Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

() (): I am deeply concerned that La Trobe University are moving their arts degree online only for regional students. An online-only option for arts will mean that many students may not choose to study. What's the point when, at the same time, this government is doubling the course cost for arts students? La Trobe University in Bendigo is well known for having world-class health and education departments. We are leading the state when it comes to some of our health courses. Why can't we do the same for arts? Why do regional arts students have to go to an online-only option when their metro peers will still get the opportunity for face-to-face study? I acknowledge some students do enjoy and prefer the online option; however, it doesn't work for everybody. Up to 50 per cent of students in a recent survey said that they'd found this year to be hard, that online learning isn't the best and that they haven't got the outcomes they'd hoped for. I urge La Trobe to rethink this decision and give regional students, as well as their metro peers, the opportunity to study face to face. Let them have their tutes face to face. We have the space at Bendigo La Trobe, as at many of the other La Trobe campuses. It's disappointing that they've done this, particularly in a year when the students will pay double the cost yet study online. It's unfair. (Time expired)

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