Student review [#63233] for Social Work
at Western Sydney University - WSU

This university has to be one of the worst! Most of the teaching was excellent except for the fact that some tutors and subject coordinators did not have any empathy or consideration for the burnout social work students were having during a year with 1000 hours of work placements. However, the administration at this university is absolutely appalling, to the point that it made this entire experience horrible. The placement team gives you one option, and if you decline it (even for valid reasons, like that the agency is 2 hrs away) then you have to find your own – mind you, you have to find 5 options, be interviewed at all of them, AND then present them to the placement team before they ‘approve’ it. I had many friends in the Master of Social Work course who declined due to valid reasons and were forced to do this and then banded together and had to e-mail the head of the social sciences department, who luckily realised how ridiculous this was and sorted it out for them. My own experience was that I set up my own placement and the day before I started, the agency contacted me saying that the university never sent them the paperwork! The agency then said they’d have to cancel or delay my placement if they didn’t receive the documents in time. I then had to run around calling 3 different people at the university to have them sort it out. Absolutely incompetent administration teams and processes. I have recommended to everyone I know who’s looking to study at this university that they avoid it. If there are other options for you, please steer clear of this university.