Union dismisses university 'cheating' culture

Updated November 09, 2012 10:18:30

The National Tertiary Education Union says an alleged case of bribery at Curtin University is not indicative of a cheating culture in WA universities.

The Corruption and Crime Commission has charged a 53-year-old male lecturer for allegedly demanding $1500 to improve a student's exam marks.

The CCC suspects the man also approached several international students.

The union's Stuart Bunt says allegations such as this are rare but the rising cost of degrees is leaving some international students vulnerable to bribery.

"There are worrying trends in higher education," he said.

"Increasingly there is a culture from some students that they deserve their degree no matter how much they've worked for it because of how much they've paid it.

"Australia charges students a larger proportion of their degree than most other countries in the OECD so there's a lot of pressure on those students to pass.

"Students are paying more and more for their degrees and being treated as though they're customers rather than students. Curtin has a large percentage of international students and they're paying enormous sums so there's a lot of pressure to pass their degrees and I cant help but think it increases the chance of this happening but I still like to think this is a rare and isolated case."

Last year a Curtin staff member was jailed and 11 others charged for altering language test scores.

Topics: university-and-further-education, perth-6000

First posted November 09, 2012 09:39:13