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Figure 4.10 University regulation, Social communication, and Cross-cultural differences2) Main difficulties of international postgraduate students studying in AustralianuniversitiesOf the 204 comments made by postgraduate students from five differentuniversities, 67.57% of them said that social communication and language are themain difficulties experienced when they study in Australia. For example, one studentfrom Southern Cross University argues that there is some difficulty in exchangingopinions with other countries due to English language problems. Many students feelthat social, communication, and language issues are the most significant difficultieshey have. Figure 4.11 shows the distribution of these comments from the fiveuniversities.Figure 4.11 Social / Communication / Language for postgraduate studentsCulture shock, cultural differences and adaptation are also major difficultiesexperienced by students. One student from the University of Sydney states thatpeople from different cultures usually have little in common.There are other difficulties that students feel when they study in Australianuniversities such as assignment and exam difficulties, university regulation, teachingmethods, and homesickness. For example, one student argues that he/she couldnot fully master one subject because 14 weeks for one semester is too short. Somestudents also felt that the teaching methods in Australia present difficulties. For69