Asia Pacific Business & Economics Perspectives, 2(1), Summer 2014 6 A heuristic model to assist the Chinese students studying in Australia Mehryar Nooriafshar University of Southern Queensland, Queensland, Australia mehryar@usq.edu.au Joe Zhou Peng University of Southern Queensland Queensland, Australia Joe.ZhouPeng@usq.edu.au ABSTRACT Since the 1970s, many Chinese students have taken the advantage of the available opportunities to undertake their tertiary studies in English speaking countries. Although the People’s Republic of China, their students and the host countries have enjoyed the mutual benefits, there have been challenges for all concerned too. This paper aims to address the research question of what these challenges are and how they be addressed. In order to address the identified research questions, an investigation utilizing the data collected from different cases was carried out. These cases dealt with issues and challenges facing the Chinese students studying at the Australian Universities. The case interviews were conducted separately and then the commonalities in issues were identified. These factors were grouped in six different categories of language skills, adjustment capabilities, effort, social pressure, financial situation and teaching support. Various scenarios relating to each group were provided and discussed. A heuristics model to measure an index value for the potential academic performances of the Chinese students was explained and presented. The heuristic model was applied to example cases and the users verified the results to be valid and compatible with their expectations. This model can also be utilized for the purposes of monitoring one’s academic performance levels , in a manner, which allows carrying out a what-if analysis or a comparison with other similar scenarios. JEL Classification: A22, A29, B41, Z1 Keywords: heuristic model, education, academic performance INTRODUCTION With the People’s Republic of China’s growing economic power, the Western -developed countries have witnessed that over 3 million Chinese students are in tertiary educational institutions since 1979. This growing Chinese student population has brought huge financial income to those host countries, besides of other social benefits of enhanced cultural exchange and attraction of skilled talents to those countries. Nowadays, Chinese students are the biggest international student cohort in the Western-developed countries such as the United States of America, the United Kingdom,