NEW DELHI: Snapshots of inter-racial harmony and campus-cosmopolitanism are for the university prospectus. Online posts on message boards by local Australian students spew hate against foreign students. One of them says, "they don't even know how to move out of the bloody way." Another says, "too many Muslims."
A message board asking students what they hated about their university in Australia showed that a remarkable number had one pet hate: overseas students.
One answer was, "too many fobs" - as in "freshly off the boats".
There is an entire series of posts specifying what the local students exactly hate about their overseas counterparts. The list of complaints is long: they "only speak Asian to each other"; "they're snobs"; "they don't understand English." Their biggest crime, apparently, is to "gather in a hugea** group of 10 plus and just stand and block a common walking area." Several posts mention it.
Some also complain that overseas students are difficult to work with on group projects: "International students and group work means it is not longer group work," says a post. Fellow students are recommended to either avoid teaming up with 'internationals' or go for courses that don't have many takers among overseas students.
One exceptionally vitriolic message says, "I hate how there are too many international students. Some are fine and dandy, if i have to, ill get along with them fine, but if they come in groups of 10 or so its ***king hard to walk past them. Especially since they don't even know how to move out of the bloody way and have some courtesy!"
Australian newspaper, Sydney Morning Herald, too has noticed this trend. "It's one thing for dumb thugs to be prejudiced against foreign students but what is just as disturbing is the prejudice shown to these students by local university students who should know better," says an SMH article commenting on the attacks on Indian students over the past fortnight.
"The irony is that many Australian students spend summer holidays exploring the culture of our region
by backpacking through Asia, while wasting the opportunity during semester to get to know peers from these countries. Not only is this division alienating for foreign students, it is a wasted opportunity for locals, too," says the article.