Western Sydney University

I commenced a Bachelor of Engineering at Western Sydney University in the Spring 2025 session but withdrew within four weeks and transferred to UNSW due to serious concerns about teaching quality and staff conduct. Overall, WSU needs to improve its teaching standards, as there appeared to be a culture of bullying and intimidation by some teaching… Read more

staff rather than one based on trust and respect.

I was enrolled in three subjects: MATH1016 (subject coordinator: Associate Professor Leane Rylands), PROC1008 (subject coordinator: Associate Professor [Name Removed]), and ENGR1018 (subject coordinator: [Name Removed].

My experience with ENGR1018 ([Name Removed]) was positive. The lectures were detailed and well structured, and the tutorials were respectful, engaging, and effective. This subject stood out as being well taught.

In contrast, MATH1016 (Associate Professor [Name Removed] was a very poor experience. The compulsory two-hour tutorials were run using fear, bullying, and intimidation, with enforced group work, minimal teaching, and no time for individual questions. When these concerns were raised, the response justified tutors being “blunt” despite the subject’s consistently high failure rate. Tutorials also ended early, despite being scheduled for two hours, suggesting a lack of oversight and accountability.

For PROC1008 (Associate Professor [Name Removed], communication and effective use of English significantly impacted learning. Although the course outline clearly stated that part of the subject would be delivered online depending on campus, students were pressured to attend in person and the lecturer struggled with streaming technology. Many streamed lectures were unusable, with key explanations occurring off camera. Tutorials focused on spoon-feeding exam answers rather than genuine learning, giving the impression that students were being trained to pass exams rather than understand the material.

PSA!! AVOID!! I have studied at a few universities and this is by the far the absolute worst experience I have ever had at a university. Unsafe, I was badly harmed at the uni and then treated like garbage on top of it. For the love of god for your own safety do not attend WSU. I ignored the bad reviews and lived to regret it. They are very shady… Read more

operators and bury complaints. They have one class action against them right now for scamming students and now another class action is being discussed for another matter involving multiple data breaches and leaking of personal details to hackers. I would not be surprised if a third class action emerges for students who have been injured and harmed then ignored.

Most of the good students end up leaving. WSU is decades, yes decades, behind. Exceptionally low quality with a horrendous staff culture, toxic and dysfunctional. The support, counsellors and social workers in charge of helping students are the lowest quality I have ever experienced in any institution ever. I would rate the service at Centrelink far superior to anything I have experienced at WSU to give you an idea at how low it goes. Everything is severely outdated, there's bullies galore, they are sneaky and dishonest, it is outright unsafe and IF there are any good teachers here I can guarantee they can't function well in such a backwards toxic place.

RUN AWAY

Terrible experience, takes weeks to get a password reset and the system is so difficult to navigate around. UNE has nailed it and WSU could learn a lot from them. Support would get 0 stars if I could. I have a hearing disability so much prefer electronic communication which again is awful and sub standard. Show details

A current student, the subjects and teachers overall are good however student services and the finance team are absolute rubbish, don't expect any help from them- very disorganised and clueless.

Very Negative Experience. My experience with the enrolment process has been extremely disappointing. It felt disorganised, unhelpful, and lacking in transparency. There was no clear communication, despite multiple requests to speak with someone. The process felt discriminatory and dismissive, with zero support offered. I had hoped for guidance and clarity, but instead encountered a frustrating and unresponsive system.

I cannot, in good conscience, recommend this university. The environment is deeply challenging, with noticeable instances of discrimination and unfair treatment. Unfortunately, the institution fosters a toxic atmosphere that can have a negative impact on students' well-being. Attending this university feels like a significant waste of both time and money, as the experience may leave you feeling disillusioned and unsupported.

A complete rip-off for international student – I'm an international student at wsu. Before coming to study at this university I thought it would offer me a great experience studying like in the advertisement. However, it was soon proved wrong, the first semester I studied 4 subjects computing, maths, physics and intro to engineering practice. The physics subject was horrible, they bought… Read more

materials from online which in form of 10 mins short vids, the module was inadequate and too short to solve any problems in class. For intro subject, the lecturer does not even bother to teach anything, just give assignments and deadline for submitting useless project, he only came to class 3 times that semester. Things get worse when reaching 2nd and 3rd year, they started hiring unqualified staffs, I don't even understand when they try to solve problems which already had answers online, somehow they still gave wrong answers and even when their answers were right they gave really bad explanation. What makes me most dissapointed was their placement program, their internship placement team is beyond useless, they do not provide any help and I have to do all the work to secure my internship. Also the tuition fees increases vastly every year while the teaching quality is still beyond horrible. I'm completely sick of the audacity when charging people 40k a year of tuition fees and still give these bad experience.

Great University Experience in Sydney – I study at university in Sydney, and I am very happy with my experience here. The campus is beautiful, and the teachers are very helpful and friendly. They always answer my questions and support me with my studies. The facilities are very good too, with lots of space to study and a library that has everything I need. I also made many friends from… Read more

different countries, and it’s fun to learn together.

Living in Sydney can be expensive, but the university gives good advice on how to save money and find part-time jobs. I feel like I made the right choice to study here.

social work program – terrible social work program, the placement team is horrible, not value for money at all.......not a great uni overall, no uni life at all......

Povo uni – Currently studying bachelor of nursing wouldn’t rate it at all … the lecture material sounds like it’s been recorded in 18 B.C and can’t even understand what she’s saying half the time (lol we’re paying these $$ for that). Also library is ghetto at parra campus with pretty much every seat being always taken… Also the tutorial classes are always crammed to the max with tables broken … I only give 2 stars for the PPE class lol Show details

Unprofessional University – This uni, formerly (University of Western Sydney), same rubbish management just different name. I've had my personal information unlawfully accessed, unlawfully used and unlawfully disclosed by an employee of this University. These grubs from management in Penrith campus showed no care and I strongly recommend don't go to this University if you are concerned about your personal information.

Stay far away – Terrible quality of teaching. For engineering they mash 4 separate math subjects into two. Staff are beyond useless. Ask a question and watch as they search through pages of notes to answer basic concepts. Want to email staff? Forget it even with multiple followups a month later you'll get a reply that goes along the lines of, "We can't help you… Read more

it's your responsibility" or "Look at the lectures/tutorials". One time I asked a question and got bounced between the lecturer and tutor for 4 weeks. Want help with the industry experience requirement to graduate? Too bad, it's on you to find a placement. Best they can do is a virtual job fair where 4 company members have 15min to network 120 people then tell you they can't help. Had a car accident the day of the final? Enjoy repeating the subject a year later. If I could go back in time I would beat the hell out of my younger self for enrolling in this dump.

Not just a bad uni, but an unethical one – This university is not only lacking in professionalism and quality, it is deeply unethical, and even commits crimes. The more shallow stuff are things like unit coordinators not replying to emails after a month even with follow ups and student central getting involved. The more serious stuff includes illegal breach of privacy, such as campus… Read more

accommodation demanding bank account statements (lodging not renting therefore this is illegal) and demanding weekly budget including amount spent on prescription medication, therapy and alcohol to be able to remain in accommodation. Gaining access to private student chats and stalking them without their permission or knowledge. PFAS chemicals being an issue on campus however when enquiring about the exact levels they refused to give me the information so I could make an informed decision about staying on campus. A professor swore at me, slammed doors in my face and acted so aggressively and made me feel so unsafe I had to go to a coordinator. Illegally put gps tracker on staff keys. Security guard shamed a girl who wanted to report an assault. Security guard could have potentially hurt a girl having a seizure by trying to stick his hand in her mouth and held her down before I stopped him.

Very disappointed – my uni assignment deadline are coming... so I ran to uni today.. but they have lack of computer in the building and also... though there are some computer.. the mouse... are all gone... so sad :( I cant do things properly here.

The university that conducts illegal activities – I was studying in this crappy university until I realised my personal information was unlawfully accessed, unlawfully used and unlawfully disclosed my personal information. I have been affected by this and they treated me like rubbish. Don't study at this university as they'll do that to you and you probably wouldn't know.

University is a freaking joke – Don't waste your money with this university. Half the courses don't need to be in person but it's forced. Policies created and system used are a joke, they do nothing to actually help the students and are justified with nonsense excuses that make them "look" good but do nothing helpful for the student. Suing this university would be a better use… Read more

of time, than actually enrolling and attending. Teachers are hit or miss and if you manage to stress the hell out of yourself using the crap system, the content is sub par with elusive answers that aren't even covered during lecture or tutorials. I can't even begin to emphasise what a freaking joke this place is.

Their ENTIRE system is completely MESSED UP!! – Teachers can be alright. a lot of the time the class ends up correcting the teacher because the information they're giving is wrong. Assessments never give enough detail, some subjects don't even tell you when your assessment is due let alone what you have to do but they expect you to have it done. the WSU helpline will leave you on hold for the… Read more

majority of the time for an hour, before answering and giving you a pathetic excuse for help. Teachers are not horrible but they don't seem to understand what they're doing and often teach the wrong information. The coursework isn't hard at all, it's just their system that is messed up. I spoke to people from other universities and they said it's not like this and their system is really straightforward and helpful. If you are a high school student right now looking at uni's to go to PLEASE study hard and get in somewhere else, save yourself the stress.

Bad customer service, rude and unprofessional – I rang the University to enrol In a business undergrad course. Apparently to enrol you have to call them and they need to find out about you and then you have to send resume including referees. With All other universities you click on a link and fill out forms online and submit online. With this uni u have to email resume !? Anyway the lady picked… Read more

up the phone [Name Removed] was incredibly condescending and rude and spoke to me as if I’m a drop out uneducated trouble maker teenager where in fact I have a degree under my belt and probably get Paid 3x more than her !! If I asked her a question she would go silent and I had to ask if she’s still there and she would respond “ yes” in rude tone and if I asked a question to clarify she said “ like I TOLD you ...” I also asked about student support for studying online and she had no idea when in fact she is the online course consultant, her attitude was so bad that when I hung up I was like WTH how could someone speak to me like this! She didn’t give a F if I enrolled or not ! Based on her Linkdin she was a model and minimum customer service experience, I don’t understand how can they make her course consultant !!! They just lost $40K from me .

AVOID THIS UNIVERSITY – Complained multiple times about a certain teacher not responding to questions through emails, messages and on discussion boards. When this teacher gave a response it was incorrect. HORRIBLE NOTHING DONE!

Disorganised and too much politics – Studying nursing here. The staff are unprofessional and always talk down at you. It has a high school mentality. Even study notes are poorly written. Tracy Stanbrook in the nursing department wrote notes full of typos and I couldn’t understand it at all. One lesson was spent on how she has her birthday right before Anzac Day. Sorry, I’m interested… Read more

in studying about saving lives, not learning about your social life. I don’t recommend this nursing school.

Master Teachers do not care!!! – I am mother and full-time house wife. Unfortunately, I am trying to finish my degree to become a educator. However, there are online class available but I am not allowed to enrol in them, because I am not overseas student ! My class is held at 2.00pm and it goes for 2 hours. When do I go pick up my kids from school? This university doesn't care… Read more

if you have children or not... When I send email to educators, they do not even reply. If they do, they say " it is my duty to arrange another person to pick your kids up from school"...

I regret studying at WSU – I regret studying at WSU (then UWS, circa 2015). Obviously, courses and campuses can vary but overall I regret studying there and especially regret staying for a fourth year which was heavily padded with time-wasting exercises and "real-life" briefs that were laughable. Some tutors did do their best to help students but there were quite a few… Read more

tutors who had not been in the industry for some time and had clearly lost their passion for their work. One good thing that did come from UWS was my part-time work with the Australian Tax Office, of course, this ended when the careers department was made redundant to pay for a rebrand and exhaustive advertising, including offering free Ipads to 1st years (at the expense of loyal 4th years). In retrospect, I wish I had looked at my options before studying there because 80% of the time and energy I spent there was completely for nothing and 95% of the skills I currently use were self-taught.

Sent a course enquiry last Monday - no response – I sent a simple query - whether a course (Graduate Certificate in Information Governance) was available for online study - and have not received a reply after 7 business days. The application closing date is in less than two weeks. Completely unacceptable. Will not be enrolling even if they do reply, because if this is how they treat prospective… Read more

students imagine how they might treat you once you're enrolled and financially committed. I'll look elsewhere for my education.

Excellent University – The best decision I could make was to enrol at Western Sydney University. The offer will be studying but beyond that, the opportunity of career consulting, improving the academic language or socialise. The international team has supported me with my application over the months. Finally, compared with the offered service - 5 stars.

Poor quality education – Currently enrolled in a Bachelor of Nursing. The quality of learning materials & teaching staff is being horrendous. Negatives: The majority of learning material makes no sense, is barely even related to nursing, assessments are more difficult/overly complicated than they need to be & seem designed to fail a large proportion of students. During… Read more

COVID all classes went online, fees didn’t drop, despite still paying the same fees for on-campus learning. In this time, most online classes were/are only 1 hour long, even for the most difficult of subjects. Majority of staff are hopeless, don’t seem to understand what they’re supposed to be teaching and often go off on a tangent. Clinical placement staff are rude, arrogant and condescending when told that I’m unable to attend a placement due to unavoidable commitments that cannot be rearranged/cancelled, always giving me night shift placements when they’ve been told multiple times that it is impossible for me to be able to attend night shifts. I’ve recently taken a leave of absence from this poor excuse for a University, for mental health & financial reasons, yet placement staff continually send me emails for placements.

All in all, avoid this so called Uni like the plague. TAFE provides much higher quality learning environments, better/more supportive teachers/staff & more well thought out subjects.

Western Sydney University – The teaching is trash as the assessments were marked as per teacher's monopoly. They can mark the assessment the way they want, which is sad but true. The course was not difficult to study whereas the casual teachers, who are marking doe not know the content. Most of the teachers do not have any PhD, which is necessary for teaching Bachelor… Read more

degree students. In my opinion, this university only wants money and university is only for profit-making business. I wish I can delete Western Sydney University from my life. I regretted taking a course there. I have already graduated from the degree, which I was in. I became so depressed that I never wanted to go to the graduation ceremony and I thank almighty that it was cancelled because of COVID 19. My advice is to future students, try not to go to this university because great teachers with good qualification make students enjoy the teaching and learning but not to get depressed with the trash and senseless remarks in assessments by less qualified teachers.

UWS is worst place for PhD graduates/employees in Australia – UWS is the worst place in Australia for PhD students/graduates and employees. As a former PhD student in the School of Social Sciences, i had to do most of the work myself and my supervisor told me that i was demanding when i asked for basic assistance. They never provided me with reading material or emailed me with tips or advice. As a former… Read more

employee, they also treat people badly, saying we have work, but then saying, oh no, we dont have work. I do not recommend local nor international students go there. Also, when you submit a complaint, i was told we need to protect staff and they took the side of their full-time employees over me as a PhD student, thereby, dismissing my complaint, and blaming me for submitting a complaint. UWS, do not provide adequate support for PhD graduates nor early career researchers. They are a waste of time. I graduated there, because of my diligence, however, they are not worthy of it.

Exploitation – I am very dissatisfied with Western Sydney University. As students, yes it is required to pay university fees which is fair. However, as students we are exploited beyond this. Firstly, we are exploited through additional parking fees. Personally, I’ll pay a minimum of $3,500 a semester for university fees. I must access the campus to complete my… Read more

degree, and you would naturally expect parking to be free for students, as a loyalty and appreciation to attend the university. This isn’t the case. Students both local and international (even more so) are placed further into debt. Parking on campus costs, approximately $7-9 a day, that is up to $45 for 5 days in a week, potentially 1-2 thousands dollars a year for parking. Western Sydney university isn’t understanding of the difficulty students face. We must work a specific amount of hours to allow for study commitments and our wage isn’t the best at times. The university like our government, focuses on privileged students with wealth, not students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. I’ll tell you a prime example of exploration. Student ID lost or stolen? $26 to replace it. $26 of charity the university doesn’t need. It’s a plastic card, which is easily printed with our own photo and details on it. Why this further punishment? Here’s another example, $15 to view your OWN academic statement. It contains your own details, your own results, your own degree, your own units and your own credit points. Which all information is available on MYSR but what are we paying for? A signature or the formality? Absolutely disgusted with this university and their so called ‘policy’ just because it’s policy doesn’t mean it’s ethical. All University’s are an exploitative institution to strip students of their well earned money. Sometimes I really wonder what we are all paying for? Am I paying over 3 grand a semester to come into my practical class to find missing equipment required for my learning? I don’t understand. Fellow students, stand up for yourself and challenge authority. There won’t be change if the majority is silent. It’s always the minority groups in society which become silenced.

Unprofessional staff, terrible university – Unprofessional staff, terrible university. Would leave if I wasn't nearing the end of my degree. Unhappy with how things are dealt with from student central. Go to another university and spare yourself unneeded stress and anxiety.

Waste of money – They just want your money, they will take you 5 years through a Bachelor of Nursing with poor quality teaching, and then fail you the last subject. Staff are rude. Students are given pass grades who have failed. Students who should have passed are being failed. There is unfairness for some students but not another’s, certain students are favoured.… Read more

Obtaining a career at the end of your degree is not being promoted. Complaints are brushed aside with excuses. Students who have never passed a math test have been awarded with the degree.