With a series of hopeful education providers lining up to list on the Australian Securities Exchange like school children outside an exam room, the question must be asked: Do they represent an opportunity for private investors to take advantage of shifting trends in the employment and education spheres or are they simply the result of opportunistic private owners seeking to make a timely exit?

The sector is distorted by government funding, the whims of international students (and their fee-paying parents), widely varying levels of quality and a tendency for some to grow by simply gobbling up competitors.