You would think when an industry is heavily regulated, quality is upheld. Alas, that is not quite true in the ELICOS and VET education sectors in Australia. For those who don’t know the jargon, ELICOS is English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students and VET is Vocational Education and Training. ASQA (The Australian Skills Quality Authority) is the governmental department regulating schools and colleges offering VET and ELICOS courses. Yes, they are the PROTECTORS of students and GUARANTORS of high standard quality education…or so they claim.
A word to ASQA
Newsflash! You are either a big scam the aim of which is to paint a very nice picture of international education to the world or you are being scammed every single day by pretty much everyone involved in this industry. Thanks to your incompetence, both colleges and agents are having the time of their lives taking advantage of the 1 million and 10 loopholes you left in your policies, deliberately or undeliberately.
You dictate that all international students MUST attend their courses 20 hours per week and work no more than 40 hours a fortnight but then you turn your blind eye even when you see very big schools covering for those students who hardly show up in school and everyone knows they are here for work and visa. Big colleges know you all too well, so they make sure they have got the right paper work done and their figures consistent to stay in business. You are just a farce. You have nothing to offer to those students and to the industry except for empty promises and a bunch of rotting skeleton in a nice gift wrap.
A word to ELICOS schools and VET colleges
Whether you’re a VET, an ELICOS college or both, you are part of this charade. You pretend to play by the books but in reality you just play by one rule…making money, more money and more money. You do not give a rat’s ass about the students’ education as long as you get your fees and quench your thirst for maximum profit. Most of you hire poorly qualified and inexperienced teachers and trainers to justify paying low rates and to hell with the students’ career. You are a bunch of snakes.
A word to agents
You are the worst of the worst. Well some of you are. There are definitely exceptions. You do minimum work and get maximum profit. I always say I have never seen someone getting paid so much for doing absolutely nothing. You even blackmail the schools forcing them to bend the rules in return of referring students. So many students I have met telling me “my agent told me I could only come once a week”! You are the ones who should be regulated and prosecuted for continuously violating the rules.
My dear student, do your research very well before you sign up on anything and think about the time and money you’re wasting.
Leave a Reply