International Students Australia

Social Networks and the Australian University

University can be a lonely place, especially as you look around the lecture theatre and see faces from other cultures, other places, strangers. The temptation is to ignore the other students and to suffer alone, to concentrate on your own studies and, to a certain extent, this works.

However, even for a confirmed loner like myself, there are benefits in creating a study network. This network need not be extensive, it need not be social, you might simply meet for coffee after a lecture.

People share and spread knowledge when in social groups. The simple act of sitting around a table and complaining about the latest lecture is not only reassuring as you discover you weren’t the only confused or bored student in the room, but will often result in discussion on the lecture content, a clarification of something that you missed, an explanation of the next assignment.

Most subjects will set weekly activities or questions for you to answer/consider. Discussing these with others will stimulate your own thoughts, will give you the benefit of their thoughts, will deepen your own understanding.

It’s true. It works. The scary part is establishing that network.

For some, this is easy. For others, particularly if new to the country, it can be frightening. Well let me tell you a secret – everyone approaches strangers with a sense of fear and there is little that is more intimidating than approaching someone who appears confident when you are not.

It is easy to approach someone from your own culture ... well, easier than someone from another culture. There is no criticism in this, we are all more comfortable with people with whom we share something and culture is a powerful force.

University is a special place. All students share something deep, powerful, at their very core. That ‘something’ is the desire to learn. Simply finding yourself in the same lecture theatre as someone else tells you that you also share similar interests, similar drives. Although that stranger sitting next to you may look different, may speak a different language, you have more in common with that person than any other stranger you may meet.

It should be easy to turn to that person and introduce yourself. Hah! If you believe that, you are far more confident than I am. However, that is what I urge you to do. Make a comment about the lecture. Ask them about the fancy lap top you saw them using. Ask if they’d like to form a study group. Just ask if they’d like to join you for coffee after the lecture. Maybe that’s not be the way it’s done where you live, but it is part of the Australian culture.

Study groups are strange creatures. My experience has been that you don’t always achieve a lot of study, but that’s not the point. As long as you share the experience of being at university, you will find that experience easier and more rewarding. You will find that your thoughts about the subject become clearer and your understanding deeper. Quite often, you actually learn something.

Study groups do work, even for confirmed loners like me.

Richard Spurling