University Transition Challenges for First Year Domestic CALD Students from Refugee Backgrounds - A Case Study from an Australian Regional University

Oct 15, 2026

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Paper examines key issues, challenges, and support needs of first-year domestic culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) students from refugee backgrounds at a multi-campus regional university in Queensland, Australia. Qualitative evidence comes from one-on-one semi-structured interviews and focus groups with students and key informants across teaching, administrative, and senior management roles. Beyond language and differing educational styles, students confront socio-cultural, technology, family and health challenges, plus limited staff awareness, informing policy-focused recommendations for retention and progression.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages28

Reading Time1 h 11 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

CALD and Refugee Background Context

Regional Setting and Student Demographics

Prior Literature and Research Gap

Australian Journal of Adult Learning Volume 56, Number 2, July 2016 University Transition Challenges for First Year Domestic CALD Students from Refugee Backgrounds: A Case Study from an Australian Regional University Eric Kong Sarah Harmsworth Mohammad Mehdi Rajaeian Geoffrey Parkes Sue Bishop Bassim AlMansouri Jill Lawrence University of Southern Queensland Culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) is used broadly and inclusively to describe communities with diverse language, ethnic background, nationality, dress, traditions, food, societal structures, art and religion characteristics. Domestic CALD people are either refugees or voluntary migrants and have obtained permanent residency or citizenship. This paper identifies the key issues, challenges and needs offirst year domestic CALD students from refugee backgrounds at a multi-campus regional university in Queensland, Australia. The term refugee background is used in the paper as the students are no longer refugees having successfully transitioned from refugee status to being University Transition Challenges for First Year Domestic CALD Students from Refugee Backgrounds: 171 A Case Study from an Australian Regional University permanent residents. Qualitative data was collected through oneon-one semi-structured interviews and focus groups with domestic CALD students from refugee backgrounds, and from key informants including teaching, administrative, and senior management staff members. Other than language and differences in education styles, this cohort of students faced other challenges, particularly in a regional setting, including socio-cultural issues, technology issues, family and health challenges and limited staff awareness of refugee needs. The findings provide insights into how Australian regional university policy makers could develop effective strategies, practices, proceduresand policies to support CALD students from refugee backgrounds and to improve their retention and progression. Keywords: Domestic culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) students, refugees, Australian regional university, higher education, equity Culturally and linguistically diverse in Toowoomba, Queensland Culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) people, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), are generally defined as those who are born overseas and who originate from non-English speaking countries other than those from English speaking countries such as Canada, Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, the U.K. and U.S.A. (Ethnic Communities’ Council of Victoria (ECCV), 2012) . CALDis often the preferred term for many government and community agencies as a contemporary descriptor for ethnic communities (ECCV, 2012). Most CALD people from refugee backgrounds have experienced protracted violence and hardship and thus may have suffered from a traumatic experience of migration (Copping et al., 2012) . Australia is home to a significant number of refugees. The total number of refugee-humanitarian entrants to Australia under the 2012-2013 Humanitarian Program was 20,019, a noticeable increase of 45% from the previous year (Commonwealth of Australia, 2013) . Immigration programs currently encourage refugee-humanitarian entrants to resettle in regional and rural Australia (Commonwealth of Australia, 2008 cited in Omeri & Raymond, 2009). Toowoomba, a city in the Darling 172 Eric Kong, Sarah Harmsworth, Mohammad Mehdi Rajaeian, Geoffrey Parkes, Sue Bishop, Bassim AlMansouri andJill Lawrence Downs region of Queensland, is representative of many regions in Australia where its population is diversifying as many migrants and refugees are encouraged to settle into the area by Federal and State Government policies. The Toowoomba region is now the third largest refugee settlement area in Queensland. It has almost twice the average per-capita population of Sub-Saharan migrants in Queensland and a population containing almost three times the stat

FAQs

What is the focus of the study?

The study focuses on key issues, challenges, and support needs of first-year domestic CALD students from refugee backgrounds in a regional Australian university setting.

How was the qualitative data collected?

Data were collected through one-on-one semi-structured interviews and focus groups with domestic CALD students and key informants, including teaching and administrative and senior management staff.

What kinds of challenges did the students face beyond language differences?

In addition to language and educational style differences, the paper highlights socio-cultural issues, technology issues, family and health challenges, and limited staff awareness of refugee needs.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by McGucket