Since late 2024, registrations of 11 VET organisations have been cancelled, voiding diplomas, certificates and statements of attainment
At least 30,000 people have lost their qualifications in the past year as the regulator cracks down on Australia’s shonky vocational education and training providers.
Since late 2024, the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) has cancelled the registrations of 11 training organisations and voided diplomas, certificates and statements of attainment that providers had issued.
Affected graduates had completed courses including early childhood, aged care to community services, disability, first aid and building and construction, with courses costing as much as $20,000.
ASQA also deregistered an additional four providers, however graduates have not yet been notified that their qualifications were cancelled, the regulator said on Thursday.
More than 144 providers remained under investigation by ASQA’s enforcement team over “serious matters”, the regulator said.
Deregistered providers included Luvium, trading as Australia Education & Career College, where more than 7,300 graduates had their certificates voided, IIET (6,800 graduates), SPES Education Pty Ltd (4,200 graduates), Arizona College (3,500 graduates) and Gills College (3,300 graduates).
ASQA said it was still considering the legitimacy of some of the qualifications.
It comes after the federal government announced $37.8m to improve the quality of VET in 2023, including a new dedicated unit at ASQA and a tip-off line.
Since 2024, about half of the 3,127 tip-offs the regulator has received were about VET providers that offer courses for international students – even though they make up just 20% of all providers.
However, just two of the 11 providers ASQA have cancelled were registered for overseas students – IIET and Gills College.
Higher education consultant Claire Field said the VET sector was eager to see strong regulatory action against non-compliant providers but cancelling student qualifications was an escalation for ASQA.
“In cases where students have been issued qualifications without doing the requisite study, they should be offered the chance to undergo an independent skills assessment,” she said.
“If they can’t demonstrate the skills required, then their qualifications should be withdrawn.”
This month, two graduate students of Sydney’s Gills College – Dikshit Khadka and Sandeep Kaur – sought to challenge the cancellation of their qualifications in kitchen management and ageing support at the administrative review tribunal.
Kaur paid between $2,000 and $3,000 in cash to Gills College for a certificate IV. Gills had its registration cancelled in November 2024 after ASQA found it had not provided the training and assessment necessary to award qualifications.
In her application, Kaur stated she was not given “adequate opportunity” to respond to the notice to cancel her qualification and may lose her “job and livelihood” without it.
The tribunal upheld ASQA’s decision in both cases.
The ASQA chief executive, Saxon Rice, said students should be wary of qualifications when marketing included phrases like “no classes to attend”, “no study or exams required”, “receive your qualification in 7 days” and “fast-tracked pathway to skilled migration”.
“Put simply, if it seems to be too good to be to true, it probably is,” she said.
The regulator noted, in its decision for Kaur’s case, that people working in aged care were providing services to “potentially very vulnerable people” and must be suitably trained and qualified for their roles.
It comes after new standards for registered training organisations came into effect at the beginning of July, described by ASQA as the “most significant regulatory reform” since its establishment. The standards, which followed four years of consultation, included stricter credentials for assessors and teachers, greater compliance requirements and engagement with industry.
Field said it was “concerning” that ASQA’s actions appeared to be targeting students and domestic providers rather than the criminal conduct of some international VET providers that had been evidenced in the 2023 Nixon review.
The review found private VET providers may be acting as vehicles to exploit the international student visa system by offering lower-level qualifications for migration pathways.
“Fixing quality problems wherever they exist in VET is important – but there doesn’t seem to be any evidence of action being taken to weed out the providers exploiting the student visa system,” Field said.
A spokesperson for ASQA said individuals could respond to notices issued before a decision is made about whether their qualifications would be cancelled, including via a merits review.
Graduates seeking refunds could contact their state or territory’s consumer protection agency.