Last week, Chief Minister Andrew Barr announced the ACT government’s plan to bring back what was the capital’s “first billion-dollar export industry” prior to the pandemic: international students.

Before the effects of Covid-19, 18,000 international students were studying at one of the ACT’s world-ranked institutions, placing Canberra amongst the 50 best student cities in the world.

According to the Chief Minister, recovering our international education sector is a key economic priority.

What is the plan for recovering this billion-dollar industry that makes up a significant chunk of Canberra’s diversity, culture, and international appeal? A digital toolkit including student videos, brochures, and city guides.

Pre-dating this support effort, built to entice a new flood of international students, is Rohith*, one of the many international students who have stayed in Australia throughout the pandemic.

Rohith is currently completing his master’s degree in architecture, after moving to Australia in 2017 for a bachelor’s degree. He was drawn to Australia because of its world ranked education standard.

Rohith has dreams of “designing buildings for the future”.

“Canberra’s architecture is amazing,” he says. “It’s a planned city inspired by the American-British garden city movement, and I think they did a pretty good job.”

Rohith works a six-day school/work week, with one day off, Sunday. “My laundry day!” he smiles.

“Right now, I can work a little more than the standard. Normally I can only work 20 hours a week.”

In January 2022, the federal government removed the 40-hour-a-fortnight cap on student visa-holder workers, following labour shortages in the food distribution and manufacturing industries.

Rohith, among countless others, was delighted by the change. Although shocked, in lieu of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s previous statement to “return home… if they’re not in a position to be able to support themselves”.

Rohith supports himself as a door-to-door subscription salesman.

“You definitely need a tough skin,” he says about his line of work. “I haven’t been in any dangerous situations, thank God. I’m lucky to work early hours, so I feel it’s pretty safe. No one’s drunk. Everyone’s either at work or working from home.”

At only 23 years old, Rohith grew out his beard to appear older, as he found it led to less aggressive responses on the job.

“You would assume that in affluent suburbs, everyone’s polite, but that’s not the case. I feel that the affluent suburbs are ruder compared to the less affluent. Their attitude is pretty full on.”

Before his current job, Rohith worked at a popular chain petrol station for three years. He described facing frequent racism, separated only by the glass of his register.

“I used to work the graveyard shift from 12am to 7am. You do find a lot of different characters.

“When I first started, the [name calling] was surprising for me because I didn’t expect it. I thought the racism was going to be subtle, but it was super full on.”

Rohith lives in a converted garage, with four roommates, also international students.

“I wouldn’t call it a house-house,” he laughed. “But it serves the purpose, you know. It has a room. It has a kitchen. It has a toilet.

“There’s no heating, but if it’s cold, wear a couple jackets and you’re fine.”

It’s a stark contrast from Rohith’s living situation back in India. “Back home, it’s super comfortable. But here it doesn’t matter where you live as long as you have a roof over your head.”

In learning of the ACT government’s digital toolkit, Rohith smiles and graciously advises that the money would be better spent connecting international students with one another.

“Particularly in the first couple of months, you would feel more connected knowing someone who’s gone through the same thing.”

He says the fees international students pay are three times that of citizens.

“I moved from Melbourne to Canberra during the height of Covid. In Melbourne, we had many student relief programs that we could apply for. When I reached Canberra, there was no support offered in that manner…That was very challenging through lockdowns.”

The city of Canberra is welcoming, inclusive, and offers an outstanding quality of life. In that vein, looking after existing international students, like Rohith, may come before action to attract new ones.

*Not his real name.

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