Uni Accused Of Bias In Foreign Lawyer Tests

The Age

Tuesday July 11, 2006

By ADAM MORTON, HIGHER EDUCATION REPORTER

A LAW student has lodged a complaint against La Trobe University, claiming a policy that allows overseas students up to two hours extra to sit exams discriminates against Australians.

La Trobe law school is accused of breaching the law by allowing foreign students - who pay $16,500 for a one-year masters program - to apply for more exam time than domestic students taking the same subject.

The university argues that the concession is available only to lawyers with no experience of the Australian legal system and no plans to work here.

Lodged with Equal Opportunity Commission Victoria, the complaint targets the master of laws (for international students) program, which lets foreigners with prior legal training pick subjects that most suit them.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the complainant said it was a disgrace that overseas and domestic students who enrolled in the same subject - if not the same degree - were assessed differently.

"It's ridiculous . . . it's like they are marking exams more leniently or marking assignments more leniently because the person doing the assessment is paying more fees," he said.

But La Trobe law school head Gordon Walker said concessions were offered only to students from countries such as Mexico, Peru and Kuwait, who had little experience of common law principles used in Australia.

"They've got no training whatsoever in legal reasoning and we think it's fair and equitable to them to give them a bit more time," he said.

Professor Walker said concessions were granted case by case by the law school's full academic committee and were not based on English proficiency. "We find it very difficult to see where the discrimination is. It seems to us to be comparing apples and oranges," he said.

© 2006 The Age

Back to News Index | Back to Home