Over 23,000 students learn their qualifications are worthless as ‘shonky’ colleges cancelled

New figures from the Australian Skills and Quality Authority show more than 25,000 qualifications issued to students by dodgy providers have been cancelled.

More than 23,000 students have been stripped of their qualifications, with Skills and Training Minister Andrew Giles (right) blaming the explosion of dodgy providers.

More than 23,000 students holding bogus diplomas in child care and mental health to engineering have been stripped of their qualifications as the federal government continues its crackdown on shonky private colleges.

The latest figures from the Australian Skills and Quality Authority (ASQA) show more than 25,000 qualifications – including statement of attainment certificates – issued to students have been cancelled.

The qualifications were issued in child care, health, training, engineering without adequate assessment or training having been undertaken with concerns students have used their certificates and diplomas to get a job in the relevant sector.

The latest action comes amid heightened scrutiny in the child care sector following recent cases of alleged abuse by workers.

Many of the actions have been the result of tip-offs made on confidential ASQA hotline set up in October 2023 with more than 5000 phone calls logged to date, with investigators in the ASQA integrity unit managing over 200 serious matters in relation to the conduct of more than 150 providers.

Skills and Training Minister Andrew Giles blamed the explosion of dodgy providers in the vocational education training sector on a decade of under-resourcing and deprioritising ASQA by previous governments.

Since the Albanese government had injected $40 million into the sector, compliance activity had surged, he said.

“For a decade, ASQA was under-resourced and deprioritised, and the VET system was left to drift,” Mr Giles said.

“The Albanese government has changed that, investing more than $40 million to strengthen VET integrity since we were elected – and compliance activity is surging.

“The cancellation of more than 25,500 shonky qualifications is evidence that what we’re doing is working. I want to encourage anyone with any concerns about a provider to pick up the phone and call the ASQA tip-off line.”

Skills and Training Minister Andrew Giles urged people to dob in dodgy providers. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The Saturday Telegraph revealed in November last year ASQA’s de-registration of Luvium College for issuing qualifications “without appropriate training” or competency -based assessments by qualified assessors, resulting in more than 7000 students being told their “qualifications” were worthless.

Another seven fake colleges have been struck off since then, including Arizona College – also trading as the Invention Academy – which ASQA deregistered in June shortly after a compliance investigation.

In a public notice on its action, ASQA said the “urgent action” was necessary given the “significant issues” it had identified during a compliance investigation “and the potential safety risks to impacted individuals, others in the workplace, and some of the most vulnerable members of the community”.

It has urgent students with certificates or diplomas from nine courses, ranging from “youth work”, “mental health”, “ageing support” and “disability” to provide evidence of having undertaken study, such as assessments, marked assignments and exams.

Other colleges struck off since last year also include Learning Options – also trading as Contract Me Pty Ltd – which offered certificates and diplomas in management, auditing and training.

The Nextgen Tech Institute – formerly known as the Australian Learning Academy and also Qualify Now Pty Ltd – has also been deregistered, with ASQA contacting students who obtained certificates in heavy commercial vehicle mechanical technology, engineering, training and assessment and statement of attainments in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and first aid affected from the college.

SPES Education Pty Ltd – which issued qualifications in early childhood education and care – has also been deregistered, as has DSA Ventures Pty Ltd – which also traded as the Australian Academy of Elite Education.

Affected students from the Academy hold a variety of qualifications and/or statements of attainment across building and construction related areas.

To ensure students holding qualifications from any of the cancelled colleges are afforded procedural fairness, ASQA invites those affected to provide a response detailing their training before a decision is made to cancel their qualifications.

Originally published as Over 23,000 students learn their qualifications are worthless as ‘shonky’ colleges cancelled