Universities set to be monitored far more scrupulously by Government
Australia's universities and other higher education providers are about to get monitored far more rigorously.
From today, a new team of seven professionals will enforce stricter compliance with laws surrounding tertiary education following the creation of the Compliance and Investigations of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA).
Operating within the Department of Education and Training, the stricter scrutiny comes after a significant spike in complaints made by international and national universities.
It is hoped the team that is made up of seven professionals will offer greater guarantee to students.
Who is responsible for what?
The market of international education in Australia, which represents the second sector in terms of income for the country, has been regulated since the year 2000, when the Federal Government created specific norms and regulations to guarantee minimum standards for international students.
Nowadays there are three regulators for educational services that are overseen by the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA): the Education Services for International Students Act (ESOS 2000), the Higher Education Standards Framework (2015) and National Code of Practice for Providers of Education and Training to Overseas Students (2018).
TEQSA’s executive director Anthony McClaran told SBS that part of the role of the new team is to ensure that all students, including international students, receive a higher education of good quality in Australia.
"This team will form a vital part of TEQSA’s operations and ensure that threats to standards and quality are checked before there is harm to students or the reputation of Australian higher education," he said.
"Potential issues with higher education providers will be able to be checked, and acted upon where necessary, more quickly with this new team in place”.
McClaran warned, “the requirements of the Higher Education Standards Framework and the ESOS Act must be met at all times. Providers who fail to comply with the norms can face sanctions, which include suspensions or cancellation of their registration.”
Unlike the Ombudsman for international students who acts on individual cases only, TEQSA will be able to tackle systematic and repeated issues that affect groups of students, which can often indicate a breach of the higher education standards framework.
Even though TEQSA does not have direct oversight over education agents -- who are usually the first point of contact for international students in Australia -- these agents are controlled through the Australian education providers, given that it’s their duty to ensure that the agents comply with the norms.
“TEQSA regulates universities and schools providing higher education and it is the responsibility of the provider to ensure the agents they work with here in Australia and overseas act in an ethical and honest manner, and in the best interest of international students,” Mr McClaran said.
When complaints are not collective, students can submit their complaints individually to the Commonwealth Ombudsman who can help potential, current and former students of private schools and universities based in Australia. International students also have a specific Ombudsman: the Ombudsman for Overseas Students.
The Ombudsman can help, for example, in the cases of complaints about an administrative tariff or a reimbursement that was not agreed in the written contract signed by the international student or potential student.
Notwithstanding, the Ombudsman's office told SBS that they are only authorised to investigate complaints of student agents who have an agreement to act on behalf of an Australian school. "We do not have jurisdiction to investigate educational agents that do not have an agreement to represent a private educational provider."
If international students have any issues with agents that do not have a formal agreement to represent Australian educational providers, the students should contact their local authorities and present a complaint against the agent. When the student is in Australia, they should contact the Australian consumer affairs agency of the state or territory where the agent operates.
In all cases, potential students can access the list of student agents in each country here: https://www.studyinaustralia.gov.au/english/apply-to-study/education-agents
The Government website provides information for international students in 12 languages, including: traditional Chinese, simplified Chinese, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai and Vietnamese.
The 'Study in Australia' page is managed by the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) and also allows potential students to search for courses, institutions and scholarships.
The Ombudsman is independent and impartial, and its role isn't to defend the student or the educational provider. However, if the investigation results in favour of the student, the education provider must implement the decision or recommendation. This has been enforced by the National Code of Practices for Education and Training Providers for Foreign Students since the beginning of the year.
Anthony McClaran said TEQSA will have a regular conversation with the Ombudsman to coordinate and agree on which cases affecting international students will be taken care of by each party.
“TEQSA is also open on collaborating with international entities if there is an issue relative to an Australian-based registered provider," he added.
Complaints from international students grew by 12 per cent in 2016-2017
The international education market has become one of the main fuels that drive the Australian economy in recent years. A total of 712,884 foreigners enrolled in different educational institutions in the country in 2016 generated more than 130,000 jobs and contributed AUD $21.8 billion to Australia’s economy, according to a Ministry of Education and Training report.
With more than 22,000 courses offered in 1,100 institutions, Australia is the third biggest facilitator for international students in the world, surpassed only by the United Kingdom and the United States of America, according to Study in Australia.
The latest figures from the Commonwealth Ombudsman show a 12 per cent increase in international student complaints over the 2015-2016 period.
The Department of Education and Training of Australia explained by email to SBS that the increase in student complaints is in line with the sustained growth in the educational sector, pointing out there was also a 13 per cent increase in foreign students in Australia between 2016-2017.
Of the total of 981 complaints received, the Overseas Student Ombudsman initiated and completed 356 investigations in the 2016-2017 period. In 40 per cent of these cases, the Ombudsman settled the conflict in favour of the education provider, 26 per cent in favour of the international student and the remaining 34 per cent was resolved before the investigation was concluded. The latter of which was a result of education providers fixing the problem with students themselves, according to the latest Ombudsman report.
Ombudsman international students 2010-17 Source: Ombudsman (Australia)
The Ombudsman revealed that the main complaint received from international students related to providers' handling of refund and fee disputes, and providers refusing to allow students to transfer to a different institution.
Complaints against student agents accounted for an average two per cent of the total claims, the Department of Education and Training told SBS by email. However, the Australian Department of Education and Training said that in 2017, there was a small five per cent increase in the number of complaints alleging fraudulent actions by an individual student agent. In this instance the appropriate consumer and legal bodies were enlisted to resolve the matter.
To address the sustained growth of the international education market in Australia, the government has added more guidelines to ensure that international students receive a quality education.
The latest rules came into force in January this year: National Code of Practice for Education and Training Providers for Foreign Students.
Approved on September 4, 2017, by the Minister of Education and Training of Australia, Simon Birmingham, the code complements the legislation on Student Services for International Students, effective since 2000, better known as ESOS (Education Services for Overseas Students, 2000).
The National Code establishes 11 standards that regulate registered suppliers, which are higher education colleges, private universities, English (ELICOS), and vocational and training schools (VET). The legislation also extends to people who provide services to foreign students in Australia on behalf of those establishments, for example, student agents.
