Recent training provider collapses have left regulators drowning in paper - truckloads of it.
With no requirements for trainers to keep up with this newfangled internet thing and keep electronic records, staff at the Australian Skills and Quality Authority face trawling through stacks of papers as they deal with the collapse of the Australian Careers Institute, which was placed into administration in February.
Chief commissioner Mark Paterson says there were particular issues associated with the collapse of the Sage Institute - owned by the Australian Careers Institute - that made it challenging for his agency and students.
"They (Sage) have provided to us 2500 boxes of hard-copy student records," he told senators on Wednesday.
"That's about three-and-a-half semi-trailer loads of paper records being delivered to us that we then need to go through."
Mr Paterson estimated it would cost ASQA $300,000 just to work through the records.
"It may well cost us more than that to be able to provide detail to the individual students," Mr Paterson said.
Students need the records if they want to transfer to another trainer and be given credit for their prior studies.
The collapse of Sage also left students in an unusual position because it offered an accredited course - one not available at any other institution.
But Mr Paterson said if students were looking broadly for a fitness qualification, while the specific course Sage offered was not available elsewhere, other providers did have similar programs.
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