Education

Australia to crack down on sub standard visa-driven courses

Education in Australia is a business where the government constantly monitors the quality of education provided by institutions to local as well as international students. The Deputy PM and the Education Minister Ms Julia Gillard recently introduced legislative changes forcing all 1,300 registered colleges and universities to re-register under tighter guidelines.

This was done as a Federal Government crackdown on vocational colleges and universities with a move to root out unscrupulous rogue operators offering sub standard courses to international students in the visa-driven sector.

This could leave thousands of international students already in Australia looking for somewhere else to study or needing refunds as rogue operators are shut down.A rash of shutdowns by colleges that fail to meet the new standards will leave the industry having to find new places for students or footing the bill for refunds. The move is likely to be greeted with caution by the states.

To re-register under the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students, providers will have to demonstrate a commitment to education and standards. They must re-register by the end of next year.

“Re-registration of all providers is intended to restore confidence in the quality of the Australian international education sector and to strengthen the registration process by reducing the number of high-risk providers currently in, or seeking entry into, the sector,” Ms Gillard told parliament. “The message to providers is: if you are not providing your students with a quality education in a safe environment, clean up your act or risk being shut down.” (The Australian 20 Aug)

A leading student advocate and industry whistleblower, said it was “long overdue that the federal government flexed its muscles”. Though states had their own regulatory processes these were somewhat ineffective which allowed the sub standard education providers to come in, have similar rogue agents overseas and attract international students who were mainly focussed on migration to enter such courses offered at low fee structures.

He said that it is high time that state regulators, whom he blames for not cracking down earlier too are shaken up.

In the meantime the Australian Council for Private Education and Training (ACPET), English Australia (EA), the International Education Association of Australia (IEAA), the Independent Schools Council of Australia (ISCA), TAFE Directors Australia (TDA) and Universities Australia (UA) have met and agreed to cooperate to further strengthen and develop the Australian international education industry.

The peak bodies have resolved to act with common purpose to work with government around a common agenda to resolve current short-term problems and to:

* Maximise the net educational, social, diplomatic, cultural and economic benefits of international education to the Australian economy and to the Australian community

* Build community understanding and support for international education based on many decades of mutual benefits to Australia through education relations with other countries and involving over a million international students.

The country’s elite universities called on the government’s new Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency to take over the lead from the states in cleaning up the system. Prof. Margaret Gardner - VC of RMIT said the crisis hadn’t been created by the university sector or its funding. Rather, the regulators had failed to maintain sufficient oversight of the ballooning private vocational sector, which itself was the result of government allowing migration to be too closely linked to education.

She said that from 2005 to last year international enrolments at universities grew by only 12 percent, compared with a 195 percent rise among private providers. Indian student enrolments at private vocational colleges during that period soared from just 2,605 to 47,512.

“The explosion in the numbers of private vocational education providers, the paucity of facilities and resources offered by many of these new entrants and the fact that many had enrolments that were overwhelmingly or entirely international all give evidence that the issue is regulation of entry by new educational providers and more careful application of incentives for entry provided by migration regulations,” Prof. Gardner said.

New Zealand Fair a success

The New Zealand Education Fair concluded successfully at the Hilton Residence on August 30. The event showcased New Zealand’s educational opportunities and the high standards of tertiary education available at premier institutions in New Zealand.

The nine participating organizations included three Universities - the Lincoln University, Massey University and the University of Canterbury, as well as five Polytechnics and a private Training organization.

The institutions presented their study programs, while also providing information on language requirements, living conditions and other related issues of interest to the graduate and post graduate visitors to the Fair. Visitors were also accorded the facility to discuss their individual requirements in personal consultations with representatives of the diverse universities and polytechnics.

The representatives were unanimous in affirming that they were pleased and impressed by the level of student inquiries and the number of prospective enrolments obtained. Student visitors to the Fair were, in turn, enthusiastic in their commendation of the service and information provided them, and the facilities offered by the New Zealand educational institutions.

About three hundred graduate and post graduate students, many of them serious on pursuing tertiary education in New Zealand, visited the Fair. Questioned as to their reasons for pursuing higher studies in New Zealand, the student visitors said they enjoyed the challenge, excitement, prestige, and affordability of studying in the prestigious New Zealand institutions, as well as the fact that several offered specialty courses.