{
  "id": 11103551,
  "title": "$7.55 million settlement awarded to students whose degrees were unaccredited",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/01/7-55-million-settlement-awarded-to-students-whose-degrees-were",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-01T03:56:27.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "ABC News AU",
    "slug": "abc-news-au",
    "url": "https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-01/university-of-newcastle-class-action-course-accreditation/107208452"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "The University of Newcastle has reached a $7.55 million settlement with 163 students who claimed the university engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct by running a Bachelor of Medical Engineering (honors) degree without industry accreditation. The class action, which began in 2022, was brought by lead plaintiff Andreas Sklavos, who faced an extra year of study and a $55,000 HECS debt due to the lack of accreditation. The university has since achieved full accreditation for the course, with accreditation now applied retrospectively to students who started the program from 2020.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}