Watch Insight episode Uni Blues, exploring whether a university degree is still good value — or worth the debt, on Tuesday 8:30pm or on SBS On Demand.
Megan* started her psychology degree in 2019.
After five years — which has included repeating some subjects and taking time off to travel — she’s less than a year from graduating with a degree that would normally take three years to earn.
“Being someone that has ADHD, I am a big procrastinator. So I do leave my assessments to the very last minute, and I do want to graduate eventually,” Megan told Insight.
With and high fees, Megan has had to work to support herself financially — and this has also meant she has less time to study.
So she’s turned to unconventional ways of getting through her course.
Students are under new levels of pressure
Business studies lecturer Mohan Dhall has studied at five different universities and one of the biggest changes he’s observed in students is a shift in their priorities.
“I think students are under a kind of pressure that devalues the education they get,” he said.
“Work will take the first priority, assessment takes a second priority, learning takes the third priority among students.”
Lecturer Mohan Dhall says universities aren’t taking cheating seriously enough Source: Supplied
The rise of AI in universities
Having less time to study, students like Megan have started finding ways to save time.
“A lot of people do call it cheating. I wouldn’t probably call it cheating myself,” Megan said.
“I use different and other methods to not only complete assessments but also advance my knowledge,” she said.
“With certain subjects that I enjoy, I would be using it to just gain a better understanding,”
She has found it extremely helpful to ask AI applications like ChatGPT questions such as, “Can you please explain this subject and give me some dot points and help me consolidate my lecture notes?”
And she’s not alone.
Mohan said it’s nearly impossible to estimate how frequently AI technology is being used by students to help them complete assessments.
While the federal Education Department has released a , Mohan said even AI-detection technology isn’t an infallible way to prove someone is using AI.
“Before the widespread adoption of AI, I would say up to about 20 per cent of students in uni classes engaged in some form of academic integrity breaches.
“With the rise of AI, it may be even higher.”
Are universities taking AI seriously?
Mohan believes universities aren’t taking AI seriously enough.
When a student is found to have engaged in academic breaches, rules tend to sway in favour of the student, making it harder for an academic to sustain a claim about an issue, he said.
“This makes academics less likely to speak up and makes them less likely to look at work well.”
He also believes large class sizes and educators having insufficient knowledge of individual students’ needs are contributing factors.
Mohan said that, in his experience, international students were more likely to cheat, but that there was a good reason for that too.
“They come into the country vulnerable because of pressures from home to do well, and to succeed, and to justify a visa. But also vulnerable because there’s no enculturation.”
During Mohan’s time as a lecturer, he has found that many institutions do not follow through with transitional and ongoing support for international students.
University isn’t for the real world
Taylor Reilly says course content is another drawback of university study.
He started a Bachelor of Business and Computer Science and found what he was learning in class didn’t match the real world.
“The computer science stuff was super interesting, but business was the exact opposite for me, Taylor told Insight.
“Stuff I was learning outside of university just didn’t match up. It just felt quite outdated,” he said, adding that access to free and up-to-date information online has taken away some of the value of a university education.
Taylor dropped out of his university degree and is now a successful entrepreneur. Source: Supplied
“Social media can teach you pretty much the same content in a minuscule amount of time compared to running a 12-week course,” he said.
Taylor left his degree after two years.
“I thought, ‘Another two years at university? I probably want to try two years of doing my own thing instead.'”
Taylor now operates several successful businesses and says the best thing he learned at university was the value of discipline, rather than any particular course content.
What does the future of tertiary education look like?
As for Megan, she believes cheating with AI is only possible in certain degrees.
“If you are going to a doctor, you would expect that they’ve graduated from their degree, top of the class.”
“You want to trust your health in their hands,” she said.
She also only intends to use certain parts of her degree when she graduates.
“When you’re actually working in the field, I don’t think a lot of the stuff that I’m learning in class is actually needed,” she said.
Mohan also believes universities could be doing more to improve the student experience.
“Smaller class sizes, better assessment, fewer assessments, better integrated and a match between what a student does in class under supervision and what’s handed in.”
“Now, if we took that seriously, universities would make less money and their degrees would be worth something at the end of it,” he said.
*name changed to protect identity
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