The beauty of being an Aussie uni student is the flexibility of skipping the odd lecture or two. But it seems like the higher ups at Newcastle Uni aren’t too happy about their students wagging classes and have decided to go deep into Orwellian territory to make sure attendance levels don’t drop.
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In an email sent to Newcastle uni students (via ABC), students are required to attend 80 percent of their classes to pass and their attendance will be monitored using the uni’s app on their phone.
Uni students will be required to check-in to their classes using the app, which Newcastle uni will then cross-check by using the GPS in students’ phone to track their location. Don’t worry though as it doesn’t affect everyone, just first-year students across some 1,000 courses.
Yes, you are correct in saying that this is messed up and the higher ups at Newcastle uni need to seriously ask themselves if 1984 is the best thing to draw influence from.
Unsurprisingly, Aussie students weren’t too pleased with Newcastle uni going all Big Brother on them and haven’t been shy in expressing their thoughts about their wannabe overlords.
Education officer for the student union Luke Harrison told the ABC that it is a “gross invasion of privacy” while Kastor Morgan, a Newcastle Uni student, told Business Insider Australia that the system is not only dumb but will likely not even work properly.
“[It’s] a bit silly because it relies on GPS tracking to see that we’re in class, but from what I’ve found the GPS on most phones on campus is extremely faulty so many people will probably not be able to check into classes even when they’re in the room.”
Newcastle uni, perhaps realising that their attempts at establishing a surveillance state may not go down too well, do allow students to opt out of the app program in favour of letting them sign in with their tutor. You know, just like what we’ve done since forever.
Perhaps Newcastle uni should take a few lessons on personal space and communication because stalking its students to make sure they don’t wag isn’t the healthiest way to pump up attendance numbers.
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