University charging law students $48,000 cuts tutorials
Monash University has cut law courses and reduced some students’ contact with faculty by up to six hours per semester, in what has been described as a “cost-cutting, degree factory move”.
This year, the prestigious Group of Eight university replaced trainings for 30 students with “active learning seminars” for 120 students as part of a two-year trial.
The move angered law students, who fear the model will become permanent and rob them of valuable interactions with faculty, mentoring opportunities and reduced teacher availability.
“Law students are not inherently activist types of people, but they are incredibly vocal on this issue,” said Monash Students’ Association president Leroy Van Schellebeck.
“This is a cost-cutting, degree-factory move,” he said.
Students Remus Brasier and Esha Serai are pursuing double degrees in law and politics, philosophy and economics.
They said nine weeks into term, attendance at Monash, one of the country’s largest and most prestigious universities, had noticeably fallen, with students becoming increasingly disinterested due to reduced contact with staff and peers.
“A lot of people don’t even come to the classes because they are recorded. So the trainings help them get through it because they are the most effective and practical part of the degree,” Serai said.
Zoe Wilkinson, a fourth-year student pursuing a dual degree in law and global studies, said her only contact is a three-hour seminar a week, as there are no lectures or tutoring on legal subjects.
“I can really see that the quality of my education has decreased over the four years I have studied here, which is really sad,” he said.
“And despite the reduction in contact hours, we still pay the same fees.”
Domestic first-year undergraduate students taking Commonwealth Supported Places pay around $16,300 per year for a full-time place. International students studying law pay $48,700 per year.
“They want to bring in as many students as possible paying tens of thousands a year in salary, but they don’t want to pay teachers more money,” Van Schellebeck said.
Monash University Law Students’ Society president Thomas Hall declined to comment so as not to jeopardize talks with the university, where he is scheduled to meet with students this week.
A survey conducted by the Law Students Association after students were told of the change last November received 881 responses from honors students, with 95 percent of them saying they opposed eliminating the courses.
The survey results were summarized in a letter the Law Students Society wrote last month to law school executive dean Steven Vaughan and associate dean Heli Askola.
the letter he saw Agerecommends that faculty return to the recorded lecture, workshop, and tutorial teaching model.
The Law Students Society emphasizes that training should not be seen as an add-on but as “the most valuable component of students”. [students’] Legal education.”
Student perspectives were included in the letter, stating, “We are paying over $2,000 per unit to take a class that we share with 80 other people.”
With more than 4,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students, Monash University’s law school is one of the largest in the country.
A Monash University spokesman denied there had been any change in contact time between staff and students and that 17 academics had joined the law school this year.
“There has been no reduction in face-to-face teaching and learning,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
“We are investing more in our students and active learning, ensuring students get the most out of every lesson.”
The Times Higher Education ranking ranked Monash law school as the fifth best law school in the country this year, based on measures such as academic impact and career opportunities. But Van Schellebeck said the degree’s reputation would be at risk if the model remained.
“If this continues, Monash University law students will not be seen to have a truly high-quality educational experience that will impact their prospects when they enter the job market,” he said.
Brasier acknowledged that the impact of faculty reputation is concerning for students.
“I think we’re going to experience a lot of anxiety as we enter graduate years and try to wonder whether we’re actually as equipped as the generations before us,” he said.
Fears of changing standards and reduced contact with academic staff at Monash University come after it was revealed the University of Melbourne was using six years of taped online lectures for undergraduate degrees in biomedicine.
Tuition fees for the course last year were approximately $13,600 for domestic students and over $56,000 for international students.
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