It has taken 20 years but the government is finally cracking down on dodgy training college shonks. They’re all over Adelaide. I’ve lost count how many resume clients have told me stories of woe. This edited story is from the Sydney Morning Herald.
Thousands of Australian students have been told their qualifications will be cancelled in a government crackdown following the closure of three colleges accused of issuing fake diplomas.
The regulator, Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA), said the college closures and cancellations were made in the interest of public safety because former students may be working with vulnerable people without proper training.
Over the past month, it has cancelled the registration of three colleges and issued notices of intent to cancel 17,000 students’ qualifications issued by the institutions.
The three vocational education colleges – Luvium, Gills College and International Institute of Education and Training PTY (IIET) – advertised campuses in capital cities including Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne.
The affected qualifications predominantly cover care industries and include early childhood education, disability support, aged care, community services and first aid.
The government has been vocal about cracking down on dodgy “ghost” colleges which recruit international students who come to the country to work instead of study. However, of the colleges shut down only Gills was registered to teach foreign students.
ASQA said its investigations found the three colleges issued qualifications without providing appropriate training or proper assessment.
The regulator said the decisions to cancel qualifications issued by Luvium were made in the interest of public safety and the people who “rely on appropriately qualified staff”.
“These individuals hold a variety of qualifications across individual support, early childhood education and care, community services and first aid and may be working with vulnerable people,” a spokesman said.
As of Friday, the regulator had decided to cancel 7358 qualifications, and the remaining two were still being considered.
The regulator’s spokesman said it was committed to lifting quality and integrity across the VET sector, saying there was “no place for any provider who seeks to undermine the sector or exploit students”.
He said since ASQA launched a VET hotline on October 4, it has received more than 2800 tip-offs with more than half “providing actionable intelligence”.