Peter Hutchinson’s letter of the 24th is very perceptive. Now Charles Sturt University has got the nomination for Tamworth. Bad luck UNE for your arrogance or lack of enthusiasm as Armidale has lost out again as the UNE is a valuable asset we can’t afford to dismiss.
I remember the days when at UNE (as an external and internal student) we had lively lectures and tutorials, and we had to sign to attend them. Great fun at residential schools, great affordable fresh food at the Bistro with its salad bar or quick and easy coffee lounges. The student unions provided a free dental service, free sausage sizzles, the UNE radio station and newspaper. Lecturers had personal contact with the students, not just through the impersonal Moodle (if one can understand how to use it). It was alive and of the full of spirit of universal learning.
And examinations! Even as an external student you sat an examination. I remember my first one, the only person in a huge church hall with a cleric supervising me. One had to present a pictured ID card, as it was known some had got others to sit the exam for them!
Maybe online is okay for overseas students, but at one time a UNE external degree followed the same standards and curriculum as an internal one. Residential schools were a requirement, or at one time they had weekend schools held in Sydney on top of this. Not now. No examinations for some units. And none for online units.
Who would know if the student didn’t get a ghost writer to complete on line assignments for them? I’m sure there are some who do this.
The UNE has lost it soul to the Internet.
Name And Address Withheld
