Richard Morris

Richard Morris, of the School of Accounting at the University of NSW, which requires an entrance score in the top 5 percent of students, says attendance has been a problem since late 1990s. "Sometimes in lectures, we've only got about one-third of students enrolled attending, he said. It definitely is a problem. If you don't turn up to class you're missing out on the whole richness of the experience : you don't think a whole lot, you don't engage in debates with other students or with your teachers."It's not all gloom," said Professor John Dearn, a pro-Vice-Chancellor at the University of Canberra, who said the internet was transforming the way students access and use information. It is strange that despite all the evidence as to their ineffectiveness, traditional lectures seem to persist in our universities.