8 December 2015 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… ACPET's Rod Camm expresses dismay over the raft of changes in relation to VET FEE-HELP legislated last week -and fair enough, too, because the blameless will be collateral damage in cracking down on the utterly blameworthy rorters. But Camm also poses the question that has occurred to most VET sector participants and observers: how could this have been allowed to happen? He answers the question thus: Without....checks and balances this could only mean Government has been approving this phenomenal growth, in a relatively small number of public and private providers, … [Read more...]
Vocation collapses entirely
01/12/2015 by
Fairfax Media | 1 December 2015 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… Less than a week after going into voluntary administration, ASX-listed education and training services company Vocation has been closed down, leaving 150 of its 180 employees without a job and more than 10,000 students in limbo. …………………………………………………………………………………….......…… In a statement released to the Australian Securities Exchange after 5pm on Monday 30 November administrator Peter Gothard of Ferrier Hodgson said the company's operations had ceased immediately. Please be advised that as a result of further customer contract terminations, the lack of available liquidity to fund operations and the lack of … [Read more...]
ACCC hits up Phoenix for $106 m
26/11/2015 by
Fairfax Media | 25 November 2015 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has accused leading VET provider Phoenix Institute of false, misleading and unconscionable conduct and is seeking recovery of $106 million in Commonwealth funding through VET-FEE HELP. …………………………………………………………………………………….......…… The ACCC launched legal action in the Federal Court on 25 November 2015 alleging: Phoenix represented to prospective students that they would receive a free laptop and that the course(s) were free or were free if the consumer did not earn approximately more than $50,000 per annum. In fact, the laptop they received was on … [Read more...]
Venting about VET
25/11/2015 by
Disheartened, disillusioned and downright angry ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 25 November 2015 | An RTO operator, who wishes to remain anonymous (fair enough), laments that the reputable "sprats", such as herself, are being caught up in the net intended to catch the "sharks" in the VET ocean. …………………………………………………………………………………….......…… I'm writing this article because I need to vent. The vocational education and training sector is so backwards sometimes and it just doesn’t need to be this way. Everyone’s quite familiar now with the tales of rorting and depredation on the part of some providers but this is a multi-faceted story so let me put it from another side. Now … [Read more...]
ASQA gets the thumbs up – despite an apparent crisis
16/11/2015 by
16 November 2015 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… A survey commissioned by the national regulator, the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA), reveals an apparent “thumbs up” by stakeholders for its work on deregulation and slashing redtape. Meanwhile, in the real world, there’s a sense of crisis in the VET sector, as reported by Fairfax Media (below). And the Senate has established an inquiry into the Higher Education Support Amendment (VET FEE-HELP Reform) Bill 2015 to examine measures proposed to protect students from unscrupulous training colleges. It follows the government’s blocking of Labor amendments to establish a VET Ombudsman and to create a legislated … [Read more...]
NCVER report reveals lack of scrutiny of VET sector
16/11/2015 by
TDA News | 10 November 2015 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… Data released by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) show the continuing fundamental role of TAFE, as the public provider network, but also demonstrate a worrying failure in scrutiny by policy makers, according to TAFE Directors Australia. …………………………………………………………………………………….......…… The NCVER report Total VET students and courses 2014 reveals the huge growth in the VET sector to 3.9 million students – almost three times the number in the higher education sector. The data also show: TAFE and private providers deliver roughly the same number of training hours nationally (41% by TAFE … [Read more...]
TAFE Directors Australia – Newsletter Newsletter 28 September 2015
28/09/2015 by
In this edition Commonwealth takeover of VET would hurt TAFE, federal opposition says Tasmania to invest in skills for seasonal industries Canberra Institute to deliver technology courses in India Students planning class action against Evocca College Book now for Australian Training Awards TAFE teachers battle out prestigious language, literacy and numeracy award TAFE study tour to Singapore and South Korea Australia-Pacific Technical College seeking country manager for Papua New Guinea Diary Dates Commonwealth takeover of VET would hurt TAFE, federal opposition says The federal government’s proposal for a Commonwealth takeover of … [Read more...]
