Keeping calm and carrying on: International students in lockdown

What has been the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on international students and how have they coped with living, often in isolation, in a foreign country? This article examines the challenges and coping strategies of current and recently graduated higher degree by research (HDR) international students in the Australian city of Melbourne through a transient migration lens. Through interviews with eight international students during one of Melbourne’s lockdown periods, this pilot study provided participants the opportunity to explain that not only were they dealing with the difficulties posed by lockdowns (e.g., loneliness and lack of sense of belonging) but doing so while balancing non-lockdown-related issues as students and transient migrants (e.g., passing their degree courses). Students interviewed however also revealed that they made the most out of lockdowns while taking charge of their own well-being by working towards their postgraduate futures and using the time to discover new non-study-related talents (e.g., watercolouring). The results of this study provide international education stakeholders and higher education institutions with ways of moving forward in the student support space.