A qualitative study on Chinese postgraduates students learning experiences in Australia

This paper presents a qualitative study which explored the learning experiences of Chinese postgraduate students in Australian universities. In the past decades, international student enrolments in all education sectors in Australia have grown rapidly. Thousands of Chinese students come to study in Australia every year and China has become Australia's largest source of international students. This study investigated Chinese postgraduate students' motivations to study in Australia, the challenges they faced and strategies they adopted to achieve cultural and academic adjustments. This research is significant in that it investigated the learning experiences of Chinese students, particularly from the perspective of the postgraduate students. This study involved ten Chinese students from mainland China who enrolled in Master courses in two Australian universities in ACT. An in-depth face to face interview method was employed. The interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim and the transcripts were translated from Chinese into English. Exploring their learning experiences may provide the Chinese learners who intend to study in Australia and the Australian academics with a better understanding of the challenges the Chinese postgraduate students are faced with and strategies they have adopted to achieve cultural and academic adjustments in the Australian universities. Key words: international education, social cultural adjustments, academic adjustments