Australians have taken aim at universities for accepting international students who do not speak a word of English, claiming this is negatively affecting their grades.
Peter James Cruz is in the second year of his engineering degree at the University of Sydney and says he has had to “carry out” multiple group tasks and “do most of the damage control” because his classmates don’t speak the same language.
“It’s a big problem, especially with groups you can’t assign yourself,” he said.
“I know that translators are more advanced now, but in my opinion they are just a crutch for a growing problem and cannot replace knowledge of the language.”
Universities have long been accused of having an addiction to Chinese students, who pay billions of dollars each year to gain prestigious degrees in Australia.
Cruz, 19, is an Australian citizen and shells out $10,000 a year for his degree; however, an international student may be charged up to $60,000.
The high number of Chinese students has influenced the way some classes are taught: the University of Melbourne was called out in August for teaching tutorials in Mandarin and alienating Australian students as a result.
In one case, Cruz said he was placed in a group with a non-English speaking student who used ChatGPT to write his portion of the assignment.
Peter James Cruz is in the second year of his engineering degree at the University of Sydney.
Cruz had to rewrite his contribution himself because the university does not allow students to use AI to complete assignments, although that will change next year.
‘It created more work for me since I had to review ChatGPT responses. “This forced some drastic corrections that limited the rating,” he said.
The government increased English language requirements for international students in March.
The minimum test score for a student visa increased from 5.5 to the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) to 6 out of 9.
A level 6 English speaker is considered “proficient,” while level 7 is “good” and level 8 is “very good.”
But students say the changes are trivial and there must be a better way to ensure that international students with poor English proficiency do not become a liability to their classmates.
Cruz emphasized that this was not racial discrimination, but rather a “minority” of international students who did not have the English skills to do the job properly.
Another student at the university, who is in his third year of mechatronic engineering, said poor English among his peers “is still a major problem.”
Australian universities have long been accused of having an “addiction” to Chinese international students.
“I’ve had group work projects where the rest of the group spoke Mandarin all the time and they wouldn’t switch to English when I asked them to,” he said.
‘In my opinion, the IELTS requirement is still very low. A change from 5.5 to 6 is basically trivial. I certainly don’t see any evidence that the change has had any effect.
One international student pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in IT described his group assignments as “absolute hell.”
“Most of my group members can barely construct a coherent written message and use ChatGPT to basically copy and paste what it says,” he said.
‘Although I am an international student, I feel that many students are accepted simply for the money they will pay in fees, with absolutely no regard for their English language skills.
“Not only does it create this barrier between them and what they need to learn during their courses, but it also completely ruins your education since you have to do most of the work.”
In response to questions, a spokesperson for the University of Sydney said its English requirements were, in fact, higher than those set by the government in March.
“Our English language standards are among the highest in the industry and well above the government minimum; our courses generally require an IELTS of between 6.5 and 7.5, which we believe is appropriate.”
The University of Sydney said its English requirements were in fact higher than those set by the government in March.
The university also committed to “supporting our international students as they adjust to life in Sydney”, with language and learning support available to any student who needs it, the spokesperson said.
“We encourage our students to use generative AI productively and responsibly to advance learning, with guardrails to protect academic integrity, so that our students are prepared for a world where this technology is part of the everyday life and work.
The university announced Wednesday that starting in the first semester of 2025, students will be able to use AI for assessments, except for tests and exams.
A Department of the Interior spokesperson said it was not considering any further changes to English language requirements.
“The requirement for students to have a minimum English language test score of IELTS 6.0, or equivalent, provides the level of English language skills required to be successful in tertiary academic study,” the spokesperson said.
“Students with high English proficiency are better able to live independently and interact with the broader community.”
International students accounted for more than a quarter of all enrollments in Australia in 2022, with 450,000 foreigners paying fees directly.
Fees from these international students contributed a fifth of all university funding and constituted Australia’s fourth largest “export” – education – after iron ore, coal and natural gas.
In August, Albanese’s government announced it would reduce the country’s intake of international students by almost 20,000 – or around seven per cent – as their influx was blamed for exploding house prices and rents.
Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said the government would set international student graduation at 270,000 by calendar year 2025.
China is Australia’s largest source of international students, but a report released by Clare earlier this year suggested Australia could diversify away from China and towards India, which last year overtook China as the world’s most populous nation.