Alan Tudge (Aston, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Across Australia, year 12 students are finishing their exams and making decisions about their studies next year—decisions that will define their future. But in a lot of cases they're making that decision without knowing the facts about whether their preferred university course will be taught face to face or online, or a mixture of both and in what ratio. This is unacceptable. I recently wrote to the Minister for Education and to Universities Australia, calling for this data to be published in full, immediately. I received a cursory response from the minister and nothing from the peak body.

There's also a broader point here about the student learning experience at our universities. In many cases, it's not good enough and it's not delivering on what was promised. I hear constantly from students dissatisfied with their course, or getting online courses when they were promised face to face. Universities, like any other service provider, should be accountable for their service offering, particularly when students are paying thousands of dollars. If you ordered a Mercedes Benz and a three-year-old Corolla was delivered, you'd justifiably be unhappy with the outcome and feel entitled to a refund. If a university is not delivering quality, a refund should be provided to the students, and a new body, such as a university ombudsman, should be established to adjudicate on this. This would create the financial incentives for universities to lift their game. The government would get my full support if they took this up as a matter of urgency.