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1: Overseas Students from Asian Countries Studying at Australian Art Schools [Next Chapter] [Previous Chapter] [Contents]

• Overview: The Overall Purpose of the Project
• Australian Art Schools
• Asian Students in Australian Art Schools
• Where They Come From
• Distribution of Asian Art School Students in Australia
• Honours and Postgraduate Students from Asia
• What Asian Students Major In
• The Country Where They Would Most Want to Study
• Undertaking Further Study in Australia
• Why They Came to Australia to Study Art

Overview: The Overall Purpose of the Project

The curricula for Art Theory/History, Drawing and Studio disciplines in Australian art schools have been based on traditional European models. Until recently, little has been done to modify curricula or teaching strategies to accommodate overseas students from the Asia Pacific region and the indigenous cultures of Australia and New Zealand. Australian art schools have been slow to address issues of internationalisation or intercultural exchange, particularly as they pertain both to students from a non-European background and to changing perceptions of cultural and national identity amongst Australians.

The sustained escalation in intake of international students undertaking visual art and design training, however, has to be considered within the context of the appropriateness of current art school curricula and teaching methods. The project undertaken by the Tasmanian School of Art at Launceston seeks to establish new directions in university curriculum development in the visual arts, because the emphasis in current curricula is still very Eurocentric—as the research findings reported in Chapter 2 will show.

The research is positioned within the Asian context. Part of the rationale for this is that recently collected data by the Canberra School of Art show that the majority of overseas students undertaking Australian university visual arts and design courses are from Asian countries¹⁰. An equally if not more important reason is Australia’s geographical location, and the resultant political and trade relationships with its Asian neighbours. As Australia is moving away, both ideologically and constitutionally, from its colonial roots, a new post-colonial identity is being shaped, and part of this emerging national identity has to take into account a wide range of historical, environmental, cultural, political and geographical factors.

The consideration of the art practices and histories of the countries within the region seems then an entirely reasonable if not desirable course in the present planning for future Australian education. Indeed, there is support for this premise from both Australian and Asian art students, as documented in the next two chapters.

In our research into Art Theory/History curricula, two main issues are investigated:

• the extent to which current curricula have addressed contact with non-European culture as reflected in Euro-Australian and European art and non-European art in the Asian Region; and
• the perception of the need for the development of curricula and pedagogical practices and the resultant benefits to both Australian and overseas Asian students.

Similar concerns have informed the research into art school Drawing programs. This research study investigates the degree of consideration given to:

• the inclusion of non-Western and in particular Asian curriculum content; and
• pedagogical issues related to intercultural contexts.

A third broad area of investigation was to determine the effects, beneficial or otherwise, of intercultural relations/experience on learning, for both Australian and students from Asian countries.

Within the context of both accommodating Asian students and expanding our own perceptions of our geographical, economic and cultural position in the region, it is hoped that observations and recommendations derived from the research will form the rationales for:

• the development of a non-Eurocentric internationalised Art Theory/History curriculum; and
• the teaching of Drawing to international students from non-European backgrounds.

To set the overall context for the project, this chapter gives some basic statistics on overseas students from Asian countries studying in Australian art schools.

Australian Art Schools

Although the Directory of Higher Education 1996 lists 31 art schools in Australia, there are in fact only 30¹¹. There are eight in New South Wales, seven in Victoria, six in Queensland, three in Western Australia, two each in South Australia and Tasmania and one each in the Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory.

Asian Students¹² in Australian Art Schools

All university art schools were contacted at the beginning of the research to collect information about their student numbers, asking specifically about the number of Asian students. Other information concerning issues of internationalisation, including curriculum development and pedagogy was requested. The data collected and their analyses form the subjects of the next four chapters. In this chapter we are concerned to give an overall view of the approximate size of the international student population from Asian countries in Australian art schools, their distribution by state and preferred area of study and so on.

The response rate to this first survey was high—97 per cent (i.e. 29 out of 30 art schools). Of the 29 returned questionnaires, one large art school did not have information regarding the number of their full-time students from Asian countries. The 28 other art schools had a total of approximately—several schools only gave approximate figures—7672 undergraduate students. Of these 333 (4%) were Asian (Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1: Percentage of Asian Students in Visual Arts/Art History/Design Undergraduate Courses in 26 Australian Universities

Six (21%) out of 28 art schools did not have any Asian students.

Individual percentages of undergraduate Asian students in different schools ranged from 1 per cent to 22 per cent¹³. There were a total of two schools with under 1 per cent, 14 with between 1 per cent and 5 per cent; two between 6 per cent and 10 per cent; three between 11 per cent and 15 per cent; none between 16 per cent and 20 per cent and one with over 20 per cent of Asian students (see Appendix 5).

Where They Come From

Art schools were asked to nominate the three countries from which they had the majority of their overseas Asian students. Most of our Asian students come from Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Nepal and Vietnam, with the first three countries cited most often.

Two subsequent questionnaires were sent to selected art schools to collect information from Asian students regarding their studies in Art Theory/History and Drawing units. Although the sample is small (see rationale in the Introduction), this too gives an idea of the countries from which they come:

• Taiwan 12;
• Japan 9;
• Hong Kong 7;
• South Korea 3;
• Malaysia 3;
• Singapore 2;
• China 2;
• Indonesia 2;
• Sri Lanka 1; and
• (no response) 1.

Distribution of Asian Art School Students in Australia

A further geographical analysis (based on the information made available as described above) is presented in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1: Students in Australian Art Schools (by State)

* Not including Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney, who were unable to give a breakdown of their 400 students

# The University of Western Australia did not return the questionnaire, so these figures are incomplete

Honours and Postgraduate Students from Asia

There were 100 students in honours programs in 1995 in 17 art schools, of whom two (2%) were Asian.

A total of 800, including 41 Asian students (5%), were undertaking postgraduate studies (full and part-time) in 24 art schools.

What Asian Students Major In

Data on the distribution of Asian students in the various art school disciplines in undergraduate programs showed that in 1995, apart from first year students, out of 268 second and third year students, 76 (28%) majored in Visual Communications¹⁴ (all at the one institution), 44 (16%) in Painting, 23 (9%) in graphic & multi-media, 18 (7%) in Drawing, 16 (6%) in Graphic Design, 15 (6%) in Ceramics, 13 (5%) in Interior Design, 12 (5%) in Textiles, 11 (4%) in Jewellery, 10 (4%) in Photography, eight (3%) each in Print Making, Sculpture and Film, two (1%) in Art Theory and one each (1%) in Glass, ‘Design’ (not made clear what kind of Design), Animation and Museum Studies (see Figure 1.2).

Figure 1.2: Distribution of Asian Students in Studio/Theory Subjects

The Country Where They Would Most Want to Study

In the two questionnaires completed by a small selected sample of Asian students doing an Art Theory/History or Drawing unit, they were also asked to give their top three choices of country to study in (see Table 1.2).

Table 1.2: Asian Students’ Choice of Country

The range of countries nominated includes, interestingly, Asian countries as well as European countries where English would not be the language of instruction. It is no surprise; however, that the United States and France are preferred choices for study in fine art, as these two countries are commonly perceived to be at the leading edge in visual art and critical art theory development in this century.

Undertaking Further Study in Australia

They were also asked if they would undertake further study in Australia. Out of the 39 who completed the two questionnaires 22 (56%) said yes, 13 (33%) said no, three (8%) were uncertain, and one (3%) did not respond.

Why They Came to Australia to Study Art

Perhaps, most interesting of all is Australia’s position on the list above of preferred countries in which to pursue art training. It would suggest a low choice as a provider of visual art education by neighbouring Asian countries¹⁵.

Respondents were asked in both the Art Theory/History and Drawing questionnaires why they had come to Australia to study art.

The reason given most often (seven times) was that Australia had been recommended by a friend or a relative.

Six replies gave Australian ‘culture’ (including weather, scenery etc.) as the reason.

Closely following that was that they wanted to learn English (five). A variation on this was that it was ‘better to learn art in English’ (one). Still another variation, related to language, was ‘Because I don’t understand French’(one)—here was someone perhaps who had nominated France as the top choice for studying art.

Four respondents said that university art courses were not available in their own country.

Three said that it was ‘cheaper’ to study in Australia—although they did not say cheaper than where.

Australian art and Western art were each mentioned twice as being the attraction.

Several respondents made inappropriate comments or gave no reply.

Three particularly interesting responses are reserved for the end of this chapter. The following reasons were each given once:

• prior educational experience;
• safe place;
• good reputation for art education;
• ‘to learn to establish own style’; and
• in order to earn more money back home.

Although the sample is small, many varied reasons are nevertheless given for why Asian students come to study—Australia’s geographical proximity, economic considerations, the quality of the education provided, and so on. Three astute comments from Asian students, explaining why they came here, confirm our need to re-assess our position as providers of education:

Because there is no long history here, can build new aesthetic.

Australian art could be developed well because of its open attitude for all people who have come from different culture background.

‘Cause it [art] stand[s] in a state that is part Asian and part Western.

What is certain from other statistics, is that there is a demand from Asian countries for education in fine art, albeit small compared to most other disciplines. This situation is one in which it is ideal for art schools to examine how art training can be adapted and developed to accommodate our own and others’ perception of Australia as a multicultural country.

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