VET & TAFE campusreview. com. au
Senate inquiry? Yes, please
Evocca College welcomes the coming examination of private higher education, as should the rest of the industry.
By Robert Gordon
As one of Australia’ s leading private operators in the VET sector, Evocca College welcomes the recently announced Senate inquiry into the funding and operation of private higher education, and we look forward to contributing. Evocca has long been an advocate of lifting the bar in the private education sector, and we have a responsibility to be part of the process, as does the entire industry.
There has been much focus in the mainstream media in recent months on a small minority of unscrupulous operators in the industry, and indeed on one high-profile failure. Unfortunately, this has served to taint the entire sector, which is a great shame, especially as the majority of operators are sound, responsible and primarily focused on delivering results for their students.
The VET FEE-HELP scheme has been a major revolution in the higher education sector in Australia. Most importantly, it has removed the financial barrier to quality education for thousands of Australians who have previously been isolated from the skills development that will eventually lead them to greater self-worth, confidence, productivity, further education and employment.
We should also not forget that many who would otherwise never have had the opportunity may now use courses and qualifications funded by VET FEE-HELP as pathways to a university degree – surely a good outcome for all involved. Indeed, in conjunction with two other VET providers, we recently finalised a program with two major universities to facilitate this, and we also have credit arrangements in place with a number of others.
The business case for a better educated society is surely a no brainer – we all know the outcomes are higher productivity, more innovation, a stronger economy and a happier, healthier population. Providing an equitable higher education opportunity to all is one of the primary reasons why the VET FEE-HELP model must be supported.
The higher education industry, of which private providers are a now large part, is also now Australia’ s fourth-largest export industry, so it’ s absolutely critical that we get it right, especially in the current climate of ongoing economic uncertainty. Let’ s also not forget that the private higher education sector itself is a major employer as well.
The federal government allocated $ 770 million towards the VET FEE-HELP scheme in 2013 – 14, and is projected to spend up to $ 1.3 billion in 2014 – 15, another compelling reason for getting behind the Senate inquiry to ensure we contribute to building a robust, sustainable and well-regulated sector. After all, taxpayers are entitled to know how and where their funds are being spent and what is being delivered for this investment.
It should be noted that the industry itself has been extremely proactive in tackling some real and perceived shortcomings in the private higher education sector, most recently with a summit held by the Australian Council for Private Education and Training( ACPET) in November last year to develop new codes of practice around the marketing of courses and recruitment of students. This draft code of conduct has already been presented to the federal government.
These issues are quite rightly within the terms of reference of the Senate inquiry, which will also examine access to public funds, regulatory regimes governing the sector, the VET FEE-HELP scheme itself, the quality of courses provided, learning requirements of students and graduate outcomes. The inquiry also intends to examine the use of third-party brokers and incidents of non-compliance.
These are all issues that we, like many others, have not only been keenly aware of but have proactively been doing something about, somewhat limiting the growth that we would otherwise have been able to achieve; our focus is on our own sustainability and that of the industry, rather than just growth and the bottom line.
Another good example of this is the decision we took 18 months ago to discontinue arrangements with 80 per cent of our brokers who were not meeting our high minimum compliance requirements. Now a broker cannot enroll a student directly into a course at Evocca and all students must pass a pre-enrolment test to ensure the course is suitable for them.
These are good examples of the sorts of recommendations we will be making when we make our submission to the Senate inquiry, along with other measures to ensure that all operators must comply with the highest standards and industry best practice.
To reiterate what ACPET chief executive Rod Camm has already stated, the industry is certainly not going to“ bury its head in the sand and pretend there isn’ t a problem with a small minority of providers”; rather, we welcome scrutiny and encourage transparency.
It seems inevitable that one of the outcomes of the inquiry will be more regulation. Whilst no one welcomes this, especially in an industry that is already highly regulated and involves myriad legislative and compliance issues, if this is what we need to ensure that we can weed out the minority of unscrupulous operators and move forward, so be it.
In all of this it must be said, however, that we should never lose sight of the most fundamental thing, which is indeed the raison d’ être for our entire industry: the business of education should primarily be about achieving superior outcomes for our students. ■
Robert Gordon is managing director of Evocca College.
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