- Type:
- Private
- Established:
- Website:
- www.acap.edu.au
- Grading system
- Location:
-
Level 5, 11 York Street
Sydney
New South Wales
Australia - Phone:
- 61 02 9964 6332
I'm just about to start my final year of my Bachelor of Psych Science and so far it's been a fairly positive experience. As someone who has to work full time, the flexibility of class times and exam dates in particular has been a massive help. While I have seen a fair few negative reviews regarding the lecturers and tutors here, so far most of the lecturers and tutors I have had have been really great (with maybe one or two tutors in MULT units that I wouldn't rate highly). I do understand what a lot of people are saying, however, about the overwhelming use of recycled powerpoints and lack of updated teaching resources. Though this has, for the most part, been supplemented by knowledgeable tutors and engaging class discussions. What I WILL say is...I really wish I had checked the course fees before I'd applied. My partner actually completed their Grad Dip with ACAP and had a positive experience, which led me to enrol as well *without checking the course fees*. This was definitely a mistake. While I don't share many of the complaints of others here, I don't think the level of teaching/amenities/support at ACAP get anywhere near justifying the cost of studying with them. A full time study load costs almost $9k a TRIMESTER. The ACAP Psych Honours year costs almost $35k (for 2025)...which is OBSCENE considering honours years at other universities are at most between $9-9.5k. This obviously means that I am now in much more debt than I ever thought I would be because I didn't even think to check before enrolling (not that it's made super clear anyway). That being said, as a high-achieving student, I haven't experience any of the kick-back from the academic staff other people have described. Nor have I seen or experienced any tutors/lecturers pushing their own agendas or punishing students for sharing their opinions (though maybe I've been lucky so far not to have had any students with problematic opinions in any of my classes).
I would not recommend this uni to anyone in the world. It is tragic it even has human services as the staff do not care about your wellbeing.
If you are an Australian citizen or an international student seeking to improve your English at a higher level, I do not recommend attending this institution. The institution accepts international students without proper vetting, leading to a situation where many students are not proficient English speakers. This compromises the learning environment. Furthermore, I've encountered the worst grading system in my academic experience at this institution. Despite studying at prestigious universities and other national institutions in Australia, I have never received such poorly grounded research feedback as I have at this institution. When I raised concerns and appealed the grading, the initial response was dismissive, and subsequent communications did not thoroughly address my specific complaints. There has been no response following my most recent communication. At this time, I have reported this matter to the ombudsman in Victoria and am considering taking legal action to seek a refund of my tuition fees. If the institution addresses and rectifies my concerns, I will consider cancelling my report to the ombudsman and the legal process regarding my tuition fees. And further, remove this comment here.
The cost of attending ACAP is only the tip of the incompetent iceberg. This is an example: a week before a trimester started my dad passed away. Unfortunately I couldn’t continue with my FT study and opted to drop one subject. I had missed the census by a week and so they really put up a fight when I tried to lower my study load. They didn’t care. They only cared about the money they were bringing in. Besides this, I feel their graders are very unfair and to challenge is needlessly complicated. My advice is: just go anywhere else. Spend you money elsewhere. Anywhere has to be better than ACAP, and I wish someone had told me that initially.
It's interesting that there are so many bad reviews and instead of ACAP learning from this and doing better, they just try to cover up their sins by posing as students and doing a good review. They lie about their teacher's qualifications, they give one word feedback to essays, they won't spend money on a decent campus - you know like ventilation... pretty sure that's a health and safety issue that's reportable. The support staff are actually quite good, but any good lecturer leaves as soon as they can. Don't enroll and don't refer, they are expensive and they on top of all this, if you do anything to stand up for yourself, they will gaslight you till you think you've lost your mind and you did something wrong to deserve the bad treatment...
There is validity to every bad review on this page. The courses are expensive and worthless. The lecturers write one word or two word feedback for your assignments, they lie about what they do in class with the students. Some of them lie about their qualifications and then when you complain about anything, they gaslight you. Save your money, your dignity and your sanity. Any of the good reviews written here are 100% lies written by staff members of the college.
I enrolled myself in the counseling course the 17th of October 2023 hoping that some of the previous reviews/feedbacks I saw online had been improved by ACAP. I am now on week 6 and things are just getting worse every week. You call asking for help and they don’t know the answer and I mean NO ONE. You send emails, voicemails, etc. They NEVER get back to you. As far as the learning process I haven’t learned anything, they want you to read endless documents and watch videos then submit assignments but the teachers just don’t teach you or explain anything I am very frustrated with ACAP and as soon as my first trimester is over I’ll withdraw. DO NOT MAKE A MISTAKE ENROLLING WITH ACAP THEY JUST WANT YOUR MONEY AND YOU GET NOTHING IN RETURN.
Sadly, the ACAP, tries to impress with a Website and Moodle that is pretty and seems functional, but it is all smoke and mirrors. This is becasue behind the illusion is an imbalance of bad to good administrative and academic staff. You will be welcomed with open kindness and then completely forgotten about. Sadly, it an experience that has turned me off any more education im Australia There is bullying, discrimination and every class I took, spoke of how they enjoyed their lecturers but said administrative staff lacked professionalism and training. Sad
I recently enrolled in the Master of Counselling and Psychotherapy. I withdrew due to dubious teaching standards. I had previously received my PhD in another field and was embarking on a career change, but have since transferred to a university. I feel that for the price charged, ACAP is currently delivering a subpar education. This is unfortunate, as I have known many people who have graduated from ACAP in years gone by and they speak of an entirely different educational experience. It seems that the institution was once held in far higher regard.
As both a staff and a student (why wouldn't you?), I find working and studying at ACAP very engaging. As a staff member, all my colleagues care about the student's journey and provide individualised support when necessary. I regularly speak to students so don't get stuck with automated message as in other tertiary institutions. As a student, I'm provided with teachers that know their "stuff". Having studied in a large university previously, I was always surprised by how outdated the information was - not at ACAP. Its about current and recency. Its about practical and applied information - its in their name. Very happy to be a part of ACAP.