Journalism students at private college Macleay College have taken to social media to share that their degree has been pulled.
Students enrolled to study journalism at the private and expensive college can no longer start their degrees. Meanwhile, students currently in the middle of their degrees will now have to make some pretty big decisions concerning their studies.
Macleay College student, Chelsea Caffery took to Twitter to vent and wrote, “Shocked and confused. New students enrolled in the Bachelor of Journalism have been emailed on Friday afternoon saying the course is cancelled.”
Shocked and confused. New students enrolled in the Bachelor of Journalism @MacleayCollege have been emailed on Friday afternoon saying the course is cancelled. No communication – we had classes today. We are absolutely gutted.
— Chelsea Caffery (@ChelseaCaffery) March 11, 2022
Pedestrian has reported that an email sent to the journalism students offered first-year students two options, either they could withdraw and receive a statement of attainment for their completed units, or students can switch to a digital media degree.
While, The Australian has reported that students that were halfway through their degrees or more had the option of squeezing their incompleted units into a single semester, but they’d finish with a Diploma, not a Bachelor’s degree.
The Australian also reported that based on enrolment documents it had seen, out of the forty-seven journalism students set to graduate, only eight would be getting the degree they originally signed up and paid for.
Students also allegedly have to make these academic decisions before the census cut off date on March 18th – giving students less than a week to decide.
Naturally, students and ex-teachers are now taking to social media to share their opinions on the decision.
https://twitter.com/ezrabell_/status/1502177462058295296
The end of the Journalism degree at @MacleayCollege has left myself and peers feeling lost about our education and worrying about the ever growing student debt, but it’s nice to see student journos practice what we’ve learnt and holding institution to account
— Abby Seaman (@abbseaman) March 13, 2022
https://twitter.com/lauradefraine/status/1502203668921155587
So sad to hear about @MacleayCollege's decision to screw over their students and abandon the journalism program, which was, despite certain challenges, among the best in the country. I taught there for three years and loved every minute spent with students and fellow lecturers.
— Tim Young (@TimisYoung) March 12, 2022
What a terrible shame to see journalism at @MacleayCollege ending. It was a fantastic experience teaching enthusiastic students and working with the team of caring journalism lecturers.
— Peter Weaving (@BendigoPWpics) March 15, 2022
I've come to learn the circumstances behind the sudden cancellation of the excellent journalism program at @MacleayCollege, where I taught last trimester, and I am absolutely appalled at how the students and lecturers have been treated.
— Kevin Nguyen (@cog_ink) March 12, 2022
It’s a pretty sad state of affairs, especially when you consider Macleay’s College was a springboard for so many young and passionate journalists’ careers.
