One of Australia’s largest education and training provider groups has suspended operations, affecting some 15,000 domestic and international students and 1,000 staff.
Careers Australia Group, which operated 11 education organisations around Australia, entered voluntary receivership last week after it was refused access to the new VET Student Loan scheme earlier this year.
It was cut off on the basis that it failed to meet the required standards in three areas: financial performance, management and governance and student outcomes.
“We do not currently have sufficient funds available to allow us to continue trading on a ‘business as usual’ basis”
Denying access to the loan funding “has materially impacted the group’s operations”, PPB Advisory, the appointed administrator, said in a statement.
All operations were suspended on May 25 as PPB Advisory began an “urgent assessment” of the group.
“Due to the group’s financial position at the date of our appointment, we do not currently have sufficient funds available to allow us to continue trading the group on a ‘business as usual’ basis,” PPB administrators David McEvoy and Martin Ford wrote to affected students.
PBB is now working to help students transfer to other providers so they can complete their courses.
Two of CA’s providers, the Careers Australia Education Institute and the Australian School of Management, were facing potential legal proceedings after audits undertaken by quality assurances agencies uncovered several breaches of standards.
The Australian Skills Quality Authority had finalised its audit of Careers Australia Education Institute and was undergoing a legal review of the evidence gathered when the group entered administration, an ASQA spokesperson confirmed.
ASQA, which maintains quality assurance within the VET sector, will temporarily suspend this review as a result of the company going into receivership, they added.
Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency, however, will continue its investigation of ASM.
“ASM was, and continues to be, under investigation for breaching requirements of the Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold Standards) 2015,” a TEQSA spokesperson said, adding: “TEQSA had imposed conditions on ASM’s registration early this year, however this decision is currently subject to an application for review in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.”
Careers Australia Group’s closure follows last year’s collapse of AIPE, another of Australia’s largest private providers, shortly after the scrapping of the VET-FEE HELP scheme was announced.
Rod Camm, chief executive of the Australian Council for Private Education and Training, called for further collaboration in the sector to tackle further issues.
“Closures are damaging the industry and we are all working hard to address that. Vocational education in Australia is still of the highest quality and only through the joint efforts of industry and government can we address all of the issues,” he told The PIE News.
Students affected by the closure can continue their studies at a different provider or recoup unspent tuition fees through the TAFE Directors Australia’s tuition assurance scheme, for domestic students, or the Tuition Protection Service, for international students.
