Last year, Dr Gerd Schroeder-Turk – Murdoch University’s only academic representative on the Senate (the University’s highest governing body) – appeared on ABC’s Four Corners and criticised Murdoch’s international student entry and teaching standards, which drove a 92% surge in international students numbers between 2017 and 2018.
Dr Schroeder-Turk’s claims were corroborated by two other Murdoch academics who also appeared on Four Corners.
In response to these claims, Murdoch University’s top brass attempted to kick Dr Schroeder-Turk off the Senate and then tried to sue him for millions of dollars for allegedly causing a sharp decline in international student enrollments.
However, following an international backlash and facing almost certain failure, Murdoch dropped their law suit in January.
On Friday, Dr Schroder-Turk and Murdoch University announced that they had agreed to withdraw all claims against each other in the Federal Court. However, Schroder-Turk is still keen to address the issues that prompted the conflict between the university and him:
“I care about the public tertiary education sector as a teacher and a researcher and shaping it. I was delighted when my colleagues elected me to senate,” he said.
Speaking in a personal capacity, he said COVID-19 had highlighted problems in the funding model for higher education.
“When I see students queuing for food vouchers in Melbourne or hear of job losses for casual-contract teachers, I find that distressing.
“Every international applicant brings money into the university. Regardless of that, we have to manage their place carefully. First for the quality of Australian education. Second for the wellbeing of the student.
“As far as I’m concerned, young adults are in care of [the] education sector. They are not our business partners.
“But we need to work out how to continue the business model in a financially stable way”…
He said that since COVID-19, a group of university professors had been calling for a parliamentary inquiry into higher education.
Forget a parliamentary inquiry. The scandals across the sector warrant a Royal Commission.
