Victoria University

Victoria University.

Photo credit: Hansen Yuncken

Victoria University (VU or Vic Uni) is a dual-sector institution that delivers both vocational training and university courses. Vic Uni's teaching facilities are spread across 9 campuses in Melbourne's western suburbs and CBD. If you've ever studied with VU, you're welcome to post a student review and let others know about your experiences.

Vic Uni Rating

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User Rating 2.89 (238 votes)
Comments Rating 1.69 (35 reviews)

Student Reviews

61 Responses

  1. David
    | Reply

    Why I would not recommed VU

    Victoria University is so bad right now. The block mode is so bad. We have assignment every week and besides I study University to learn but right now I have to fit everything into 3 weeks and half it is impossible. Imagine you study Business Law you have to fit everything in 3 weeks and a half that is so stressful. Besides, I failed one of my subject and I requested to see my final exam result but the unit coordinator did not reply to my email and just left me wondering how bad did I do in my final exam. So please choose a better university. Block mode is so bad. Do not take it.

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  2. Sandy nester
    | Reply

    Think twice

    To be honest I was hoping vu would blow my mind and the new building did. But immediately I started the course I was quite put off. For an international student that may have even resigned in a well paying position to study the course May make you question your decisions.

    The support for international student in choosing the next unit is quite unfriendly and being paired with students who are on their parents money and don’t really care but use chat gpt is horrible. This block I am using YouTube to study a unit. YouTube when I could do that at home for 3580 AUD.

    Hate the school but hopefully we come out well

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  3. Daniella DC
    | Reply

    POSITIVE IMPACT & EXPERIENCE:

    Victoria university isn’t entirely bad. It just depends on what year, which campus, which courses you studied and which teacher taught you, there. Each and everyone is different. None are exactly the same.

    I know that many people here from other courses & campuses had a negative experience with Victoria University, in Melbourne. Sorry about that. It must have been terrible. However my experience at Vic uni was almost completely positive…

    I studied a Diploma of Education Studies, at the Nicholason campus, in Footscray, during 2019. The teachers there and then were exceptionally nice and helpful.

    Their teaching methods were just, chill, modern, engaging, encouraging and effective not harsh, bossy, boring and ineffective like the outdated ones. For example, once, we made a play about education strategies. The building design is also very spacious, comfortable and modern.

    It’s no wonder one of their mottos is, ‘The new way to do uni.’

    My teachers at Victoria University didn’t just teach me, but are one of my most inspirational role models and had such a positive impact on my life.

    At first, I struggled with writing essays, in high school, due to my ASD, but they helped me excell in writing them and I got straight high grades in my literacy classes.

    They also provided me with the skills that I needed to receive a a career as a teacher aide and job as a after school carer.

    Overall, I am overjoyed with Victoria University and words alone can’t express enough how grateful I feel about it.

    Thanks a million!

    I give Victoria University a 4 star rating: ☆☆☆☆, because it was outstanding, but like we should already know, nothing is perfect.

    NOTES:

    -They can provided enlarged colour-coded timetables for those with special needs, which are very easy to follow.

    -There were three blocks-each with a different subject. Each subject was sometimes in a different room. The staff and students were helpful at directing me to the rooms if I got lost.

    -They clearly explained the criteria and answered questions about it, before they assigned assignments. They were willing to help with assignments via email. They provided helpful resources for our assignments.

    -They gave me extensions when I couldn’t finish my assignment on time.

    -They have quick note-takers for those with special needs.

    -A few assignments were due in a few days, but most were due in a week or two, but I don’t mind a challenge sometimes.

    -The campus has a library, canteen and computer room. The canteen has a nice variety of food and drinks.

    -It’s close to cafes, takeaway shops, buses, trains, a park & public transport.

    -The campus is not too far from the city via train.

    -Even though the campus is not in the city, it feels like the city there, because of the nearby sky scraper, cafes and beautiful park.

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  4. Michael
    | Reply

    Disappointing and feels like they just want my money.

    I would advise any other University. The block model is not great. You have 3 assessments due in 3 and a half weeks. They feel rushed, the retention is low because you are trying to complete it so quickly, stress levels are high because they are due so soon but what really gets me is, each unit the days change. I’ve had to turn down 3 jobs because each month my days change (I work as education support). On top of that, they can cancel your unit and place you in another one without notice. Sometimes it seems even the teachers don’t really know what’s going on. When you ask for assistance they just say well you should know, or just read the assessment page it’s all there. You are there to help and teach yet they seem reluctant too, or they just assume all human beings learn the same way. You really get the sense that it is a business first before an educational institution and that is disappointing.

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    • Seandu
      | Reply

      Disorganised Uni/Staff

      VU’s staff/admin team are very disorganised, and gave incorrect advice in terms of enrolment and submitting applications for months… there is a reason for VU’s bad reputation. Went in person to speak to someone, and they’ll say ‘you’ll hear back from XYZ’ to only hear silence/no contacts from anyone. When speaking up about their lack of communication/persistent miscommunication of advice, it seems the university wants to avoid accountability for these issues. Staff doesn’t seem to know what they’re doing, and had to withdraw after months of wasted time of going back and forth with them with incorrect information…

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  5. VUisTrash
    | Reply

    Don't Study Paramedicine with VU

    Bachelor’s of Paramedicine

    Don’t study Paramedicine with Victoria University. Seriously do not.

    With I could give 0 stars.

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  6. Sherry
    | Reply

    PLEASE AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!

    Absolutely the worst place to study! Nobody knows anything at all! No help, no support , no way to follow up on things, nothing. I would not be surprised if this university is in a backroom somewhere underground in a sewer. Please save your money,energy and time and do not even consider this sh*thole.

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  7. Sonya
    | Reply

    My father dies so I miss a unit..then I am told when I return after three weeks that I’ve missed too much, they will ever so kindly transfer me into an OCT at the other campus to restart as I was only three months into my course. The new course started in October, only two weeks away at that stage in September.. After hearing nothing back I emailed to be told they don’t know if they can fit me in, as they’re not sure of how many applications they have from other students?? A week out from start date and they don’t know?? Would I mind just reapplying in February?? A complete waste of my time as by this point I’d missed another two weeks thinking I was starting fresh in the OCT. No apology or effort at all to let me know if I’d not chased them up. Noone ever knows what’s going on and my teacher missed nearly as much class as I did. Also, the favouritism in class towards the male students literally made me feel invisible. I’ve tried to gain clarification on whether there was is even an OCT Intake…Noone knows that either!!!. I feel enraged, fees paid for nothing!!

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  8. Evan
    | Reply

    WORK HARD AND DON'T WORRY

    I have studied at Monash Uni (BEc), VU (LLB), College of Law (GradDipLegalPractice and Griffith Uni (Grad Cert International Law Practice). I read and the occasional comment from people about VU and I disagree.There are VU graduates working in top tier law firms, middle ranking law firms and are at the Bar.When Monash Law School which is regarded as a top tier law school started in the early 60s, many people made the same comments as they are now making about VU.Same for La Trobe ( some still do about La Trobe).The thing is that all the academic staff at VU Law School are Melbourne, Monash, Adelaide , UNSW , Sydney graduates.Half the QC’s in Melbourne and Judiciary in Victoria are Monash Graduates from when it was considered the lesser school and poor cousin. NOT NOW! Monash in the 60’s and early 70’s was not the same as now in terms of reputation.It was out in the sticks and new.No track record. Now some argue it better than Melbourne. Go to a law school which is convenient, affordable and attend all classes and WORK HARD. Alot of law firms are full of snobs that have no idea what they are doing. What’s important is to work hard and constantly learn and read. Sure, some law schools are preferred by the big firms.However, focus on learning and getting good results rather than the facade of the university you went to. Every single one of my fellow VU law graduates had a job in the law within 12 months if that is what theyI have studied at Monash Uni (BEc), VU (LLB), College of Law (GradDipLegalPractice and Griffith Uni (Grad Cert International Law Practice). I read and the occasional comment from people about VU and I disagree.There are VU graduates working in top tier law firms, middle ranking law firms and are at the Bar.When Monash Law School which is regarded as a top tier law school started in the early 60s, many people made the same comments as they are now making about VU.Same for La Trobe ( some still do about La Trobe).The thing is that all the academic staff at VU Law School are Melbourne, Monash, Adelaide , UNSW , Sydney graduates.Half the QC’s in Melbourne and Judiciary in Victoria are Monash Graduates from when it was considered the lesser school and poor cousin. NOT NOW! Monash in the 60’s and early 70’s was not the same as now in terms of reputation.It was out in the sticks and new.No track record. Now some argue it better than Melbourne. Go to a law school which is convenient, affordable and attend all classes and WORK HARD. Some law firms are full of snobs that have no idea what they are doing. What’s important is to work hard and constantly learn and read. Sure, some law schools are preferred by the big firms.However, focus on learning and getting good results rather than the facade of the university you went to. Every single one of my fellow VU law graduates had a job in the law within 12 months if that is what they wanted. Griffith Uni which is not regarded by some as being of the same calibre as Monash Uni , I found it to have tougher academic standards than Monash. Monash is great. Melbourne is great. VU is what you make of it!

  9. Alessandro Hutapea
    | Reply

    Don't enter if you love yourself

    Where do I start?

    (+)
    – They do care about protecting the minority with activism and some movements
    – Pretty cheap compared to other universities
    – Spent 2 years online studying, they handled it fine but nothing remarkable.

    (-)
    – Did not care at all for the International Students
    – Some of the lecturers were fine, some were so unreasonably strict and rude. Some were so useless that you feel wasting your money taking the unit. Some are racists as well, I had an experience in a class where the lecturer said “you all look the same” because of their race. Literally weird?
    – Block Mode is a literal disaster.
    – Can you believe that I haven’t received my student card in 2 years despite requesting it a couple of times to the University and saying that It is still delayed due to Covid? Make no damn sense.
    – Late response in assisting the complaints and appeals.
    – The people handling complaints like CUA, Live Chat are all trying their best but they sometimes give you vague answer and It’s like you wasted your time asking them in the first place but I do think that It’s the university’s fault because they basically don’t give them answer anyway
    e.g Bad experience in handling the graduation that I was scheduled to graduate in August because It took too long for them to sign me off despite I already finishing the course in mid-November.

  10. Dee
    | Reply

    Don't even bother....

    I did my post grad Masters in Change, Innovation and Leadership here…. it was average to say the least. Disorganised, lectures were all over the place, unit guides were written poorly, assignments often lacked a rubric…. Just don’t. I even had a lecturer who’s unit guide was 90 pages, written in different colours, with no logical flow…. And he also didn’t rock up to a class because it was his birthday and said he was going out to “get p*ssed”. He also tore shreds into a student who asked for a rubric on one of the assignments. It verged on bullying and I wrote to the head of the Business School (as did others). I got a tokenistic response and he was forced to apologise to the student even though in a following lecture he told the class he “hadn’t done anything wrong”.

    I understand why people go to VU for a year only to transfer to a more reputable uni to complete their degree. And when you graduate, you get a testamur that looks like a 10 year old whipped up in Microsoft word.

    I’ve studied at Monash and I can hand on heart say that they actually provide the support and care for their students. VU is a sh*t show held together with sticky tape and incompetent staff. Student facilities are crappy (I’m talking about rooms with holes in the wall, mismatching chairs, broken air conditioners) and instead of investing in the current facilities they have, they’d rather p*ss money up the wall on the new VU building at the new Footscray hospital.

    Avoid at all costs.

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    • John
      | Reply

      VU College of Law & Justice

      I am currently reading for the LLB at Victora University (‘VU”). VU law is very rigorous, and the teaching staff I have encountered are second to none. I have studied at La Trobe Uni and Victoria College, and I can honestly say that the course is fast-paced, demanding and intellectually rewarding. I can not speak for the other faculties; I can say that the college of Law is right up there. The block method is a great way to immerse yourself in a subject and a chance to get a high distinction because of the heightened focus on the subject matter. I love VU law and hope you can find your way to attending one of Australia’s emerging law schools.

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  11. DB
    | Reply

    An outsider's opinion - low quality education

    I am a mentor teacher for a Pre-Service Teacher coming out of Victoria University. I thought my opinion as an outsider will count for some planning to do a teaching degree in early childhood with this university.

    Don’t.

    The documentation from the university is terrible, unclear and not well organised – this shows me a deeper problem within the university with regards to expectations of students and what they are supposed to learn.

    Support – NONE for the student teacher from the university, none for me as the mentor teacher. It took the university nine days to get back to me on issues raised on the student’s first day. The practicum placement was only 10 days.

    The student also had no knowledge about subjects they had supposedly completed. How much is box ticking and how much is actually teaching?

    From my interactions with this university, my opinion is that they love money from International Students, offering no quality or support.

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  12. Hasan
    | Reply

    MY EXPERIENCE ENROLLING WITH VU BUT YOURS MIGHT BE DIFFERENT

    I achieved all 384 credit points to a bachelor of architectural engineering but never actually graduated doing my further studies with VIC UNI.
    It is a requirement anyone completing an engineering degree to obtain industrial experience and I never managed to secure work by putting forward my academic transcript and resume to employees. Hence why I have not graduated to this day. I achieved x8 HD grades out of the 32 subjects and failed 4 units.
    It has truly been devastating. This has effected me in many ways. I was 23 years of age when I enrolled in VU in 2011 completed all units in 2015 and I am now 33 years of age with no prospects. Over the last 6 years I have been working in call centres and basic labour factory jobs as a casual employee and to this day still haven’t had a full time job. The rest you can imagine. On a positive note there’s been people who have been successful doing a bachelor’s degree with VIC UNI then doing further studies with other universities to get to a PhD level and now a 6 figure salary employment. But be aware that it is possible to fall through the cracks. Bit about my background, I was of refugee status with a permanent humanitarian visa (entered Australia mid-2008) and an ATAR of 60 when I enrolled at VIC UNI. I had already completed year 12 back in my home country but had to repeat year 11 and 12 if I were to pursue further studies so I did that with limited English at the time and achieved the 60 ATAR.

  13. Jaime
    | Reply

    Poor excuse for a university

    I am a third year student at the college of health & biomedicine. The issues I’m presenting have been consistent across my entire VU experience with few exceptions.

    What is apparent to myself and my cohort is that VU as an institution has little to no regard for the wellbeing of both staff and students.

    Some prominent issues include:

    – Constant timetable changes
    These are often last minute with no notice whatsoever. You could wake up on the morning of a class to find every session has been moved from 9am to 4pm.

    – Class cancellations, with less than 6 hours notice and without any makeup classes scheduled.

    – Changes to enrolment without any notice
    I check my enrolment every week as it’s become standard for VU to unenroll, swap and move units without notice. My transcript for 2020 has more discontinued units than completed ones.

    – Inconsistent/wrong assessment details
    Assessments are often modified from previous units and come with conflicting information and due dates. Rubrics are often missing or contain irrelevant information from other assessments that have clearly been copy pasted in. On two separate occasions, students of different classes were assessed under different conditions for the same assessment.

    – Broken/lacking content
    Unit content typically isn’t made available until a few days prior to a unit starting, even then it is occasionally incomplete, inaccurate or filled with broken links.

    – Terrible communication
    Several times I have emailed staff 2+ times regarding the same query without any reply. One query took 5 emails over 6 months just to get a response. Further, finding pertinent course information can sometimes be difficult with little consistency in delivery.

    – Courses at capacity
    A few of my classes have had to be moved into larger rooms as the allocated rooms literally don’t have enough tables and chairs to accommodate all students.

    – COVID-19
    The university moved some of our practical classes onto an indoor basketball court to accommodate social distancing. Over the course of 8 weeks using the space they refused to provide any seating for students or staff.

    – Online lectures
    Unlike almost all other universities, VU does not provide any recorded lecture content and does not permit the recording of any classes.

    – Block model
    While block model does show some merit, VU’s implementation is poor with most units not adequately adapted.

    – Lack of flexibility
    Special consideration due to extenuating circumstances is sometimes disregarded. I know of one student who was unable to have an assessment rescheduled despite having to attend the funeral of a close relative. I personally inquired about confirming/rescheduling assessment dates so I could book in an operation however VU never responded to my query.

    There are definitely some positive aspects to my experience at VU. In particular some of the dedicated teaching staff. Block model is great for new students and for managing workloads. Understandably, some of these issues I’ve listed are present at all universities and initially I forgave VU for their shortcomings. However, after 3 years it is clear these flaws are ingrained into the culture at VU and reflect a university that does not care about its students. I can’t speak for the other college’s/courses though I would not recommend VU to anyone that has another option.

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  14. Mary
    | Reply

    Diploma of beauty

    Absolute nightmare!! Cannot get any support. Been trying to contact the university for a month now, and no answers. Stuffed up my enrollment. Staff answering phones are useless. Stay away!!!

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    • Ari
      | Reply

      I’m currently facing the same situation! Did you end up getting enrolled in your preferred course date start?

  15. Harman
    | Reply

    Listen to me

    Very bad experience in this University
    1. Never able to reach any support

    2. The lecturer quality is questionable, they will just answer you I don’t know why

    3. No teacher seem to be helpful or willing to help

    4. Disorganised and unclear for every units. Never explain the assignment, just do it. It is half way through the semester and our due date still showing the previous semester’s due date, no update no whatsoever.

    5. Lecture always forgot something, as a result of student suffer

    NOT RECOMMENDED THIS UNI TO ANYONE. This is not an university trying to get better

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  16. Student
    | Reply

    Terribly organised and subpar course delivery

    Certificate IV in industrial automation.

    Understandably, it was a difficult time to run a course during the 2020 lockdowns.
    However, the quality of tuition we received was very low.
    Nothing seemed to be carefully planned or organised. Key points were miscommunicated or forgotten about entirely. The course material was riddled with spelling errors and technical mistakes. The lecturer was unreachable aside from during class time (according to my own experience as well as other students in my class). We received minimal actual guidance to the point where, for me, google and YouTube were really my main teachers. While I did learn a lot (largely thanks to the time spent trawling google & YouTube and working together with other totally lost classmates) it was overall a very disappointing experience.

    Unless you are highly self motivated and already have a reasonable understanding of electrical control systems & electronics then do not bother with this course.

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  17. Jerry
    | Reply

    Don't go there, it is a nightmare

    VU is the worst law school I have attended in my whole life. Despite my endeavor to work on the subject, which is a single unit subject, I simply cannot pass it as I cannot understand what the lecturer is talking completely and the questions are the hardest one I have ever encountered in my life. (I hold a double degree from Melbourne Uni and a Master degree from ANU, never failed like this) As a matter of fact, VU simply purposely structured their course to fail student with a view to obtaining more tuition fees.

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    • PP
      | Reply

      ... a little more info

      Hi Jerry, thanks for the review. I am interested in knowing a bit more info. I am considering a Law related degree at VU. I have a couple of questions for you.

      Can i ask what your other degrees are that you currently hold?
      What made it difficult to understand the lecturer?
      Specifically, what do you think the most difficult part of the course is?
      Do you believe the block learning structure is useful, compared to the degrees you have done previously.

      Any info is useful mate, I am returning to study and this will be my first bachelors course. I have been out school for a good 20 years.

      Thanks in advance,

      PP

      • Therese
        | Reply

        I did a year of law school at VU in 2015. It was b****y difficult but once you understand the content, well it actually made me noticably sharper while dealing with every day life. Yes, getting a low mark on work you think is amazing stings but you’ll look back and realise they are right, your writing was terrible 6 months ago. No regrets at all.

        I think VU veered towards “group assignments” for most of the classes though so of that’s not your cup of tea, check whether it’s still in place.

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  18. Damo
    | Reply

    Unfortunate waste of time

    Lecturers are super hit or miss, and the marking system is abysmal some will use the rubric others won’t. I’ll get an 80 on an essay in one class getting told my writing style is great, next class different lecturer getting a 50 getting told I should look for assistance as my writing style needs it.

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  19. Tstyles
    | Reply

    This place isn't bad i don't understand why it has a bad reputation

    I studied the first year and a bit of a law degree here.

    I was out of my depth and found the marking system harsh but it was great and realistic, I can write far better than i ever dreamed. I didn’t even realise how poor my writing, communication and research was until I went there. The information supplied still comes in use in real life even though i don’t work in law. I don’t think I met a single bad or unreasonable lecturer.

    I am disappointed they have turned the majority of units at university level into group assignments accounting for the majority of your grade and that’s part of the reason i dropped out (I understand most universities do this now).

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  20. Beau
    | Reply

    Course Enquiries

    Haven’t studied there, but I wanted to share this anyway. I have spoken to people over the phone with general course enquiries and found that for a lot of the questions I asked (which were fairly standard queries) their responses were “I don’t have the answer for that” or “I’m not sure about that” with no further “Let me find out and get back in contact with you” at all. I’m disappointed because the course I was interested in was one of the only ones I could find that offered online learning and simply having these conversations made me change my mind because if their enquiry staff are this incompetent, the rest of the institution can’t be much greater. Will definitely keep looking elsewhere.

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  21. bri
    | Reply

    Stay away.

    Not great,
    Their Block model is an absolute disaster.
    Expected to attend 3x per week for 3 hours per subject for 4 weeks? Ridiculous expectation.

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  22. Shainal
    | Reply

    I want to know about the reviews of studying International community development at Victoria university footscray campus as I just for an offer letter.

  23. Tea
    | Reply

    Re-consider.

    I would not recommend.

    1. Had issues with teachers just leaving with VU scrambling to find temporary teachers last minute. This year they lost their best teacher they had for the course I was in midway into the year.
    2. Teachers are either great or don’t really seem to care anymore.
    3. Trying to get responses from emails can be a nightmare.
    4. Trying to contact anyone due to the no email response is even worse.
    5. Their record-keeping skills are sub-par and their admin levels very slow.
    6. As an online student (working full time when starting) as opposed to an on-campus student they are not very good at communication and I have had to follow up various things constantly during my 3 years at VU.

    Note: I previously studied at RMIT and I can safely say they were a great deal easier to get in contact and work with than Victoria University is. Think carefully before joining.

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  24. Liam
    | Reply

    No help what so ever

    I started a apprenticeship course at vic University for my trade but was stopped by my employer, after a period of time my place of employment closed and went bankrupt and my course was never completed, the University although having my home address never sent any invoices for the schooling and stated that they sent correspondence to my old place of employment the timing well after it had closed. Due to this the University sold the outstanding fees to a debt collection firm and although I contacted the office , student union etc no one at the University would help in any way although I was prepared to pay all outstanding debts owing to the University they offered no assistance and I had to pay a extra $1200 on top of the fees owed.
    Thanks Victoria University for nothing your just a money making trainer and offer no help to anyone what so ever.

  25. hashan
    | Reply

    Worst uni in the world

    This is by far the worst uni ever. do not even think of going there. I was a transfer student from Sri Lanka and I came to VU to continue remaining 2 years of my bachelor in mechanical engineering. I was awarded with 2 years of credit as per my offer letter but VU just took few more credits after just arriving here no matter how hard I tried to get those credits back they would not even listen to me. fail rate of some subjects are really unbelievable. no support at all from either academic or administration staff at all. They just need your money and thats it. thankfully I changed my Uni . If u are planning to come to VU please think at least 10 times before you come. even the good lecturers are leaving the campus.

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  26. Sherry
    | Reply

    Mixed feelings

    If you’re interested in learning basic nursing skills, this may be the course for you. The curriculum leans heavily towards nursing in aged care facilities.

    You will need to do a lot of private study yourself as not everything they teach you is accurate and it’s only by reading widely that you’ll find out whether you’ve been taught correctly or not.

    They teach in Block model, which means each semester you will do 4 fast-paced crash courses consecutively in 4 different subjects. You don’t get much time to do research before you have to move on to the next subject. It is possible to do well if you put in a lot of effort yourself both in and outside of class.

    If you are a high-achieving student, be prepared that you will have to submit some assignments as part of a small group of 4-5 people. This means you may get a lower grade than you’re used to because you have to include the work of others who may not be working at the same level as you. You may also be forced to work with students who leave completing their part of group assignments until the last minute, which can be frustrating and reduce the quality of the submitted assessment.

    Theory classes are up to 3 hours long so there’s lots of sitting. Most of the facilitators/lecturers let you eat and drink discreetly in class if you need to.

    You will officially be encouraged to provide written, anonymous feedback throughout your course. However, there are some strong personalities in both the academic and clinical teaching settings and some of them are not very open to self-improvement from student feedback. They are still sorting out their Block model curriculum after running it for 18 months. Their online learning materials and quizzes do contain knowledge errors.

    The teaching staff come from a variety of cultural and national backgrounds. Some of them have very strong personalities and they’re not the warm and friendly types. Students are expected to be respectful at all times but facilitators and lecturers have a different set of rules Students who complain about staff behaviour may be suspended without warning or without an appropriate meeting before the suspension is issued. Staff are not always professionally behaved and some become defensive if you ask genuine questions about what you’re learning.

    Your first placement will be towards the end of Year 1 and in aged care. You may mainly work with personal care assistants in this role, not nurses. There isn’t much flexibility with placement arrangements – you may be sent to a location several hours from your home even if you have children and request a placement location closer to your home so you can return home each night.

    The university facilities themselves are pleasant and spacious with lots of garden areas and trees, a little dated but very clean. The teaching rooms and labs are usually quite warm and there are no opening windows for fresh air. The teaching equipment is fairly basic but it will help you learn basic skills.

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  27. Shehali
    | Reply

    Advice on Bachelors in Early Childhood

    Anybody who has experience in doing a teaching degree? I’m planning to start.

  28. Phy
    | Reply

    Bachelor of Business

    Just completed a Bachelor of Business majoring in Innovation & Management. My time at VU was okay, some lecturers were terrible but some were excellent, you get those everywhere I think. The block mode is good ONLY if it’s a 1st year unit, but for 2nd or 3rd year unit?? You’ve got to be kidding, you either have to water down the material or just eliminate the learning content as 2nd and 3rd year units require time for research and cannot be crammed into a 4 week learning period. I’m lucky that I wasnt forced to do block mode for these units, can’t really say the same to those who are doing them now.

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  29. Dinesh Shakya
    | Reply

    No Accreditation

    They do run courses without accreditation without letting the students know about it. No accreditation means no skill assessment and no verifying body so you would be in trouble getting job after finishing course and you can apply for permanent resident as well.

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    • Sazeena
      | Reply

      Could you please advise me back on what kind of problem you had during skill assessment? Did it get solve? If yes, how? Also, I would like to know which course are you referring to? Any idea on Teaching?

      I am planning to join VU, Footscray Park Campus but after reading reviews am confused upon my choice.

  30. Fez
    | Reply

    Worst University Experience I've Ever Had

    I’d like to preface this by saying that I’m a transfer student from the US with several years of education from 3 different institutions with a couple degrees under my belt.
    Among all of the 4 university institutions I have attended, VU has been by far the worst. There is hardly any clear communication between the instructors and students, and even worse between course coordinators and the specific instructors. The institution, as a whole, seems to be dismally organised with no clear focus on the academic wellbeing of its students.
    Firstly, VU’s First Year Block Model is atrociously organised. I’m studying within the medical field and the instructors expect us to grasp a semester’s (16 weeks) worth of information, for one class, over a 4 week period. Considering this method of coursework is vastly different from grade school, any student who would need time to adjust to university would not have any grace here. This block system inherently sets students up for failure, especially if they plan on taking any placement exams in the future. Case and point, medical sciences require MUCH MORE time to learn than 4 measly weeks. How are you supposed to efficiently learn such a dense course material in just 4 weeks? Furthermore, there is no clear organisation of the course work during each block. Concepts are jumped between with no way of relating one session’s information with another.
    Second, the teaching staff is seriously ill equipped, at least coming from the medical field of coursework. You will not have one consistent grader looking through your work. Despite having years of lab work done in my own past, my grades for lab reports have not been consistent at all – and any deductions I have tried to refute have been unfair and unjustified. These graders are not even familiar with the instructions that are given to the students. For example, I had almost half of my grades for one lab report deducted simply because the grader of my report had disagreements with small contextual and semantic issues with my work. He/she even noted spelling errors when there were none existent. Also, the lab instructors are often misinformed of procedure, and in many cases the lecture instructors are left in the dark whenever there is a change in the course material. There is absolutely no clear communication within any of the members of the institution, whether student, instructor, demonstrator or unit coordinator.
    If you’re trying to get into the medical field, I would highly recommend that you try to get your education elsewhere.

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  31. Lucas
    | Reply

    Good content, but terrible bureaucratic processes for handling conflict situation has ruined my first year experience completely

    So, came to VU with the information they’re really good at handling special needs students… very disappointed. At the beginning of the year I went through all the hoops and hurdles to sort out my access plan which I was told would be forwarded to all my teachers, and I provided names, some of which I only knew their first name, because, hey, I’d just started. I do not recall being told I was supposed to email my access plan to all my teachers at the beginning of each 4 week block. Now, I can be quite volatile at times and this showed when I’ve had a couple of conflicts with students throughout my first year, pretty much all verbal. I have not injured anyone, it’s all been verbal. Now, my dad works at a university, RMIT in fact and he’s had to deal with similar cases and they take a common sense, local level approach. Not VU though. Let’s see, first conflict, I was removed from my ensemble group. I’m studying music so playing in an ensemble is vital. Having to perform on my own saw detriment to my results as, naturally, there were way more nerves. It seems they go for a convenient solution over a fair solution. And now, as I’m writing this, for a conflict that happened off campus, outside of hours, I have had to miss the middle two blocks of this semester, because of students complaining about my behaviour. Granted, my behaviour was unacceptable. However, there were way better ways of handling it, at a local level than escalating the matter to the point it became a bureaucratic process whereby I had to constantly chase for answers on outcomes of my so called “risk assessment” to determine whether or not I’m still a risk to myself or others and everything was taking way too long to go through and I had to chase for answers. Furthermore, when I tried presenting my side of the story to one of the teachers (the one who escalated the matter in fact), he was extremely quick to shut me down, extremely dismissive of the points I was trying to make, and I effectively didn’t get a chance to present my side of the story, which I should be allowed to do. The level of incompetence for handling difficult situations by staff (or the ones I’ve encountered) is beyond belief. And then I get told that that particular staff member who didn’t hear my side of the story is “stressed” when I email him and the relevant persons he escalated the matter to to express that I didn’t have a chance to present my side of the story. If he heard my side, I would not have had to express that. Overall the content is good but if you’re one to occasionally get angry at someone and express it with yelling and apparent, perceived “threatening” nature, do not come here. They have no competence from my experience to handle these situations. They’re religious to their bureaucratic processes and will stick to it rather than take a common sense approach because they’re so absorbed in their image from the outside. Rant over.

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    • Divka
      | Reply

      Really?

      Someone else’s fault because of your behaviour? Your peers found it unacceptable. Maybe grow up, look at yourself instead of blaming anything else.
      ‘students complaining about my behaviour.’
      ‘if you’re one to occasionally get angry at someone and express it with yelling and apparent, perceived “threatening” nature,’ . You sound just lovely.

  32. L. Dragon
    | Reply

    Never ever waste your time here

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Where in the world do I even start!
    I was so excited when I was accepted through Vu… I would be completing my 3rd year Bach of Nursing but my god have I ever had the worst experience of what a Uni Student would be like. My first year alone I had no help from any of the student bodies or tutors when I lost 4 people throughout that year, in one of my subjects I had a tutor who really didn’t want to be there and barely taught the class…Myself and about 48 other 1st year students failed that class… We all had to do a 4 day compulsory summer school… Turns out almost 3 years later that make up class doesn’t count for anything…. This year I have made another big decision in my 24 sort year life to move to another Uni… So far that new facility is amazing! So that 1st year subject make up? Yeah nah doesn’t count… So I am currently redoing that whole subject again at this new Uni… Thanks VU!
    And not to mention I had an ‘altercation’ with one of VU’s “prised” placement hospital…. Long story short I had been removed because the clinical educator didn’t like me…. SO I had to go through hoops to get another one so I could continue with my 3rd year…. Well Fast forward about a few months, got a rural placement in Colac which is about 3 – 3.5 hrs from my house, they didn’t even help us to find accommodation…. Did my 4 weeks and then told Vu I was transferring. My placement was in Jan of this year to Feb…. So fast forward a little more, I had called up the VUask to see who I needed to email or call about this whole thing and after a week of emailing this one person who the VUask person told me too I was told I was speaking to the wrong person… Another week and now I am speaking to a female lecture who is probably the most hated person in VU…. I was told and I quote “OHHH you were the boisterous one? Good thing you spoke to Clive then, I would have failed you and made you re-enrol”
    I was gobsmacked and mind you I did everything I needed too to get that placement and she at first tried to deny my 4 weeks in an unfamiliar place so far from home….So myself and my new Uni are fighting Vu to have that placement marked and put onto my Academic Transcript… SO far we haven’t gotten too far…

    I also have a friend who has just deferred from VU because she can’t get the help she needed to find somewhere to live… Instead of helping her they told her to “Just sleep in your car”
    If that’s not demeaning then I don’t know what is…

    I cannot say enough how much of a bad place this is… My fiance and his beast friend also had major issues with this institution they call a “Helpful University” I have never hated a place as much as I now hate this place…. Late last year I had pretty much given up what I wanted to do since I was 4ys old… They drain you of all your passion and motivation… I had lost my way and so many others have too… All Vu care about is money… -10/10 stars

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    • Sarah
      | Reply

      VU what a joke

      Ditto, Ditto, Ditto. The place should be torn down and the staff thrown in jail. Has anyone gone through the complaint process? Yes, I realise they make it extremely difficult, and I think we all know what the result would be anyway. Let’s just say the Karma train may be chugging along in the background. 😉

  33. emelia
    | Reply

    Disgraced

    4 years of studying at VU was an absolute nightmare. I have had teachers losing my essays and failing me for their own incompetence, emails ignored, teachers not showing up to class and even quitting half way through the semester leaving the students without a teacher. My first memory of VU as a young girl fresh out of high school was getting laughed at by student services for applying for too many units for my first semester, clearly unsure of what I had to do. The lady looking at my application called other admin girls over to look at it as they mocked me saying “this student reckons she can study this many units all this semester” as they all laughed right in front of me. As I have just obtained my last credit points and meant to have finished my degree I knew it wouldn’t be as simple as getting an invite to a graduation ceremony and moving on. I am currently chasing up the uni to amend my academic transcript as they have completely left two completed units off it. For this reason I do not qualify for the second degree I have just applied for and paid $175 for and will not be able to study again this year as planned. This will also be the reason why my 93 year old grandmother will not be attending a graduation ceremony for the only person in my family who has successfully completed a university degree. I am absolutely gutted and would never recommend this university to anyone.

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  34. Kris
    | Reply

    Vu is Okay

    My time at VU was okay.
    I wasn’t happy with the structure of the courses and the miscommunication between staff, students and the services.
    Half way through my exercise science degree the course changed (for the better) which was fine
    because most the unit weren’t really relevant to my degree (half still aren’t).

    We as a class weren’t happy when we found out that we were the guinea pig class(year) and that half the units weren’t properly laid out. Two thirds of the way through the some units, the assessments and test were changed and also some of the content been taught wasn’t relevant / wasn’t going to be on the exam. #frustrating

    Although the exchange oversea was pretty good…. but communication between the 2 university was shocking.

  35. Lilly Zhang
    | Reply

    My student service experience in Werribee campus are so unpleasant. Not a professional student services. The most bad experience i’ve ever experienced.

  36. Abdullah Al Noman
    | Reply

    Fantastic VU

    If someone wants better quality of education, VU can provide it. Completing Bachelor of Business was fantastic and had good experience. Lecturers and tutors are very helpful. VU can be called more than great education.

  37. Tink
    | Reply

    Not as bad as you might himk

    It’s not that bad!
    I completed a law degree with VU at the Melbourne campus.

    I found most of the tutors/lecturers to be dedicated and helpful. I also appreciated that they were rather flexible and did understand that being a student can be difficult when trying to balance your obligations with real life. I also thought that most of the lecturers were experienced and rather passionate about the area of law they taught. A lot of them make contributions to the legal field through either specialist practice or on-going research and writing so there is an opportunity to be given meaningful insight into current issues in law.

    There were also wonderful opportunities to study abroad and earn credit in your course

    I didn’t have anything to do with the other campuses and don’t feel that judging a uni based solely on their admin process is really a balanced way to evaluate the academic quality of a University because admin issues arise in just about every institution

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  38. May Bennett
    | Reply

    Poor quality

    I studied a diploma of community services at night. The teachers were very mixed in standard and the management of the course was horrendous. Every person in the course was complaining. They are not interested in providing a good service, but more interested in having jobs where they don’t have to care about their students. Disrespectful towards students experiences under their leadership and very rude!

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  39. Angela
    | Reply

    BA in Writing (FPC)

    Anyone have any advice on the BA in Writing at the Footscray Park Campus?

    • K
      | Reply

      HI Angela,
      Did you find out any details about the BA in Writing. I’m considering the Diploma in Writing and these reviews have me nervous!

  40. Steve
    | Reply

    More interested in taking your money than quality

    This is my experience studying at Victoria University

    • Twice misplaced / lost my submitted Application to study a degree.

    • Tutor completing her own PHD during tutorials rather than tutoring the class

    • Dismantled feedback channels when student complaints increased for individual course units

    • Online exams. An exam was copied from a previous year by the University’s unit convenor and placed online for students to complete. Students used google to locate the complete exam and used the answers to complete their own exam.

    • Given exam answers during tutorials and lectures

    • Unit materials for three units not available up to two weeks into a semester.

    • There were some good lecturers and tutors , but they seemed to be fighting to maintain quality rather than being supported by the university.

    • The original course I signed up to has changed so much, that units I need to study to reach my qualification, have now been moved to a masters qualification adding two years further part time study.

    • Rejection of RPL’s by the University even though accreditation bodies such as ESSA support granting of RPL’s. University ignores ESSA advice. Other universitys accept RPLS.

    • For RPL’s, rejection of short courses studied outside the university even though those courses are sanctioned by accreditation bodies such as ESSA.

    • Poor quality units (Kinesiology, Nutrition) – below a standard offered even by accreditation body sanctioned short courses.

    • Invoiced for a Unit I did not enrol for, nor complete. University refuse to refund fees levied. University investigators refuse to address my specific claims, and refuse to detail responses to those claims.

    • Lack of cooperation to resolve disputes. The university’s focus is to not admit anything and provide generic responses.

    Worth noting that Victoria University does not rate in the top 500 universities in the world, and is the lowest rated of all Australian Universities

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/apps/g/page/local/us-news-global-top-500-universities/1409/
    http://www.shanghairanking.com/ARWU2016.html

    and continued slipping backwards (2016 – 2017)
    https://www.topuniversities.com/universities/victoria-university#wurs
    (fall in ranking 2016 -2017)

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  41. RA
    | Reply

    Dodgy

    Got a phone call saying my course was cancelled at the beginning of my second year. Called student services to make sure the phone call was legitimate. It was, and even student services were shocked that a Bachelor course was canceled. A few months down the track, I found out a few people got called back saying they can still do the course and that it wasn’t canceled. First and third year was still running as well. Overall… pretty dodgy.

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    • Christine
      | Reply

      Cancelled Program

      I encountered a similar case in October 2018. I received an offer letter which I used to apply for student visa, etc, then the course was cancelled. However, after reaching out for clarification, I received a clarification that the staff cancelled the first preferred course since she felt it’s better for an international student to apply for the longer duration course so I could stay in the country longer and be eligible for post study visa.

  42. Laura
    | Reply

    Better when i started

    Uni was a bit full on when I started as there are many mature age students or post grad students in the law degree. They accepted way too many students but the numbers dropped. Seem to be keeping up with technology. The law library and business library in Melbourne are great.

    They did have a student campus in Maribyrnong which was old but very affordable. It was sold to developers and knocked down. Their new footscray building costs like $300pw plus bills. So if you’re on Centrelink don’t bother.

    They have started restructuring their courses to be mainly group work focused and more of a tafe vibe which I really disliked as it seems to be an attempt at employing modern teaching ideas and seeing how they go rather than getting students to learn concepts. Teaching styles vary but support is there. It is annoying they often disregard real-world experience from students and try to say the text book is right.

    I will say I often felt incredibly out of place as a Caucasian female sometimes. There are many international students.

    I can write considerably better academically so that is one thing they taught me.

    Hope this helps you make a choice.

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  43. Sabrina
    | Reply

    Overall its a cool uni, teachers are helpful. I made good friends here. Food is expensive though.

  44. Reece
    | Reply

    I am an ex Australian Military Soldier and study Nursing at VU St Albans there is only one outstanding teacher, who has helped me more than he knows,. he is witty and uses real world references. He has brought humour to the class, and made complex bioscience sound simple. i solute Mr Kosta

    • Natalie
      | Reply

      Hi Reece
      Do you find St Albans campus friendly? I went to Vic uni in Footscray I was all alone not many students socialised.

  45. C
    | Reply

    I completed a certificate III at Vic Uni (Werribee campus).
    It was a generally horrible experience. The teacher was beyond rude, and boldly racist and intolerant of any student that wasn’t a middle aged white female. The grounds and facilities were dirty and not kept well.
    It took nearly 2 years to receive my physical copy of my certificate, and then it had the wrong date and year on it.
    This is a poorly run Uni and needs some serious help, soon.

  46. Claude
    | Reply

    Some annoying, but mostly good experiences for me.

    The course itself was good, the teachers very knowledgeable, teaching style varied between the different personalities ( from engaging, to laid-back, to scary) but they all knew their stuff – it is just that some inspired us, and other didn’t so much.

    The annoying aspect is the administration, reduced funding meant a reduction of staff and reduced level of service. Teachers required to do admin (they are not good at this) when they should have been perfecting the course structure. I started a course with the understanding that it would be a “foot in the door” to my industry of choice. After a year it turns out that I was given incorrect advice – and I needed to do a higher qualification – so a wasted year and wasted expense – very frustrating. Two years later finally completed the course I should have started in the first place and I am employed in my chosen industry (albeit on a casual basis). Still happy with result.

    My advice for any student at any education provider – research, research, research your course of choice. Ask lots of questions, no matter how annoyed they get – if the answers seems vague, then ask again and again until it is clear. This is your time and your money, so don’t waste it.

    Main Uni campuses are close to, or in the city of Melbourne – so it is very accessible. Uni has good campus life (if you use it).

  47. Ryan
    | Reply

    I have waiting for my money refund since last two months and
    till now I haven’t got a penny! It’s really disgraceful I am feeling
    so disappointed by the staff service. They don’t even reply my mail.

  48. Kumar
    | Reply

    Student service is worst in the world, giving wrong information, very disrespectful way they talk to students, very arrogant and useless.

    I would not recommend any other to join this uni. If u have any enemy tell him to join this uni, this is going to be biggest punishment possible in the world.

  49. Andrew
    | Reply

    This uni is held together by some very good teachers and lecturers (accounting/law) and they are doing a very good job.
    However your uni fees will be paying for 90% of utterly useless people such as career councilors ( one year with no job in my trade and 0 help from VU). Student services loosing paperwork that might cost you enrollment and other major issues.

  50. alex
    | Reply

    I did a year at Victoria University Footscray and CBD. It’s a good university and I enjoyed my time there, making some good friends.

    The lecturers I had for accounting and other business/law related subjects were mostly good and helpful.

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