In my experience as a lecturer, courses are 'dumbed down' to accommodate local students just as much as international students. As the percentage of the Australian population who pursue a University degree increases, Universities have to cater for people who, in some cases, barely pass high school. To put it bluntly, Universities now have to cater for the 'academically challenged'. Actually I think Universities are handling this quite well by increasing learning support for students and integrating the teaching of academic skills into the curriculum.

expatmanger,

Yes, the universities have improved support and empathy. I recall some decades ago as an undergrad at the University of Sydney being one of about five people taking Economics who had not studied the subject in High School, being told to read the entire Samuelson (very thick) textbook, "you have two weeks to catch-up". Perhaps, now we are at the other pole. Goldilocks is somewhere in between. We need to nurture autonomy, critical thinking and the ability to synthesize information, however, we don't want folk to be stranded.