If this persists our university degrees won't be worth the paper they are written on.

Academics pressured to pass struggling international students.

Academics say they feel pressured to pass struggling international students as concerns grow about universities enrolling students with little English.

One scholar said this “moral and ethical quandary” was behind his decision to leave Australia and find work overseas.

“Once international student enrolment in our course surpassed 50 per cent, there was significant pressure to pass work which we would not have only a few years prior,” he said.

“Beyond the fact that no academic wants to fail a student, failing a significant proportion of a class reflects poorly on the teaching staff and the program.”

He is among more than 60 academics, tutors, students and parents who inundated The Age on Wednesday with their concerns about the inadequate English skills of some international students.

It follows revelations in The Age that the Victorian government is calling for a review of English entry requirements for international students.

The academic, who did not want to be identified because he fears it will damage his career, said there was a four-fold increase in international students enrolled in his course during his three-year stint at a Victorian university. Many of these students struggled significantly with English.

“We knew, and were consistently told, by university administrators that international students brought much needed revenue which was supporting our employment and research activities in a time of funding uncertainty,” he said.

“However, we also knew that many of our international students did not have the English language capabilities to meaningfully engage in learning activities, or satisfactorily complete assignment tasks.”

Another academic spoke of how international students shared miserable stories with her while begging her to pass them.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/academics-pressured-to-pass-struggling-international-students-20190123-p50t6j.html

Dr Page,

As a grammatical aside, I was surprised you capitalised the common noun, universities, as Universities.

The grammatical rule is:

"In the middle of a regular sentence—not a title—only proper nouns should have the first letter capitalised. A proper noun is a name; the name of a person, place, official name of a person of office or position of state or government, the title of a creative or non-fiction work, etc." http://www.editoraustralia.com/styleguide_capitals.html

Therefore, it would be appropriate to capitalise the proper nouns in University of Queensland and not the common noun of universities.

Further conformation of this grammatical rule is found at: http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/capital-letters.html

Dr Page,

<<an equally important function for Universities is the search for truth, what we might otherwise call research. Both in the research function and in the teaching function, Universities may well be described as truth institutions. Here too it is difficult not to overstate the importance of adherence to professional and ethical standards.>>

Two questions emerge for me from your statement:

1. The limiting of truth to research is short-sighted in my view. Truth is more than that which is discovered by research. It also involves disclosure and an investigation of that which conforms with reality - the meaning of the Greek, aletheia.

I was invited to a university presentation jointly sponsored the Dept of Health and the Dept of Law. I was interested in the topic of euthanasia presented. This was not a presentation of truth but a pro-euthanasia indoctrination of only one view. That is not an example of a university pursuing truth.

2. What are 'ethical standards' in universities that don't present the various views that encourage students to engage in their own investigations of truth?

What is right or wrong in a university's ethical stance? What view of reality will the university present as its view of truth?

To encourage universities to promote their doctrinal understandings of truth that reject careful inquiry into truth, is a big ask for a secular university.

If I were to attend another university, I'd ask, 'Which professional and ethical standards do you promote?'

Hi OzSpen, and thanks for those insightful comments:

1. Capitalization. Yes, point taken, and guilty as charged. The reason I opted for capitals is that implicitly I was referring to specific institutions, that is, those in Australia. But yes, you're correct, the current trend is to not use capitals.
2. I like your description of research as seeking information "which conforms with reality". Your citing of the Greek word for truth tells me that you may have a philosophical bent, and thus you may be interested in the stream of contemporary philosophy, critical realism, which emphasizes this.
3. Your description of the seminar which was effectively "pro-euthanasia indoctrination" is concerning. Clearly, universities ought not to be institutions of indoctrination. The educational philosopher R.S. Peters is very good on this.
I think I've run out of 360 words, so will continue in another post

OzSpen, to continue:
4. On the importance of hearing both sides of an argument, I like Gandhi's dictum that it is always important to see the truth in your opponent's argument. Or J.S.Mill, where he says that if you only know your own argument, you don't even know that.
5. Good question about where to access standards. That's a PhD in itself, but a starting point are Codes of Conduct and (for public universities) published standards by relevant State Government authorities.

By sheer coincidence I had a great yarn with the Chancellor of a very reputable University just a few days ago.. From the very start I told him & he would've realised within seconds by my lack of command of academic jargon that I am an utterly uneducated bloke. Nevertheless, we had a great time discussing things. He agreed that without merit a lot of the education is well, in my words of not much point.
I told him of my experiences with highly academically decorated engineers & medical people & that I was surprised at their general ignorance even in their own field of expertise. He again agreed & more or less & said that without practical/logical merit we're pushing the barrow uphill.
After many, many years of shaking my ugly noggin at the average Academic's ignorance I was utterly delighted at that man's view of things outside the academic square. The most satisfying part was that he, unlike many others ,actually listened, digested & then offered his view at what I said & he mostly agreed.