Gillard cracks down on education providers after collapses rock the sector

The collapse of vocational education providers Sterling College and Melbourne International College has forced Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard to crack down on the “shonky operators” in the sector.

Gillard has announced tough new rules that will require every vocational education provider to re-register under new, tighter criteria by the end of 2010.

Gillard’s proposed changes add two new criteria which should help weed out operators who have set up training colleges with the express purpose of helping overseas students gain permanent residency by getting a qualification that the student never intends to use.

Under the new laws, providers must “have the principal purpose of providing education” and must also “have demonstrated a capacity to provide education of a satisfactory standard”.

“The message to providers is, if you’re not providing your students with a quality education in a safe environment, clean up your act or risk being shut down,” Gillard told Parliament yesterday.

“Most providers are doing the right thing, but this change will help weed out the shonky operators.”

The new Federal laws will support moves by state governments to undertake so-called “rapid audits” of providers. Gillard says these will be extended so that all providers working with international students will need to show “they have the best interests of the students at heart and not simply a profit motive”.

The collapse of Sterling College and Melbourne International College has portrayed the sector in a harsh light, with allegations of financial mismanagement, poor education standards and foreign students being ripped off.

Following those collapses, the Australian Council of Private Education and Training was forced to step in and find new places for around 600 displaced students, under the terms of its tuition guarantee arrangement.

But the ACPET is worried the reputable education providers will be caught up in the crackdown. Chief executive Andrew Smith says his organisation would like to see better policing of existing regulations rather than the introduction of a new layer of rules.

“ACPET strongly supports action against those unscrupulous operators who are doing the wrong thing. We do not, however, want students or proven performers in our industry disadvantaged by increased red tape, and we hope these changes won’t do that,” Smith told SmartCompany this morning.

“It is important to ensure that international students, along with the vast majority of international education providers that do the right thing and provide high-quality education, are not disadvantaged or put in jeopardy because of the unscrupulous actions of a minority that do not.”