Training watchdog has done ‘a hell of a lot’

The vocational training regulator has defended its record against criticisms of inaction over poor practices within the sector.

Vocational Education Minister Luke Hartsuyker told 2UE radio the college’s performance was ‘a disgraceful situation’.

Australia’s vocational training regulator has defended its record against criticisms of inaction after revelations of widespread poor practices within the sector.

Australian Skills Quality Authority commissioner Chris Robinson said that “far from having done nothing, we’ve done a hell of a lot”.

His comments come after the release of ASQA’s annual report, which showed it took action against nearly 100 colleges in the past financial year and notified a further 158 it intended to cancel or suspend their registrations.

ASQA has been dogged by claims it has failed to scrutinise applications for registration, ­relying instead on student and employer complaints to detect potential problems.

Despite extremely poor progression rates — as low as 5 per cent last year — ASQA took no action against one provider, Unique International College, until after July. Another provider with thousands of enrolments and more than $46 million in government-backed loans, Cornerstone Investments, has been under investigation for months with no further action.

Yesterday federal Vocational Education Minister Luke Hartsuyker told 2UE radio the college’s performance was “a disgraceful situation”. “I’ll be looking at all measures that are required to ensure students and taxpayers are protected,” he said.

RMIT adjunct professor of education Gavin Moodie said ASQA had to be a much more active regulator.

“It needs to have inspectors in the field, not only in the big capital cities but also in the regional cities where many sharp operators trade,” he said.

“The lack of integration of their monitoring and regulation (with state and federal education departments) is fundamental to the problems of unscrupulous practices of private vocational education providers.”

ASQA, which regulated 4000 training providers, audited 1399 institutions last financial year following 1512 complaints. It ­examined and closed 80 per cent of complaints received in the year to June, with 316 still under investigation.

Mr Robinson said ASQA had only recently begun to widen its approach from focusing on colleges that attracted complaints and now considered enrolment and completion figures. This culminated in action against more colleges, including Unique, now the target of a lawsuit from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission.

The regulator, which monitors education quality but not the payment of the federal government’s VET FEE-HELP loan scheme, has been criticised for inaction in the past year.

But Mr Robinson said few industry regulators had taken the far-reaching action of ASQA. “We have taken very strong regulatory action and the number of (registered training organisations) in Australia is now going down,” he said.

The chief executive of the Australian Council for Private Education and Training, Rod Camm, said clearer authority was needed. “If there is significant enrolment growth, poor completions or job outcomes the provider should be scrutinised and held to account,” he said.