How can I get my money back from Macquarie University in Australia? They misrepresented their program?
I
signed up for a Master of Commerce at an Australian university in
Sydney. They lured me in with their sales office they had in my country
and were telling me how great the program is and what it would do for
me. I was considering an MBA before, but then went for the Master of
Commerce as I figured it's cheaper and still a Masters. Plus, the school
appeared to be really good and they were telling me about the high
salaries people get once they complete the program.
I just started the program now, but realized that I have been completely
lied to by their sales office about many things. The most surprising
thing to me is that there are virtually no Australians in the program,
but just people from China, India and a few Europeans. These people
don't know any English at all (I have no clue how they got accepted) and
I'm forced to write all reports for them in the group. In addition,
most of the tests are comprised of essay questions (not MC) that get
graded by their PhD students. But these students are not from Australia
either and don't speak much English.
I know that this might all sound ridiculous, but that's really how it
feels. I have been told by students that they did not fulfill the
requirements in order to get accepted by the school, but their sales
office (it gets funded by the Australian university system) helped them
with their documents or did not even require a TOEFL exam.
I seriously thought that I would go to school with students of a high
caliber and could make connections for life. Now I have just learned
that most of the students there just want to improve their English or
are doing an exchange semester. The Australian schools like to get those
students in and lower the admissions standards as they earn a lot of
money with them. It seems that they even prefer them over their own as I
do not have any Australians in my program.
I have been told before by their sales office that the school has
excellent connections to employers in Asia and offers a lot of services.
I have always been told that I can't contact the school directly and
have to go through their sales office in my country. Australian schools
are also not very transparent. They do not list the salaries of
graduates, the amount of graduates that find a job upon graduation or
the mean age of their students.
I realized what a scam this program is and don't think that anything at
that school is assessed in a fair manner. However, the school told me
that I am not entitled to obtain a full refund even though I just
started and feel that they misrepresented their program. I probably lost
more than 10k on this joke in total now. Money that I want back. How
can I possibly pursue this matter in Australia? I know that the schools
will give you the money back in my country. The problem is that all of
these claims have been communicated to me verbally by their sales
office. The schools never allow you to contact them personally.
Btw, I researched questions on here and saw that there were apparently
other people who have complained about similar issues before.
Studying Abroad - 1 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
Your
question posted on Yahoo! Answers has been referred to the Faculty of
Business and Economics Graduate Centre (BEGC) at Macquarie University.
Our office would be grateful if you could contact us directly on +61 2
9850 1060 or email us at fbe-begc@mq.edu.au so that we can make an
appointment for you to speak to our staff to ensure that we fully
understand the issues you have raised. This will enable us to respond
accordingly. Alternatively, please advise the office of your contact
details and we can follow up directly with you.
