Free lunch over: Government announces sweeping crackdown on dodgy private colleges

THERE will be no more free lunches, iPads or cash for students under a government crack down on training providers.

THERE will be no more free lunches, iPads or cash for students under a government crack down on training providers.

Vocational educators will no longer be able to offer inducements for students to sign up, run “miraculously” short courses, recruit vulnerable students or charge lump sum fees for a whole course. Assistant education minister Simon Birmingham says the dodgy practices seem to be happening on a large scale.

“All too many people are either signing up for the wrong reasons or being signed up to courses that frankly they are just not equipped to undertake,” he told ABC radio on Thursday.

“My determination is to stamp out these practices.” These ranged from offering meal vouchers, computers or tablets, or cash incentives for students, to recruiters going around retirement villages and signing people up to courses.

Senator Birmingham said the crack down would save Australian students from taking out more than $16 billion in unnecessary or dubious loans over the next 10 years.

Some of the changes will be made by regulation and come into effect from April 1, while others will need legislation passed through parliament.

Senator Simon Birmingham says dodgy practices are happening on a large scale.

Originally published as Free lunch over: Government announces sweeping crackdown on dodgy private colleges