Going bush: International student perspectives on teaching and learning at a rural university campus

While there is a significant body of literature concerned with the experience of international students arriving to study in Australia, very little of this research addresses the issue of overseas students’ transition to life and study in rural areas. What issues do international students face when they arrive in rural Australia, and how is their experience different to that of their metropolitan counterparts? This paper draws on data from in-depth interviews with non-English speaking background students from Asia, Europe and the Middle East to identify the sorrows and successes of international students arriving to study at The University of Sydney, Orange campus (now a campus of Charles Sturt University). It explores how diversity, language, academic expectations and student dynamics work in combination to construct learning experiences at a small rural learning institution.