When Rose — not her real name — first came to Australia to study, she couldn't wait to take her new-found knowledge back to her home country in South-East Asia.
"I was really excited to go back home … I always wanted to work for Myanmar," she said.
She had hoped to give back to her community through NGO human rights work.
But those dreams evaporated when the military seized control of Myanmar in a coup in February last year.
Rose said it was unsafe for her to return home, and her family's safety was also at risk.
She said her parents had hidden in the forest to avoid the junta's attacks on her village, and they were now internally displaced.
Rose is one of about 30 Australia Awards scholarship recipients from Myanmar currently stranded in Australia.
A condition of the government scheme is that "all awardees must return home on completion of their studies so they can contribute to development in their country."
"Awardees are required to leave Australia for a minimum of two years after completing their scholarship. Failure to do so will result in the awardee incurring a debt to the Commonwealth of Australia for the total accrued cost of their scholarship," the policy said.
But in a letter set to be delivered to new Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil, academics have called on the government to grant humanitarian protection visas to the students and waive the obligation to repay the cost of the scholarship.
Nick Cheesman, director of the Myanmar Research Centre at the Australian National University, said these were "exceptionally gifted students who have a lot to contribute to Australia, and to a future democratic Myanmar".
"The jobs they would have had, and opportunities to contribute for the betterment of their society are mostly gone. Until the military is ousted, they won't come back."
That is the case for another student, Soe – also not his real name – who had hoped to contribute to the economic development of Myanmar on his return.
But the projects he wanted to work on have collapsed under the military junta's rule.
Being forced to return to conflict-riddled Myanmar would be a risk for students, he said, many of whom have been outspoken in Australia.
"We have been involved a lot of protests … we issued statements against the military coup, against the Myanmar embassy," he said.
"We do have connections with friends and family who have been imprisoned or who have been arrested or … questioned by the military."
What's happening in Myanmar?
Since the coup on February 1 last year, more than 1,900 people have been killed and more than 14,000 people have been arrested by the junta, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma).
Homes have been razed, villages have been burned, and a paramilitary resistance has evolved to counter army rule.
More than 1 million people have been displaced, according to the United Nations.
The letter to Ms O'Neil, signed by 24 academics from the ANU, the University of NSW and six other Australian universities, will also argue that if attempts are made to repatriate the students, it might violate international law.
ANU's Associate Professor Cheesman said it could breach the UN's anti-torture convention, as a country cannot return someone to a nation where they are in danger of being tortured.
"Torture by Myanmar soldiers and special police is systemic and arbitrary. It is happening today," he said.
The Department of Home Affairs said in a statement: "Australia does not return people to their country of origin where this would be inconsistent with its obligations under international human rights instruments to which Australia is a signatory."
Among those arrested are the country's former de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and her economic adviser, Australian economist Sean Turnell.
Soe said through his work before the coup, he had met Professor Turnell, who has been imprisoned in Myanmar for the past 16 months and charged under the country's Official Secrets Act.
Soe said he was disappointed more had not been done in Professor Turnell's case – last week, the courts ruled his trial would proceed, despite objections from Australia.
"I feel like he had a lack of support from the Australian government … rather than more concrete pressure," he said.
While the government has given some reprieve to students from Myanmar by allowing them to remain in Australia on three-month visa extensions, Soe said that uncertainty made it hard to find stable work.
"That limits our chances to be part of a productive and better life here."
The letter also said the former government was "hypocritical and inconsistent" with visas, as it granted protection to military defectors but "inexplicably it declined to do the same for talented graduate students".
A Home Affairs spokesperson said even before the coup, Myanmar nationals were among the top-five refugee groups settled in Australia, with more than 18,400 granted offshore humanitarian visas between July 1, 2011 and May 31, 2022.
In light of the situation in the country, they said 2,000 places had been made available to Myanmar nationals under the 2021-22 humanitarian program, and they would have priority processing in the 2022-23 program as well.
They added that Myanmar nationals currently in Australia on temporary visas could apply for a range of visas to extend their stay, including protection visas.
Associate Professor Cheesman said he had been in touch with some students who had returned to Myanmar just before the coup.
Some had joined protests against military rule, others had fled or gone into hiding.
"Some quit government jobs. Others have continued in those jobs because they are afraid for themselves and their loved ones, or because they are from military families, so they are not at risk," he said.
"Their stories are varied. But for all of them the conditions in Myanmar are volatile. Futures that they once hoped for by obtaining degrees in Australia are now uncertain."
For Rose, what has unfolded in Myanmar is all the more crushing because she had such high hopes for her country.
"Like other young people, I was pretty optimistic. My country [had undergone] a democratic transition … there are a lot of challenges there, but we were really hopeful," she said.
But after the coup, "everything changed".
She became emotional when she described the disconnect between her life in Australia and the reality facing her family in Myanmar.
"I would say I'm really grateful — in Myanmar if you say something, you are in danger. You might be arrested and who knows what could happen to you."
"Here we are safe."
Rose wants the Australian government to give fair consideration to students in her situation.
"The point of the Australia Awards [is that] they are giving the education for us to do something for our country," she said.
"Whether we're in Australia or whether we are in Myanmar — wherever we are, we are doing something for our home country. We won't be forgetting about Myanmar."
