A lecturer from the University of Sydney’s Information Systems (IS) department told SBS Cantonese that he received answers written in Chinese during a recent end-of-year exam.
Affirming that the proportion of Chinese answers he received from his students was "less than 1 per cent", the academic who wished not to be identified, said he received no formal instructions from the university on how to grade the answers and was only told by his coordinator to give "zero marks".
A USYD spokesperson on Friday said students are, "Not permitted to submit answers in languages other than English except where required – for example, in a language exam".
The spokesperson also said the university this year, "Did receive a very small number (under a handful) of exams that were written in Chinese".
A student sits next to the quadrangle at the University of Sydney. Source: AAP
"We believe this was a technical error caused by translation software on the students' browsers that automatically translated their English-language answers into Chinese.
"We have now translated the exams and marked them accordingly, in line with our commitment to ensuring none of our students are academically disadvantaged as a result of the pandemic."
The IS lecturer believes the university’s explanation was "just a prediction” and said the incident “reflects that some of the students admitted do not have adequate English language ability".
Dr Wei Li, a lecturer from the university’s School of Business said she had not received exam answers written in Chinese, but affirmed that her manager had advised, “Not to accept exams written in Chinese".
She agrees that a "technical error" is a plausible explanation especially considering that some international students have had to take their exams overseas due to the COVID-19 pandemic, where software used could be different from that used in Australia.
Thousands of international students have been unable to enter Australia during the pandemic. Source: Getty Images
But, according to Jack Ho*, a USYD postgraduate student who recently completed his exams, the university's explanation was "unbelievable".
He said during online exams, the monitoring program ProctorU would usually disable all browser plug-ins, including all translation tools that students might have installed in their machines or web browsers.
He believes attributing the Chinese answers to the software was “just impossible”.
Another USYD lecturer, who also wished to hide his identity, criticised the university’s practices, saying the latest incident was “unfair to other students”, especially those who have "less English competency but chose to answer exams in English".
He said students, “Being in Australia, should understand that exams must be answered in English, and universities should abide by this rule”.
In light of the incident, the USYD spokesperson confirmed the university had added additional advice to exam information for students, including to, "Check that any language translation plug-ins in your browser are disabled. Unless otherwise indicated in your exam, you will need to submit your answers in English, and only answers in English will be marked."
*Not his real name.
