An Australian mother has revealed that her daughter’s university class is dominated by foreign students and the tutor speaks Chinese throughout.
She said she was “horrified” after her daughter, who is in her fourth year of an undergraduate medical degree at a university in Adelaide, told her that almost all of the students in the catch-up class were from overseas, and that the tutor teaches in Mandarin as a result.
“I don’t know what a reasonable percentage of international students would be, but if we have a number that is influencing teaching, then it’s too many,” she told The Advertiser.
“Our domestic students, our kids, should not be compromised by other students.”
She also said she wanted to “do something about it”, but her daughter told her “don’t be a Karen”.
International students make up about one in three university enrolments in Australia, and up to 50% in some institutions, such as the University of Sydney.
Of the almost 700,000 foreigners who studied in Australia in the year to June, Chinese students made up 23%, Indians 16%, Nepalese 9%, Vietnamese 5%, and Bangladeshis 4%.
Students in other cities have previously complained about being the only White people in their classes and about tutors speaking Chinese, while academics have warned about rampant cheating due to the poor English proficiency of many international students, who are allowed to graduate anyway.
Last year a Chinese international student from Adelaide University admitted cheating his way to a degree, but blamed the university for not using AI detection tools and said cheats were not being punished because “the university just wants our money”.
RMIT social science professor Rob Watts told a Victorian inquiry in July that cheating by students with poor English skills was commonplace, but that university staff were unable to stop it.
“Academics who call out lax admission standards for international students and other questionable practices which undermine academic integrity are punished with litigation and threats of termination,” he told the inquiry.
Another professor, who asked to remain anonymous, told The Advertiser that international students had compromised the integrity of deferred exams, which occur when a student is unable to attend a scheduled exam because of illness.
“Students who are sick on their exam day are being allowed to sit an inadequately invigilated deferred exam in their home country,” he said.
“To be clear, local students are also sitting inadequately invigilated deferred exams. The main reason they are not being forced to attend campus for a proper exam is that the university is reluctant to have such rules when there are lots of students overseas.”
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