When the government announced an extra $38 million in October for a new integrity unit and confidential ‘tip-off line’ within the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA), the focus was said to be on “boosting ASQA’s capacity (to) enable a compliance blitz on unlawful behaviour, targeting non-genuine providers who may be exploiting international students.”
The joint media release, issued by the Minister for Home Affairs, the Minister for Education and the Minister for Skills and Training, went on to explain that “the integrity unit will work in conjunction with Home Affairs, the Australian Federal Police and other Commonwealth and State law enforcement agencies to conduct intense compliance checks on high-risk providers – ensuring a safer VET sector for all students, both domestic and international.”
The Australian’s reporting this week that “about 14 vocational education and training providers have been shut down and 70 have faced regulatory action under a government crackdown on dodgy operators” was welcome news for many in the international education sector – with expectations that most (or even all) of the providers being sanctioned would be non-genuine providers exploiting international students.
Regrettably, it appears that only one of the providers closed down by ASQA in 2023 was an international VET provider. Its registration was cancelled in August – well before the integrity unit and tip-off line were launched.
Equally regrettably, there appears to be some confusion with respect to how many providers were the subject of serious sanctions by ASQA in 2023.
The story in The Australian suggests that 26 VET providers were closed down by ASQA in the second half of 2023 (including presumably the “about 14” VET providers mentioned in the opening paragraph of the article) and that a total of “about 70 compliance sanctions, investigation or enforcement activities against VET operators” had been enacted by ASQA since the tip-off line launched in October.
Reports available in the national training database, training.gov.au, show a total of 26 RTOs had their registration cancelled in 2023 (12 in the first half of the year and 14 in the last six months). Two more providers are recorded as having their registration suspended last year.
For many years ASQA maintained a ‘Regulatory decisions table’ on its website showing details of all of the serious decisions it took. The table was removed by ASQA in April 2022 and instead details of its decisions are now shown in the national training database against each individual provider.
While it is helpful for prospective students (and their parents) to be able to see these details if they search for a provider online – it, unfortunately, means there is no longer any central record of the serious decisions ASQA takes and which providers are being sanctioned.
In the interests of greater transparency as ASQA steps up its regulatory activities, it would be good to see ASQA return to publishing details of its serious decisions in a new Regulatory decisions table, and to see more actions being taken against unscrupulous international VET providers.
Claire Field is an advisor to the tertiary education sector and a former VET regulator. To find out more visit her website.
