Rafy
Retired
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- Sep 30, 2004
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- 2005
- Uni Grad
- 2008
Foreign students say some Australian universities are dumb
SOME Australian university courses are like being "back in grade 2", the head of an international students group has said.
Council of International Students Australia president Arfa Noor told an education conference the country would not attract the best and brightest from overseas until universities lifted their game.
"I don't mean to be harsh or anything but universities need to make sure that they are good enough to attract a very intelligent student," the Pakistani business student told more than 100 academics at the Universities Australia conference.
"You do hear sometimes from students who come from very good institutes back home, who work a lot, and they come into university and they say it feels like they're back in grade 2 because the things that they are being taught at a master level ... I covered at a postgraduate level."
The Melbourne Institute of Technology student said her organisation had complaints some tutors could barely speak English, class sizes were too big, and lecturers simply stood and read from slides.
"If you're from a country, especially from the Asian region, where education is very competitive ... you would have a certain level of expectations, and a lot of students are disappointed by the quality of education," she said.
But Ms Noor said students came to Australia for the experience, not just a degree, and she had loved her three years here.
However, she said universities and governments should fix accommodation and public transport issues so struggling students did not have to cram 10 to a house to save money.
About 550,000 international students study in Australia each semester and last year contributed $13.9 billion to the economy.