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The secret probe into university facing foreign student allegations
The country’s higher education watchdog is probing an Australian university accused of aggressively poaching foreign students from other institutions and for having lax recruitment practices and low English standards for admissions.
Documents obtained by this masthead reveal Torrens University is under scrutiny from the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency after the agency became concerned by the university’s recruitment of international students and a rapid increase in its enrolments.
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Distinctions with a difference: Top grades double for students at state’s biggest unis
Students at the state’s top universities are being awarded the highest grades at double the rate they were a decade ago, while distinction marks have surged by at least 50 per cent in the same period.
Higher education experts say the reasons behind the rise varied, but are partly a result of marking system changes, the switch to remote learning and increasing competition as elite institutions vie for enrolments.
The proportion of students being awarded high distinctions and distinctions was higher in 2021 compared with 2011 at Sydney University, UNSW and the University of Wollongong. CREDIT:LOUISE KENNERLEY
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The university degrees that earn the biggest pay rises
University graduate pay rises over the first three years of working can vary by up to $30,000 depending on their choice of career, leading to warnings for high school-leavers to be realistic about their prospects of being able to afford to live in a major capital city.
Pharmacists have one of the lowest graduate salaries but pocket the biggest pay rise of $37,000 just three years after leaving university.
Doctors, bankers and lawyers get a $25,000 pay rise on average a few years into their chosen careers bringing their pay packets rise to more than $90,000 a year, while teachers receive among the lowest salary increases of anyone with a bachelor’s degree, according to the Graduate Outcomes Survey.
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Call to overhaul uni fees and end reliance on overseas students
Universities want the Albanese government to scrap fee changes designed to lower student costs for priority degrees and raise them for others, because they have forced them “to do more with less”.
Peak body Universities Australia argues revenue has been cut by an average of 6 per cent for each student place. It is calling on the Commonwealth to fully fund university research, saying the sector’s reliance on fees from international students to cover more than half the cost is unsustainable.
Universities Australia chief Catriona Jackson says the reliance on international student fee revenue to fund nationally important research must end.
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Uni graduates’ job prospects up, but course satisfaction slumps
Most university students are finding full-time work within months of graduating, but are increasingly unhappy with their study experience.
The latest data from a major annual survey of graduate outcomes and sentiments reveals a mixed report card for Australian universities.
University graduates are enjoying the healthiest jobs market in several years. Credit:Brook Mitchell
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Snap Chinese edict to send students rushing back to Australian campuses
Tens of thousands of Chinese students enrolled at Australian universities will need to rush into the country before semester one after the Chinese government announced it would stop honouring qualifications gained through online learning.
The Chinese Ministry for Education has released a “special announcement” confirming it would acknowledge degrees awarded only to students attending in-person classes, reversing rules put in place before China’s dramatic loosening of pandemic restrictions.
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My grandparents helped shape Australia. Migration will also be key to our future
OPINION
Since the first boatloads of convicts were brought to Australia against their will at the end of the 18th century, we’ve been a country of immigrants.
Into the future, migration will play a decisive role in how our nation continues to grow and age. Without it, we’ll be economically much worse off.
Migration is key to Australia’s future.Credit:Luis Ascui
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Thaw in China relations drives uni demand, but triggers student room shortage
Education authorities say Chinese student demand to stay and learn in Australia shot up as a direct result of the calmed relationship between the two nations’ governments, but Australia’s largest accommodation provider says it is running out of beds in major cities.
Overall student visa applications were 40 per cent higher in the second half of 2022 than during the same period in 2019, before the pandemic dented the lucrative export sector that added $40 billion to the Australian economy.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong during her visit to China last month.CREDIT:AAP
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A $70,000 salary the ‘Goldilocks threshold’ for skilled migrants: Grattan
More critical workers including teachers and nurses could be attracted to Australia if the temporary skilled migrant income threshold is lifted to $70,000 according to the Grattan Institute, as the government works to overhaul the country’s migration system.
A review of the system led by former Treasury secretary Martin Parkinson is currently under way and expected to hand a report to government by early next year.
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Sydney University looks to move exams back on campus after cheating rise
Sydney University is set to move exams back on campus after months of remote assessments led to hundreds of students being reported for using banned materials and devices during online tests.
More than 1400 online exam breaches by students were reported at the university in the past two years, prompting concerns remote test-taking had “normalised cheating” as institutions relied heavily on monitoring software to try to detect misconduct.
Sydney University is looking at shifting all onshore students back to face-to-face invigilated exams.
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