EIGHT university students are on a mission to tackle racial tensions brewing across the West.

Tarneit resident Samuel Chandra, alongside his friends from CityLife Church, is helping international students feel at ease.

The Campus Connect group will host a number of excursions to show newcomers around Melbourne.

“Sometimes they find it hard to find people they can connect with when they first come,” Samuel said.

“This is also a good way to introduce them to other international students that are already here.”

It comes as tensions escalate following a number of attacks against Indian students. The strain boiled over earlier this year after the brutal death of Nitin Garg.

The 21-year-old was on his way to work when he was stabbed in the stomach as he walked through a park in West Footscray.

It caused an outpouring of grief in the Indian community and led to the Indian Government issuing a travel warning to Australia.

“Any violence against anyone is not acceptable where they are students or Asian or Australian,” Samuel said.

“There has been a lot of bad press about international students and their treatment in our country recently. In any country in the world where there are a lot of overseas students coming there will be tension because it’s two different ways of thinking.”

Samuel said graduates choosing to take up further education studies in Melbourne would now be hindered.

“Australia is being portrayed in a specific light,” he said.

“We thought this would be a way for people to make friends and for people to feel more at home.”

He was aiming to have more than 100 students signed on for the first bus tour to Torquay on 27 March.

For more information contact 0410 169 714.