The headline of the Minister for Skills and Training, Andrew Giles, announcement this week that it had axed “over 150 ghost colleges” was picked up by the mainstream media and run with, including headlines like:
Australia’s ‘ghost college’ crackdown: Hundreds of providers shuttered or warned
‘Ghost college’ crackdown over no student training
‘Ghost colleges’ closed in tertiary sector overhaul
Nearly 300 ghost colleges shut down or shown yellow card amid Vocational Education Training crackdown
Twelve months ago, almost to the day, The Age broke a story about education providers in the Melbourne CBD enrolling students on a student visa, without delivering any training. These colleges were termed ‘ghost colleges’ as ‘students’ were using their student visa to work full-time, and the colleges were not requiring them to attend class.
As we fact check the government’s claim that it shut down over 150 ‘ghost colleges’ we find that what the government means it that it has closed ‘dormant’ vocational education and training providers. That is, Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) who have not delivered training for 12 months or more.
In conflating dormant providers with ‘ghost colleges’ the government has leant into its ‘anti-private VET’ stance, with the quotes attributable to the Minister in the media release being:
“The Albanese Government is calling time on the rorts and loopholes that have plagued the VET sector for far too long under the former Liberal and National Government.”
“We’ve weeded out and shut down over 150 dormant operators, and 140 more have been given a yellow card.”
“Under our Government, there is no place for anyone who seeks to undermine the sector and exploit students.”
Something that isn’t provided in the media release is how many (any?) of these dormant providers were found to be rorting or exploiting students, or indeed, ‘ghost colleges’ as coined by The Age. It was a missed opportunity of the government to provide actual numbers of ‘ghost colleges’ that have been closed one year on since The Age’s exposé, or details of what exploitation has been uncovered.
What is worth noting from the media release, other than that 150 dormant providers have been shut down, was that there are 140 providers who have also received a warning notice from ASQA and must resume training by the end of 2024 or face deregistration.
An example of not letting the facts get in the way of a good headline.
