
new environment is an enhancing experience. The student has learned life-skills that can be very useful to their own life and to their life of employment.
An international student’s life of employment is also changed by those international studies and international learning.
An international graduate is consistently more employable and will consistently be able to command both better salaries and career prospects.
The era of “a job for life” has long gone, current and future employment requires flexibility and the ability to adapt and take on new roles and responsibilities. This too is an area where a graduate from overseas can find themselves at an advantage. They have already learned to be flexible and adapt to new situations.
Unquestionably becoming international and taking on studies overseas are not easy but the benefits and advantages that may be gained do outweigh the difficulties that may be encountered. Learning internationally benefits the student immediately and the advantages of being an international graduate will be reaped over many years.
The writer is an education consultant in Sydney, Australia.
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