This chapter outlines the autoethnographic narratives of four Mongolian women, describing how their migration to Australia set in motion difficult academic, professional, and sociolinguistic transitions. First, they share their voices and revisit their lived experiences as female academics, researchers, teachers, and students from Mongolia, and how their integration into Australia as postgraduate students brought with it forms of overt and covert linguistic discrimination that threatened their academic success. They describe how this increased the pressure of adjusting to life in Australia and made it more difficult to prove themselves in university settings. This often meant that any of their linguistic deviations from standard English norms were criticized, and their prior knowledge and professional experience was dismissed or deemed less credible. Second, they discuss how their experiences in Australia, and their country of origin of Mongolia, show dichotomies between the two settings. While those who have returned to Mongolia enjoy high status and upward social mobility, the ones who decide to stay in Australia after their postgraduate studies often have the experience of starting from scratch, with their experience and qualifications at risk of being diminished or unacknowledged. Finally, they outline how the administrative and institutional policies of Australian universities impact them, through the support systems that help them in their academic transitions, but also through other areas that mean at times their needs as international students are overlooked. They conclude with suggestions of how these supports can be improved to better accommodate the needs of students facing academic and linguistic transitions.

Key words: Mongolia; Australia; autoethnography; universities; academic English; academic transitions.