The Australian | 17 October 2014
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Coming on the back of regulatory issues in Victoria, the ASX-listed education provider Vocation has appointed former ACPET chief Claire Field to head an independent committee to provide oversight over the company’s compliance with regulatory standards.
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Vocation disclosed in late August that the Victorian Department of Education was reviewing two of its training organisations, Bawm and Aspin, which together account 
for a significant portion of the group’s revenues.
Mark Hutchinson, Vocation’s managing director, told the company’s recent annual general meeting the review had negatively impacted enrolments in Victoria.
A number of former employees and others in the sector have said the company had begun to shed contractors in anticipation of the findings of the review.
However, the company said it was merely shifting to in-house trainers, and continues to maintain the review is not unusual, despite being under way for months.
The new oversight committee will “provide guidance and advice on quality and compliance to Vocation’s registered training organisations and higher education providers.
Field said the body would be “a model for governance”, and will be joined on the committee by Neil Edwards and Ann Doolette, both with substantial experience in the sector.
Shares in the company, one of Australia’s largest private education providers, have shed more than a third of their value following speculation about the withdrawal of Victorian government funding.