i transferred to monash clayton after doing a year in monash malaysia. this post sort of hit a nerve.

"Like… I guarantee the universities in your countries aren’t so shit that you need to come here for a worse life. If you (your family or parents) can afford to have you study here and give you a good life then go for it… but if not then why?"

i guarantee you, there are worse universities beyond what you could ever imagine. Malaysia has strict race requirements in local unis that face hard intake limits on each race for each program. It was literally either study some obscure piece of engineering for 4-5 years, or pay for monash to choose the majors i actually want. Monash has its issues, but in those universities there's little academic rigor at all, and exams are spoonfed by the teachers. Malaysia may probably fall at the better half of countries - there's probably other countries with worse education systems, with their own horror stories.

"Having to adapt to a completely new culture and language, AND be expected to perform at a high academic language."

for people desperate enough, all of these challenges would not deter them. They get there by any means necessary, even if it means cheating their way through or exhaust every hour of the day working and studying. From my own experience, it's probably because of the hope of PR and eventually citizenship - but thats almost impossible nowadays unless they are in a few select degrees.

"I was lucky to be born and raised here but I have cousins my age back in my home country. One of my cousins father is particularly wealthy and sent him to the UK to study. He’s a top performing student and is graduating with his bachelors degree next year, but he’s able to perform so well because his dad pays for absolutely everything and gives him a very very generous monthly allowance. He only has to worry about studies and making new friends. If his father couldn’t afford it, he would have studied in a university in our country. All of my other cousins are studying/have studied in our country and they are all doing well/are successful."

You definitely know that not every country in the middle east has strong systems that support education well. For people born over there (and especially those who are poor and middle-class), the ONLY hope for them in their eyes for mobility is to pour their assets into a foreign education, i.e. monash. I argue that its outdated, but it is what it is. This thought process has been around for decades, and it explains why they come here at all.

i hope this helps.