Our Traitorous Universities Hand Out Junk Degrees, becoming the Equivalent of Fast Food! By James Reed

Australian university degrees, once symbols of intellectual rigour and professional promise, have morphed into the academic equivalent of fast food—cheaply churned out, standardised to a fault, and leaving graduates with little nourishment for the real world. The Macrobusiness.com.au article of March 19, 2025,

https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2025/03/its-official-australian-university-degrees-are-junk/

crystallises this descent, spotlighting a Senate inquiry into university governance where over 200 "old-school" academics from Public Universities Australia lambasted the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) for failing to uphold degree standards. Like a fast-food chain slapping together burgers for the masses, Australia's universities have traded quality for quantity, serving up junk degrees that crumble under scrutiny.

The production line is relentless. The Macrobusiness piece highlights claims of "soft marking"—where failing students is all but forbidden—to keep enrolment numbers sky-high. Much like fast food prioritises speed over substance, universities churn out graduates at scale, with recycled lectures, Zoom tutorials, and lax attendance rules eroding any pretence of deep learning. The article cites academics who argue this isn't education—it's a factory, pumping out credentials as fast as a drive-thru pumps out fries. With international student arrivals hitting 201,490 in February 2025 alone (per AFR, March 16), the system's appetite for revenue mirrors a fast-food giant's obsession with profit margins—quality be damned.

These degrees are standardised to a fault, stripped of the bespoke value that once defined higher education. The Senate inquiry revealed a governance crisis where universities "cater to the masses at as low a cost as possible," per anonymous academics quoted in Macrobusiness. Like a Big Mac, every degree looks the same—pre-packaged, predictable, and devoid of distinction. The article notes TEQSA's failure to monitor this slide, leaving standards as flimsy as a fast-food wrapper. Over 200 traditional scholars mourn the loss of rigorous assessment, replaced by a one-size-fits-all model that prioritises pass rates over mastery—education reduced to a quick, greasy fix.

The nutritional value—employability—has plummeted. Just as fast food fills you up without sustaining you, these junk degrees promise opportunity but deliver underemployment. Macrobusiness aligns with years of its own reporting: full-time graduate employment has slumped from 85 percent a decade ago to 70 percent by 2025, with underemployment soaring to 20.5 percent (2016 data, likely worse now). Salaries stagnate—down from 90 percent of average weekly earnings in 1989 to 75 percent—while a quarter of graduates toil in jobs unrelated to their studies. Like a fast-food meal that leaves you hungry an hour later, these degrees offer a credential but no substance, flooding the market with paper that employers shrug at.

The fast-food analogy cuts deeper with the international student boom. Universities, per Macrobusiness, have become "visa factories," hawking degrees to foreign students—many Chinese—who pay top dollar for a ticket to residency, not learning. The article's Senate testimony echoes this: standards erode as cash rolls in, much like a chain pushing cheap combos to boost sales. The result? A glut of graduates—domestic and international—clogging a labour market that can't digest them, their degrees as disposable as a burger wrapper.

This isn't accidental—it's by design. University governance, stacked with corporate types (half from Big Four firms, per a related Macrobusiness piece), mirrors a fast-food franchise board, obsessed with throughput over quality. The Macrobusiness article slams TEQSA's inaction, suggesting a regulator too timid—or complicit—to stop the rot. Like fast food dodging health audits, universities skate by on reputation, not results, while the public foots the bill via HECS debt and taxes for a system that serves up junk.

In 2025, Australian degrees are fast food incarnate—mass-produced, low-grade, and overhyped. The Macrobusiness exposé, backed by anguished academics, lays bare a truth: education's been super-sized, and it's lost its soul, if it ever had one. Graduates walk away with a shiny wrapper—a diploma—that's as empty as a fast-food calorie count. The system's hooked on volume, not value, and like a junk-food binge, the hangover's hitting hard—unemployment, debt, and a generation sold a lie.

https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2025/03/its-official-australian-university-degrees-are-junk/

"A Senate inquiry into university governance has heard claims that the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) is failing to monitor the standard of university degrees.

The assertion has been made by a group of more than 200 'old-school' academics known as Public Universities Australia, with the group claiming that universities are "soft marking" and passing most students regardless of the standard they have achieved and that this is leading to a "dumbing down" of the nation.

Claiming that there is widespread plagiarism and use of AI among students, the group called for oral or supervised written exams to "determine what a student does in fact know and can do".

"There is ongoing slippage of academic standards with failure by TESQA to contain that slide'', the group said in a scathing submission to the Senate education committee.

"There is degraded assessment … (and) increased risk from artificial intelligence".

"Universities … tend to pass and graduate most students irrespective of the level of education actually achieved".

"There are manifestly worsening gaps in graduates' basic knowledge and skills".

"This is nothing less than a dumbing down of the entire country".

The academics accused universities of enrolling international students who struggle to speak English.

The academics are 100% correct. The explosion of international students has driven the downgrading in standards.

The Guardian's Caitlin Cassidy last year documented mass cheating across Australia's universities.

Cassidy also reported that academics working at Australia's universities were precluded from failing poorly performing international students because it risked the sausage-factory business model:

Domestic students have also been forced to help non-English-speaking students complete their courses through group assignments. Some tutorials have even been conducted in foreign languages, degrading the experience for local students.

The group's claims have been rejected by Universities Australia CEO Luke Sheehy, who claims that Australian universities maintain high standards and are globally recognised for their quality.

"We reject claims that students are 'soft marked' or that graduates are less competent than in the past'', he said.

"All students, including international students, must meet entry requirements, including English proficiency".

"Universities have clear policies to maintain academic integrity and student success''.

Luke Sheehy might want to examine how those university rankings are calculated.

The University of Melbourne is considered Australia's most prestigious university globally. In 2025, it ranked 47th in the Times Higher Education Reputation Rankings.

The following graphic shows the scoring for the University of Melbourne, Australia's top-ranked institution:

Melbourne University ranked poorly on teaching (64.2) but highly on research and internationalisation.

Melbourne University's student-to-staff ratio is also abysmal (23.6), and it has one of the world's highest concentrations of international students (48%).

Not surprisingly, Melbourne University has lingered at, or near, the bottom of student experience surveys for years.

Earlier this month, the AFR reported that Melbourne University had also experienced a significant increase in academic misconduct cases involving international students.

In the University of Melbourne's latest academic misconduct report, written in July 2024 and released recently under an FOI request, 75% of reported academic misconduct cases in 2023 involved international students, despite them making up about 42% of total students…

Herman Chan, principal advocate at Academic Appeal Specialist, noted, "Australia's top universities have lower entry barriers than their global counterparts".

"Compared to other top universities worldwide, getting into Australia's leading universities is relatively easier"…

The same can be said for Sydney University, Australia's second-highest-ranked university.

As illustrated below, 51% of enrolments at Sydney University are international. Sydney University performs poorly on the most important metric—teaching—scoring just 53.2 out of 100.

The number of students per academic staff member is also ridiculously high at 27.5.

80% of misconduct (read cheating) cases at Sydney University involve international students:

Again, this is NSW's highest-ranked 'bluestone' university, whose pedagogical standards have been eroded by an over-concentration of international students.

What other evidence is required to prove that record volumes of international students have badly eroded Australian education standards?

Australia's universities have the highest proportion of international students in the developed world, and the rankings reward them accordingly. The system is a complete farce.

Running low-quality student visa mills for maximum throughput was never in the national interest.

Pedagogical standards and the experience and welfare of local students have been destroyed."