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Cumbersome bureaucracies are getting in the way of wellbeing, safety and satisfaction, the National Student Ombudsman has said, urging universities to listen to students and take the focus off money.
Established 12 months ago, its office has been inundated with 5000 complaints – an average of 13 per day – which Commonwealth Ombudsman Iain Anderson, whose role encompasses being the National Student Ombudsman, labelled a “learning experience for the universities”.
In its first year, 33 per cent of complaints were about course administration, 19 per cent were about teaching and learning, another 19 per cent were about unmet academic requirements, while 13 per cent centred on financial issues.
“We certainly think these are things universities are capable of resolving [themselves]. People come to us because they can’t manage to with a higher education provider or they don’t feel safe,” Anderson said.
Initially created as one of the measures to address gender-based violence – alongside the establishment of a mandatory national code – the ombudsman predominantly deals with issues around admissions and transfer, unmet academic requirements, misconduct and refunds.
In its first report, released last month, the Ombudsman lashed several universities for their use of gag clauses when managing student complaints. Sydney’s University of Technology also found itself in its crosshairs in March for its processes around gender-based violence, with the Ombudsman finding it had “effectively silenced” a complainant through a confidentiality agreement.
“Having a campus where people feel safe, respected and supported is paramount. It is fundamental to who we are as a university and our values,” UTS deputy vice chancellor Kylie Readman said in response to the ombudsman’s findings and recommendations, which the university has accepted in full.
Anderson said the issues were sector-wide.
While universities take student complaints seriously, Anderson believes they are too slow in responding.
“They might be one more student with a complaint, and the uni has seen lots of complaints. It’s not that they don’t care, but perhaps their processes get in the way,” he said.
“Students don’t feel they’re being listened to or that their university doesn’t care.”
Universities must start acting quickly on known issues, Anderson said, criticising some providers as being “too focused on money”.
Having taken “years out of their lives” for higher education, students were keen to receive the education and student experience they believe they have signed up for, Anderson said.
“It can have a big impact on a student’s life, particularly for things like ‘this course isn’t what I was promised’ or ‘the uni won’t certify my qualifications’.”
Asked about the ombudsman’s findings, University of Canberra vice chancellor and former federal Labor leader Bill Shorten said the more universities focus on student experience, “the better that will be for the social licence of all universities across Australia”.
A year into his role, Shorten said he was leaving the “theatre of the prestige” to others and focusing on the “fundamental” issue of the student experience.
University of Sydney vice chancellor Mark Scott acknowledged institutions “must adapt to … deliver on our promise of a transformative education”.
“We believe our role is to equip students to succeed in the modern world of work and to make positive contributions to society,” he said.
Federal Education Minister Jason Clare, who established the ombudsman, said the issues raised by Anderson were why the role was created.
“Anyone who doesn’t think there are problems at some of our universities has been living under a rock,” he said, noting his plans to introduce legislation this year that would make university boards more accountable to students.
“The university regulator, TEQSA, also needs more power to act where universities don’t or won’t. That legislation is coming too,” he added.
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