IH Sydney Training Services (IH), a major provider of international education, has been placed into voluntary administration.
This news, while shocking, was expected. It wasn’t known who, but many in the sector believed the current policy environment was set to break providers. IH appears to be the first major provider in this situation but may not be the last.
The Koala spoke with Ian Pratt, The CEO of Lexis Education who said, “Even as a competitor, this news has left me devastated. Tim and Mark showed huge courage in fronting the recent Senate Hearings, and spoke for our whole sector with great integrity and honesty. Tim’s a very decent guy and a leader in our industry. He deserves better than this.
“No one takes pleasure from this kind of situation and everyone I have spoken to since this news broke has been nothing but supportive of Tim and the IH team. There’s a real anger through the whole industry at the gross mismanagement of international education by the current government and a growing sense today that it’s time for the government to stop their ridiculous posturing and communicate with the sector. I have great faith in Tim and his team to find a way through these current difficulties and emerge stronger than ever” said Pratt.
A statement was provided to the Koala by IH CEO, Tim Eckenfels, he said:
Throughout 2024, IH Sydney Training Services has been in various discussions to bring an investor or acquirer into the company. Beginning in August, after the success of our mid-year Junior Holiday Program, IH Sydney Training Services began to be seriously impacted by the effects of Ministerial Directive 107, the $1600 Student Visa fee and the uncertainty of the pending ESOS legislation. Since then, we have been working to cut all unnecessary expenses and costs, reduce our campus footprint, let go of contractors and have undertaken staff redundancies. We have been engaging in open, transparent communication with all of our creditors and have put in place payment plans when possible. On Friday, one of our creditors put us into voluntary administration.
We continue our ongoing discussions with outside providers to acquire all or part of the business. We are in discussions with the Tuition Protection Service (TPS) and there is currently no impact on our students. We will be taking decisions before the end of the work as to our path moving forward.
Students and partners that work with other IH institutions, such as IH Brisbane ALS are not affected by this.
