Universities can't dig themselves out this mess with online learning

From 2026 the newly amalgamated Adelaide University will become the first Group of Eight university to take the plunge, in a move condemned as accelerating the death of campus life by the union representing tertiary education staff.

Since the pandemic universities have seen declining numbers of students on campus. Faced with this reality, universities are striving to improve accessibility by putting more material online and cutting back on face-to-face teaching time.

While the intentions of these moves may be based on inclusivity, the data is in fact showing the opposite.

An increasing number of students are feeling lost in tertiary education settings, particularly at Australia's largest and most prestigious universities, with smaller providers faring far better in terms of student satisfaction.

According to the latest Student Experience Survey by QILT (a government endorsed survey for higher education) University Sydney scored 54.7 for student support in 2022 while University of NSW scored 68.5, UTS 72.4, University of Melbourne 63.6, University of Adelaide 75.7, Queensland's University of Technology 69.6 while JMC scored 81.6.

Student satisfaction also stems from access to support on campus, engagement and connectivity with fellow students face to face.

Students are also saying they want to feel valued as individuals and are hungry for the social experience of tertiary education, not just the academic side.

Here at JMC Academy we hear bands jamming together in the corridors after class finishes, students rehearsing their lines in the lunchroom and really making the most of life on campus.

This is a cohort of students who lost valuable face-to-face teaching time at school due to COVID and they crave that smaller scale classroom learning.

Meanwhile financial pressures are forcing the big universities to review their operations and unfortunately it appears that cutbacks are on the cards. At the University of Southern Queensland the staff redundancies are in the student support roles.

We are also seeing an increasing number of students opt for courses that are more hands-on that better prepare them for their careers. At JMC Academy student enrolments are up across all three campuses. Across the board there's been a 38 per cent increase in applications over the past year.

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Smaller institutions offer smaller class sizes, which fosters engagement and collaboration allowing students to really develop their soft skills like confidence building, resilience and creative thinking. Working on these alongside the technical enables them to hone in on what they're good at and discover where their passion lies. Small institutions can also offer more training and mentoring from industry experts that prepares students for careers of their choice and helps them establish contacts in the industry.

I think online learning has a place in education but it's only a small role while face-to-face support should be the focus.