Australian Catholic University, Melbourne Campus

I highly discourage students who are planning to apply at Australian Catholic University in the future. In the two years that I was at the university, I felt alone, discouraged and small compared to the huge cohort that was studying the same degree. For the first time in my life, it was difficult as a person of colour to connect to the people and the university in any kind of way and that really impacted the time and experience I had at ACU. It felt incredibly clique-y, and whilst they pride theirselves in diversity and welcoming all types of people into their facility, I felt so disconnected from anyone else who was studying there.

I found that majority of the tutors and lecturers were completely useless, reading powerpoint slide after powerpoint slide in a monotonous tone. Their feedback for assessments was horrendous, and I felt completely in the blind attempting these pain-staking assessments that they come up with. Accessing services at the university was a little difficult than I expected. I attempted to access some wellbeing services but was completely caught off guard by the limited times and availability I could access that service (meaning that I'd be waiting weeks before I could access a wellbeing counsellor).

One of the directors of the courses was a complete and utter pain to deal with. I believe my phone number was blocked, as I attempted to phone call this individual and after a while it stopped going through. Finding appointment times with this individual was also painstaking, and so I had to turn to another staff member to help with my issues.

All in all, I really encourage students (especially international students) to consider studying elsewhere. I was a domestic student but firsthand saw how they treated international students and was completely appalled. I truly wish I never stepped foot in this place.

I do not recommend this university. I am studying in Bachelor of Early Childhood Education. It is really hard to get assistant from the course coordinator. There is only ONE email address to contact the course coordinator and sometimes you never get response from them even it is very important matter like financial support! I am not the only one, many of my classmates have the same issue. Waiting for the reply for several weeks or no reply at all! If the university cannot handle so many students, then do not accept so many applicants! There is no quality at all

I have attended a few universities in my time both in Aus and abroad and ACU is by far THE WORST institution I have had the displeasure to attend.

Do not trust this den of vipers, they pretend to be a catholic and yet act like Judas, trying to exploit students and steal money.

They should be investigated for exploitation and using students for free labour. Their tactics are wicked and all they care about is financial gain.

Avoid ACU at all costs!

ACU if anything has held me back from achieving my future goals. When I tried to get in contact for help for my exam I got shunned out and sent in the other direction. This institute is nothing but a joke at best and all the teachers care about in this university is their own back pockets instead of the students education and future. I would highly recommend looking somewhere for studies.

- Some Lecturer/Tutors are completely useless and there's even some that would torture their students either as a group or individually
- Some tutorial/lecture rooms are poorly presented. For example, some lecture table- I can't even fit my laptop in it or there are walls in the middle of a tutorial room so the tutor can't see half of the students
- Tutorial room: It's always overcrowded with students fighting over chairs and tables- perhaps you are too stingy to not hire more tutors/tutorial times
- LEO: Some staff contribution has been poorly presented- staff are always changing parts of the assignment just days and even hours before the due date that doesn't align with the unit outline
- Rude Staff via email: There are some very rude staff who refuses to respond to certain emails
- Racism issue: I find that ACU is quite racist when it comes to hiring people with a different skin. For example, employers would avoid hiring people with appropriate qualifications/experience who have a different skin/look
- Need Better Singage: ACU needs to provide a better map and signage of different locations around ACU as some of the buildings were difficult to find. For example, the Knox Building was located outside of ACU but our timetable indicated that this building was located inside of the main section of our campus. Furthermore, since The Knox Building is far from the main building, they did not even consider adjusting our timetables to provide us time to get there as students are often late, waiting for 2 traffic lights.
- STOP MAKING LECTURES AND TUTORIALS COMPULSORY- I had a friend who was a wheelchair- it was impossible to have perfect atendence from her classes are from msac to acu and via versa. The staff would be rude and mean to her about it- they threatened to fail her based on her physical health at that time
- LANTITE: ACU threatened to remove students from the course from failing a useless test once or more. They even made people write multiple letters to ACU to justify why they deserve to stay in the course- it takes them over 3 months to look at a letter. Overall, ACU is a money scheme university that enjoys taking advantage of students as well as finding ways to stop students from graduating from a course. (I'm not going to detail about all of this)
- COVID: Online Classes- It's dissapointing how slow ACU is with their transition as well as their ability to adjust the unit to suit the mode. They also emphasised that it cost more to run an online class when we are all using our own internet, laptop to join our classes
- Placement: ACU always takes a long time to find us placements throughout the year- Most of the students seems to always start later than the actual date stated on the unit outline
- Library: Needs to be expanded- always crowded around 11am-2pm
- Library: There's a rude library staff member who is very rude to all of the students- For example, she pulls students out of a chair because it was placed in a wrong position- Students should be feel threatened and harassed by anyone
- Cafe Price: Completely overpriced and the food is digusting- the only reason why it is popular is because it the closest shop on campus
- Parking Space: No way near enough for students- Why should students need to come before 7: 30am just for a parking space- We should not be waiting in line for hours for a parking space- this has been addressed but nothing has been done
- Parking Price- Very expensive- This has been addressed but nothing has been done
- Daniel Mannix Lifts- Very slow - needs to be fixed asap
- All Lifts- they are often broken and students often have to cramp themselves to get on an lift to simply get to class

Worst University ever as a prospective employer. After offering you a job and insisting you to give notice to your current employer, they realise that they are highly incompetent staff and change your contract as per their preferences. Worst experience ever had. I have read various reviews that it is white people university and after this experience I can say that it is true. Would not recommend this workplace to anyone.

I was trying to complete nursing here I spent so much time and money here. I said to the coordinator that I wasn’t ready to go on placement as I didn’t know a lot of the confirm physical health unit as all of it was online and the teachers didn’t help at all to learn the information. I went on placement to only be singled out because I didn’t know the information as that it’s not my learning style. Then Acu had told me confirm. Physical health health is important part of nursing, and I said I knew that. Then when the next placement was time I pleaded that I wasn’t ready and needed help, and they forced me to go on placement which I failed. They backed me in a corner to withdraw from the course and didn’t help me at all trying to get my placement book, to transfer the units across, and now hardly any of my units transfer across with different institutions, I completed 90% of the course with ACU and in dept and they just don’t care. I would never recommend a see you to anyone, Go to Rmit University they are more supportive.

Why the university force students to take on religion by introducing compulsory units?
Shouldn't it be optional?
This increases workload and stress for students
Disappointed with this attitude from the university.

Generally ACU has good intentions, however the majority of the time it felt like I was working against the staff to graduate rather than working with them. This was especially true with business administration. The exercise science faculty was slightly better but it really was a difficult experience with ACU. Please look at different options, Deakin has a much better double degree.

Actual garbage institution. The exercise physiology department is ableist and bullied my soon-to-be-ex husband over the course of several years by providing insufficient and inconsistent support for his disabilities, including instances of gaslighting. I saw through this entire process since 2019, watching it completely change the person I love as I helped him for hundreds of hours with endless appeals. I have the 'receipts' so to speak if anyone is considering this institution and wants further information. I also have them in case ACU tries to have this entry deleted or amended in any way. The truth is a defence to defamation. Come at me.

15 dollars to send me my Academic transcript is beyond a joke. This joint will drain every penny out of you.

Terrible place to study especially as an international student. Please stay away from this university. There's no support towards students and they'll keep failing you on basis that you don't meet the Australian standards. What a joke after all the efforts we put into our study. I've got the worst experience and you dare not question them as you'll be termed unprofessional. Worst experience ever

Most of the lecturers I had 8 years ago were great, especially Laurine Hurley! But once the program and course were restructured it was a nightmare to navigate. Had to do one final subject externally to hold my graduate position. There was far too much emphasis on humanities over science in my course and that was very frustrating. Also far too much reliance on group work, where high achieving students are forced to drag up poor performing students while they are themselves are being downgraded. It was practically every single unit and very annoying. I once got reprimanded for doing most of the speaking in an oral exam for "saving my own skin" because the rest of my group were non native english speakers and found public speaking very difficult. They do have a good disability services unit which I am very grateful for, because without their help I would not have been able to make it through the course. However, I don't believe that the campus was well resourced and some of the staff were just plain awful to deal with.

I once overheard the Human Biological Science lecturers saying that their students had forgotten everything they had taught them.

The Nursing Bachelor is mean, un-compromising and poorly organised. Poor planning of nursing placements and I believe must be understaffed due to long unwavering reply times regarding critical course information. If you've the choice then don't attend here and otherwise be prepared for disappointment.

Lots of buildings going on but too much reliance on essays. I'm teacher with grad degree and knowledge is just as important or knowing sources too.

Possibly the worst University I’ve been to thus far. A lot of these reviews are correct in saying that you will receive absolutely no support if you’re a POC or an international student. As a nursing student I have experienced 3 tutors at most that have been compassionate, supportive and willing to go that extra length to answer our questions. I’ve had the unfortunate luck of dealing with Lyn Taylor who is the course coordinator for Bachelor of Nursing, on two occasions across the last 3 years and came out of both interactions feeling deflated and worse than before. She was incredibly unsupportive, dismissed my concerns and genuinely left our 15 minute scheduled appointment after approximately 1 minute and a half because she wasn’t willing to listen to what I had to say. Our interaction actually made me question if I did something wrong because her attitude towards me was absolutely appalling. As students we’re expected to approach her with any questions or concerns regarding the course or our current circumstances that may impact our ability to complete the course. Instead of being empathic and understanding (especially as a health professional), she’s unbelievably rude, unapproachable and unprofessional. Coming from experience, Monash University and Deakin University are far better options for Nursing. Without a doubt, you will not receive the support needed in ACU.

This is a terrible university. I deferred from my Nursing degree a few years ago (I was over 2 years into a 3 year degree) and recently tried to reapply and finish it off. Not only was I knocked back, but I was spoken to very rudely by the Nursing coordinator and not told why they wouldn’t let me finish my degree. Zero explanation! I already owe more than $16,000 for this degree, and we are living in the middle of a global pandemic where nurses are in high demand…. WHY? Also the canteen is ridiculously over priced, the car park is ALWAYS full, student support and career planning programs are non-existent, and to be honest the 2 years I spent at this school were probably the worst of my life. Not sure why I reapplied here, but anyway this is my story. Avoid!

As an international student coming from a Catholic background, I had high hopes when I enrolled at ACU for a Master of Teaching (Secondary) back in 2014. But the 2 years I have spent there have turned into a very bitter experience; a persistent general lack of support and unrefined lecturers. If you are looking for a supportive and non-toxic environment, especially as an international student having to pay exorbitant amount in terms of school fees, I urge you to consider other universities.

- Some Lecturer/Tutors are completely useless and there's even some that would torture their students either as a group or individually
- Some tutorial/lecture rooms are poorly presented. For example, some lecture table- I can't even fit my laptop in it or there are walls in the middle of a tutorial room so the tutor can't see half of the students
- Tutorial room: It's always overcrowded with students fighting over chairs and tables- perhaps you are too stingy to not hire more tutors/tutorial times
- LEO: Some staff contribution has been poorly presented- staff are always changing parts of the assignment just days and even hours before the due date that doesn't align with the unit outline
- Rude Staff via email: There are some very rude staff who refuses to respond to certain emails
- Racism issue: I find that ACU is quite racist when it comes to hiring people with a different skin. For example, employers would avoid hiring people with appropriate qualifications/experience who have a different skin/look
- Need Better Singage: ACU needs to provide a better map and signage of different locations around ACU as some of the buildings were difficult to find. For example, the Knox Building was located outside of ACU but our timetable indicated that this building was located inside of the main section of our campus. Furthermore, since The Knox Building is far from the main building, they did not even consider adjusting our timetables to provide us time to get there as students are often late, waiting for 2 traffic lights.
- STOP MAKING LECTURES AND TUTORIALS COMPULSORY- I had a friend who was a wheelchair- it was impossible to have perfect atendence from her classes are from msac to acu and via versa. The staff would be rude and mean to her about it- they threatened to fail her based on her physical health at that time
- LANTITE: ACU threatened to remove students from the course from failing a useless test once or more. They even made people write multiple letters to ACU to justify why they deserve to stay in the course- it takes them over 3 months to look at a letter. Overall, ACU is a money scheme university that enjoys taking advantage of students as well as finding ways to stop students from graduating from a course. (I'm not going to detail about all of this)
- COVID: Online Classes- It's dissapointing how slow ACU is with their transition as well as their ability to adjust the unit to suit the mode. They also emphasised that it cost more to run an online class when we are all using our own internet, laptop to join our classes
- Placement: ACU always takes a long time to find us placements throughout the year- Most of the students seems to always start later than the actual date stated on the unit outline
- Library: Needs to be expanded- always crowded around 11am-2pm
- Library: There's a rude library staff member who is very rude to all of the students- For example, she pulls students out of a chair because it was placed in a wrong position- Students should be feel threatened and harassed by anyone
- Cafe Price: Completely overpriced and the food is digusting- the only reason why it is popular is because it the closest shop on campus
- Parking Space: No way near enough for students- Why should students need to come before 7: 30am just for a parking space- We should not be waiting in line for hours for a parking space- this has been addressed but nothing has been done
- Parking Price- Very expensive- This has been addressed but nothing has been done
- Daniel Mannix Lifts- Very slow - needs to be fixed asap
- All Lifts- they are often broken and students often have to cramp themselves to get on an lift to simply get to class