NEWS campusreview. com. au
Vetting VET
A Senate inquiry into private providers will launch in 2015.
By Andrew Bracey
A sweeping inquiry into the regulation and funding of private vocational education and training providers is set to kick off in the Senate in 2015.
The inquiry’ s terms of reference, negotiated between Labor and the Greens, call for examining: private sector access to public funds; regulatory regimes governing the sector; the VET FEE-HELP scheme; the overall quality of education provided; associated learning requirements; and graduate outcomes for those completing training with private providers.
In addition, the inquiry will scrutinise marketing and promotional techniques both private providers and third-party brokers employ, incidents of non-compliance with regulatory frameworks and political
donations from private providers.
Greens senator Lee Rhiannon, led the inquiry motion which the Senate passed with cross-bench support.
The inquiry follows the Coalition Government’ s announced crackdown on“ unscrupulous or misleading behaviour by‘ brokers’ who act as an intermediary between students and training providers, as part of the new standards for RTOs”.
This comes amid industry efforts to weed out poor performing providers in the wake of Australian Skills and Quality Authority( ASQA) data released earlier this month that revealed high rates of initial non-compliance with national regulatory standards amongst providers. A separate ASQA report, released late in 2013 revealed high levels of misleading information being posted by registered training providers as well as service brokers online.
The most recent data led to ASQA and ACPET defending the sector, saying providers swiftly addressed most noncompliance issues and that action was being taken to identify and deal with a minority of firms that were ruining the industry’ s reputation. ACPET has released a draft Code of Conduct dealing with these issues for member consultation.
However, shadow education minister Senator Kim Carr said self-regulation was not the answer. Carr said regulation of the sector by both federal and state governments had failed and that urgent legislative action to tighten up laws was required.
“ I have worked in this sector for a very long time and this is not the first time this problem has arisen and we simply can’ t be put off by well-meaning expressions of regret,” he said.“ One rotten apple can spoil the whole barrel – the reputation of the entire system is at risk here. We would welcome ACPET’ s active engagement in removing unscrupulous colleges, but … this is not a matter [ that can be solved in the long term by ] self-regulation. It requires government determination to protect what is our third-largest industry.”
Rhiannon said that whilst governments continued to cut TAFE budgets, funding to private providers had remained in place without adequate safeguards to ensure organisations met standards.
“ The operation and practices of a number of these providers have been called into question following allegations of the rorting of public funds and underhanded marketing tactics that prey on vulnerable students,” she said.“ It is absolutely appropriate and sensible for the Senate to evaluate the operation of current VET funding arrangements and determine whether the system is working for the nearly 2 million VET students, the thousands of staff and the needs of the Australian economy.”
ACPET chief executive Rod Camm said that whilst the inquiry and stiffer legislation around VET regulation might help reduce problem providers – which he stressed made up a minority of the sector – industry still had a vital role to play ensuring longterm confidence in VET.
“ What we are saying is that in addition to that let’ s make sure industry has a role to play here so we can help ensure that when students – and their parents – pick a provider, there will be some guarantee of quality,” Camm said.
The proposed inquiry’ s final report will be handed down in August 2015. A first interim report to the Senate is due by March. ■
See“ Reputation, reputation”, page 20.
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