I'm bored. Easy to tell, no?

[clappamungus]

Julie Bishop doesn't believe that one in three overseas students obtain an Australian university degree despite poor English language skills.

Maybe she should ask the people who've taught them. For example, moi.

In fact, I would say that the one in three figure is an underestimate.

Bishop knows damn well that these students pay their way to get in. Therefore basic knowledge of English, let alone proficiency in it, is not the university's highest priority. Funny, if State governments were responsible for tertiary education, she'd be the first one condemning this "sorry state of affairs."

My god, I despise hypocrisy.

Don't get me wrong. I am not of the opinion that potential migrants should have to take language tests. However, if one is going to a country to study there, I think they should at least have a good grounding in that country's main language and improve their language skills while they are in that country.

Comments

[clappamungus.livejournal.com]

Heh. Yeah. The first year I taught 3rd years, in the prac group next to mine two kids handed in almost identical reports. They were a couple, I think, and living together. And when asked about it, they conceded that "they may have helped one another with sections of the report." Yeah, sections. All of them, apparently. And both written in identical broken English that we all know and love.

[penelope-jane.livejournal.com]

And you taught in science. Imagine commerce...