Day in the Life of the Onshore Team

Moving to a new country for study can be a challenging, if not daunting process. Having to suddenly adapt to a new time zone, language, currency, and culture can even undermine all the positive and life-affirming experiences that come with being an international student. That’s why the work our Australasian Onshore Team does is so pivotal in ensuring students get the absolute most out of their study abroad experiences.

Led by Australasian Destination Manager, Amrita Chauhan, Assistant Destination Manager, Summer Feng, and Destination Migration Manager, Alice Guan, the Onshore Team works hard to ensure international students arriving in Australia and New Zealand feel supported, connected and confident.

We spoke with Amrita to learn more about the services provided by the Onshore Team, how IDP Thrive is helping students upon arrival, the benefits of having a diverse and multilingual team, and what she loves most about working at IDP.

Can you tell us what the Onshore Team does? How does your team ensure international students receive adequate support prior to their international education journey, and after their arrival in the destination country?

The Onshore Team is here to support our international students with their study and career journey. We make sure students have a seamless onshore study experience by providing services like free counselling, information sessions, career seminars, migration services and much more. We also hold social events like movie nights, day tours and laser tag!

Additionally, we support students in pre-departure, by running virtual sessions in collaboration with network countries, and delivering important information such as what to pack, student visa rules and regulations, health cover details, accommodation, internship options, and more.

Once students arrive, we guide them by running webinars, city tours, and a Welcome Day event.

Recent IDP research found an increase in mental health concerns among international students. Why is it so important to ensure students feel welcome and part of a community when they arrive?

Mental health and wellbeing are huge concerns post-pandemic, with isolation from family, friends and culture, as well as language barriers and academic pressures among the key drivers.

Making sure students feel welcome and part of the community as soon as they arrive can help ease their initial concerns. It can also help them build confidence ahead of their study journey.

What strategies do you employ to help students ease into their new study destination? Are there any events or programs you run to help international students during this period?

We design our social engagement events that will help students to engage with each other and build meaningful friendships. As previously mentioned, we help students upon arrival by gifting them a virtual welcome pack kit, running a city tour, and running several webinars on topics like wellbeing, career support, visa updates and migration.

IDP Thrive was recently launched at the beginning of the year, can you tell us more about this program? What are the strategic initiatives and how will it contribute towards creating that 'IDP stickiness'?

The key role of IDP Thrive is to extend IDP’s support to our students on arrival to their new study destination. Through our Customer Lab and student feedback, a timeline of key events is arranged including social activities, mental health and wellbeing seminars, migration updates and preparation for interviews and networking.

We have also created an online Thrive Community with other international students who have arrived in Australia. This community is a platform for students to ask questions, share pictures and events, and build their support network.

It is through all this support that we create a ‘stickiness’ with our students that IDP has supported them from offshore to onshore. The ‘stickiness’ results in loyalty with IDP, potential referrals are created and the IDP students themselves become Student Ambassadors, who in turn help other newly arrived students with their study abroad journey.

How does maintaining a diverse Onshore Team, with past international student experiences of their own, help you effectively carry out the duties of your roles?

Having a diverse onshore team is such a strength for us. We have multilingual counsellors from international student background who connect and understand our students well. They are quite aware of the ongoing challenges students may face during their study and career journey in Australia.

Being multilingual also helps to remove communication barriers, allowing students to speak with their counsellors about any issue without a hassle. Some of our counsellors have been working with international students for the last 15 to 20 years. They are very well experienced and know what students want.

This helps our Destination team to address any ongoing concerns raised by our counsellors and students in real-time. For example, we recently ran a post-study work (PSW) visa arrangement webinar, following the Department of Home Affairs announcing an extension of PSW visa rights. This webinar particularly helped onshore and offshore network teams to understand the new PSW arrangements and the criteria/eligibility involved.

What do you enjoy most about working at IDP?

People, people and people! I enjoy IDP’s diverse team and culture. I’ve had the opportunity to work with some brilliant colleagues and partners across the regions, and everyone brings fresh ideas and supports each other. You also learn from the best industry leaders.

IDP provides unbiased information to our students and acts in the best interests of the students. It’s fun and you learn a lot, which helps me grow personally and professionally.

I also gather inspiration from IDP student stories, which inspires me to continue passionately supporting many more international students who arrive and thrive in Australia. Seeing them achieving their study and career dreams is quite rewarding for me.