Indian students hit by college closures in Australia will be protected: Envoy

“If these education providers do close and do not meet their obligations to students, international students will be able to access the Australian Government's Tuition Protection Scheme (TPS). The TPS will seek to place affected students in an alternative course or refund any unspent pre-paid tuition fees to the students”. Further information can be found on the TPS website. “Australia is committed to maintaining high education standards and undertaking rigorous auditing of education providers”, added Varghese.

Varghese was commenting on the move by Australia's vocational education regulator, the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA), to shut down two non-compliant vocational education and training colleges in Victoria and one in New South Wales. Depending on the outcome of any appeals, the decisions take effect from 30 October and apply to all courses offered by The Ashmark Group Pty Ltd and G Plus G Global Trading Pty Ltd. Both colleges have campuses in Melbourne, Victoria. ASQA also served notice last month on the Ivy Group in New South Wales . The decisions follow comprehensive compliance assessments, including multiple site visits by ASQA officers. The ASQA audits concluded that the colleges were non-compliant with the standards that providers in Australia are required to meet in the delivery of training to domestic and international students.

“The decision to reject a training organisation’s registration is not one we take lightly but the interests of students and the integrity of training standards across the VET sector have to be upheld,” said ASQA Chief Commissioner Chris Robinson. Further details of ASQA’s decision can be found on their website.

There are over 400 Indian students enrolled at the Ashmark Group college, over 100 Indian students enrolled at G Plus G Global and a further 30 Indian students enrolled at the Ivy Group. “The institutions have the right to have ASQA’s decision reviewed which may delay or change the decision,” added Mr. Robinson.