Student travelers fly thousands of miles to attend university

A Chinese student chose to become an international traveler when he attended his final three months at a Melbourne university this year instead of living in Australia.

Xu Guangli’s story gained traction in China last month after his videos on Chinese social media platform Douyin went viral.

The 28-year-old was traveling from his home in Dezhou to Melbourne’s RMIT University once a week for in-person classes for 11 weeks between August and October.

He was finishing his master’s degree in arts management after studying in Australia for eight years, but his girlfriend had already finished her studies and returned to China.

Chinese media reported that Xu was making the weekly trips “for love” in order to spend more time with his partner.

“Life in Melbourne alone was lonely,” Xu said, according to South China Morning Mail.

A round trip would take him three days and he would stay on a friend’s couch one night he was in Melbourne, it was reported.

He estimated one of the trips to cost $920, which included a $645 return flight, taxi and meals.

He said he has traveled on various airlines and visited several Chinese cities and even Vietnam on vacation.

Besides spending more time with his girlfriend and family, Xu said he wanted to prepare for a career in China after graduation.

“I found that the flight routes between China and Australia are frequent, with multiple airlines operating, so I tried it – It turned out to be quite feasible and I didn’t encounter any major problems,” he. said SBS Mandarin this month.

“I prefer the environment and comfort in China. After living abroad for so many years, I wanted to spend more time with my family.â€

Australians were shocked the Chinese student still wanted to study in Australia and pointed to the environmental impact of two long-haul flights a week, but others said it was a reflection of how expensive life in Australia had become.

“Just goes to show how expensive it is,” said one expat. “I recently returned from visiting family in Melbourne. I was amazed at how expensive everything was. Mum asked if I would consider moving back from Scotland. Even with the support of my family I could not survive for long

Another wrote: “It makes sense. Our cost of living is astronomical. As soon as it becomes cheaper to fly back and stay with family, why not. Better than being poor here as a student.â€

Some argued that international students who do not live here should not be allowed to study at our universities, but others countered that this could ease the stress on the housing market.

“People who complain because he travels but they would be the first to complain if he bought a house here and lived in it saying they are buying houses that Aussies miss out on,” one person wrote.