A new survey has found that uni tutorial class sizes have exploded since the pandemic, prompting concerns about the quality of learning at universities across the country.
The country-wide survey was conducted by the National Tertiary Education Union, and heard from over 4000 university staff members to assess the state of lectures and tutorials now compared to 2019, before the onset of COVID-19.
It found that lectures of hundreds and tutorials of 30 or more students are now the norm at unis all over Australia, despite the ideal class proportion being 10 to 19 students, according to teaching staff.
A whopping 83 per cent of the surveyed staff believed the ballooning class sizes compromised their ability to support individual students, while 78 per cent said student outcomes and learning had worsened as a result.
Some of the survey respondents said crowded tutorials and lectures have a tangible impact on learning. “Students generally consult less now, and are often apologetic, starting with ‘I know you are busy’,” one survey respondent said.
Others described long queues of classmates waiting to hear from their teachers, the “erosion of small-group learning”, and “unmanageable workloads” placed on staff with “students ultimately paying the price”.
“The class size explosion is being felt at campuses nationwide. Students feel short-changed,” another respondent said.
The survey linked the increased class sizes to chronic underfunding as a result of the Scott Morrison government’s job-ready graduates package. Introduced in 2021, it lowered government funding of universities and hiked the cost of certain degrees, with the flow-on effect of universities increasing class sizes as a cost-saving strategy.
“Job Ready Graduates was an abject failure and everyone knows it,” Alison Barnes, president of the National Tertiary Education Union, said.
“It cut funding to universities and gave them no choice but to pack more students into fewer classes.”
It comes after the University of Technology, Sydney, announced it had temporarily suspended more than 100 of its courses, while students at Adelaide University staged a sit-in protest against the cancellation of in-person lectures.
Last year, dozens of Aussie unis fell down in the World University Rankings.
Lead images: Getty and The National Tertiary Education Union
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