More than 4200 students caught up in cash-for-diplomas scheme

The cancellation of SPES Education Pty Ltd’s registration has placed doubts over the qualifications of graduates in areas including aged care, disability and early childhood education.

Some graduates working in aged care and early childhood have been asked to prove their qualifications are legitimate. Picture: iStock

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More than 4200 graduates have been asked to prove their aged care and early childhood qualifications are legitimate after a large vocational college was deregistered over an alleged cash-for-diplomas scheme.

The Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) cancelled the registration of SPES Education Pty Ltd because it had issued high-risk disability, ageing support, and early childhood education qualifications without proper teaching, assessment or qualified instructors.

These former students, who received their qualifications from the VET provider between January 2024 and May 2025, were given seven days to Tuesday night to respond to a ‘notice of intent’ to cancel their qualifications given the “potential safety risks … to vulnerable members of society” as some would likely already be working in the community.

SPES Education is also alleged to have provided fraudulent qualifications in IT and community services.

The sole listed director and secretary of the company, Mamoon Ahmed Mohammed, did not appear to reside or work at any of the three addresses connected to the company records, and the phone number listed appeared to have been disconnected.

Mr Mohammed took over the business in December last year.

One Punchbowl lessee claimed Mr Mohammed was her former roommate and that she had kicked him out some time ago.

The listed business address in Bankstown seemed to be empty when The Australian visited on Wednesday.

‘Zero tolerance’

Skills Minister Andrew Giles said the government has “zero tolerance” for dodgy providers that put students or the community at risk.

“The Albanese government is committed to strengthening the integrity and quality of the VET sector,” he said.

Mr Giles said the government had invested more than $40 million into VET integrity and that “compliance activity is surging”.

The latest round of compliance investigations by the VET regulator ended in the closure of a numerous providers with SPES Education being the largest, affecting some 4224 former students.

Another 350 students were affected at two other allegedly dodgy providers Learning Options and Nextgen Tech Institute, which provided largely management and trade diplomas.

Late last year, ASQA moved to cancel more than 7300 student qualifications connected to the Australia Education & Career College (Luvium Pty Ltd). ASQA then looked to cancel another 3400 student qualifications at Gills College Australia and another 6818 from the International Institute of Education and Training due to the colleges allegedly selling bogus qualifications.

The latest deregistrations takes the count to more than 23,000 questionable qualifications since late 2024.

More to come: ASQA

It is expected to only ramp up going forward, The Australian understands.

ASQA’s Investigations and Enforcement Team is currently managing more than 189 serious matters, in relation to the conduct of 154 providers. About 62 per cent deliver training to international students.

In a recent ASQA update in May, CEO Saxon Rice said: “More than 74 per cent relate to alleged fraud, including bogus qualifications, cash for qualifications, fabrication of assessments and evidence, ‘ghost’ colleges, funding fraud and visa/migration risks. More than 60 per cent are linked to multi-jurisdictional actions such as Operation INGLENOOK, the Fraud Fusion Taskforce, NSW Building Commission and the disruption of alleged criminal networks.”

She said the given the active investigations, ASQA would be required “ to consider the legitimacy of individual qualifications issued by non-genuine providers over the coming months”.

The Australian revealed this week that the dodgy international college run by a Rolls Royce-driving businessman, Indian-Australian property developer Rupinder Brar, who sat next to Anthony Albanese at a suspected Labor fundraising event, had “permanently” shut its website after being stripped of its registration by a federal watchdog three months ago.

There are a total of 4000 Registered Training Organisations operating across the VET sector in Australia.