One of the Aspire College of Education centres that has closed after the company collapsed.
THEY signed up for courses in graphic design, business administration and beauty services, hoping to secure qualifications and jobs.
Some were lured with the promise of free laptops and iPads, while others were encouraged to enrol by the use of high-profile rugby league stars.
But thousands of students at one of Australia’s biggest private training college operators have been left with nothing but a pile of debt after the company’s spectacular collapse.
And while many were studying hard, the directors of Global Intellectual Holdings reportedly enjoyed a multi-million dollar payday — amid claims it saddled students with tens of thousands of dollars in debt for courses that only a lucky few would complete.
Students enrolled at dozens of campuses of Aspire College of Education, The Design Works College of Design, RTO Services Group and the Australian Indigenous College have been left out of pocket, and hundreds of teachers left jobless.
The colleges were placed in voluntary administration yesterday, after Global Intellectual Holdings became insolvent.
There have been claims that at least one of the colleges has employed dubious recruitment practices, including sending members of its marketing team to Centrelink to sell courses to the down and out.
Kylie Hill and former international league player Chris McKenna at the open day. Picture: Renae DroopSource:News Corp Australia
Former NRL star Petero Civoniceva was on hand to sign up new students. Picture: Renae DroopSource:News Corp Australia
Rugby League stars Chris McKenna and Petero Civoniceva were enlisted to help out at an Aspire College open day at Logan, on the outskirts of Brisbane, in June 2014.
Kylie Hill — a team leader with National Training and Development, the colleges’ marketing arm — told Quest Newspapers at the time that the players were there to promote education.
“Education by the nation is our philosophy so if anyone wants to do a course, the legends will enrol them on the day,” Ms Hill said.
In 2013, Ms Hill took her recruitment drive to social media, posting to the 97.3 FM Brisbane Fans Facebook page about free laptops, lunch and iPads.
Free laptops.Source:Facebook
Ms Hill told news.com.au she was among staff ordered to leave their offices yesterday, after three years of service to the company.
“We’re all disgusted. The community is devastated, especially the indigenous community,” she said.
“We all put our trust in them and this is what happened. It’s ridiculous, it’s embarrassing.”
She said students had been directed to the Federal Government’s Study Assist website, which administers student loans.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen with them. They should be refunded,” she said.
According to Fairfax Media, the corporate collapse came despite Global Intellectual Holdings having raked in $83 million in the last financial year, making a$17.95 million in 2015 and paying its directors, Roger Williams and Aloi Burgess, a whopping $14 million in dividends.
It’s the latest in a string of incidents that have called into question the vocational education sector.
THE PROBLEM WITH PRIVATE COLLEGES
The industry has been plagued by allegations that the private colleges that rake in more than $1.4 billion in government-funded student loans each year, are delivering questionable results.
Despite attracting four times as much funding as TAFEs and other public providers, private colleges only produced 14,400 graduates in 2014, compared with 18,400 in the public system.
And Global Intellectual Holdings is understood to have received a significant piece of the pie, raking in tens of millions of dollars of taxpayer cash as one of the nation’s largest vocational education providers.
Some private providers have been accused of exploiting vulnerable Australians, enrolling those who are unlikely to be able to complete courses.
In 2014, an Aspire College in Adelaide was forced to partially cancel the debt of an intellectually disabled man it signed up for a second course, despite the fact he had not completed the first.
The ABC reported that Lukus Whitehead had been approached outside Centrelink by National Training and Development recruiters.
Aspire College was forced to partially refund Adelaide’s Lukus Whitehead.Source:Twitter
After finding himself unable to complete a business management course, Mr Whitehead had been signed up to a diploma in digital media, leaving him with a $30,000 debt.
Aspire College chief executive Aloi Burgess told the ABC at the time he was comfortable with the actions of his marketing team, and while it may have seemed “like you’re scraping the bottom of the barrel”, he had hundreds of satisfied graduates.
But he agreed to reduce Mr Whitehead’s debt to $18,000.
Last year, the ACCC took Unique International College to court for allegedly misleading students to believe that its courses would be free, and enticing them with free laptops.
The repeated scandals in the private vocational training sector have not stopped the Turnbull government from pressing ahead with its plan to overhaul the system to force TAFEs to compete on an even keel with private colleges.
Victoria’s Labor government has seized upon this week’s debacle as ammunition in its fight to save Victorian TAFEs.
“What’s happened here with a number of colleges going under again shows the shambolic state of the Federal Government’s VET-FEE Help debacle which has turned into a multi-billion dollar disgrace,” the state’s Training and Skills Minister Steve Herbert said.
“I am writing to the Federal Minister today calling him to dispel students loans and to advise him Victorian TAFEs are ready to help students continue their training so they can get the skills needed to get a job.”
Teachers protest with then NSW opposition education spokesman Ryan Park at Campbelltown TAFE last year.Source:News Corp Australia
“The Federal Government must now clean up VET-FEE Help and take immediate action against providers taking advantage of vulnerable students, like what we have done in Victoria to clean up our training system.”
Federal Vocational Education and Skills Minister Luke Hartsuyker said affected students would be assisted to switch to another provider or receive a refund.
“The Department of Education and Training is investigating this issue and will work with the Australian Council of Private Education to assist students affected by this closure,” Mr Hartsuyker said.
“Over the course of 2015, the government put in place a number of measures to fix up the mess we inherited from Labor and to stamp out unscrupulous behaviours and control the growth in the scheme.
“As part of our reforms we announced that we would freeze the scheme at 2015 levels ahead of the introduction of fundamentally new model in 2017.
“This will allow Vet Fee help providers are free to continue doing business with the same level of funding levels they received last year.”
News.com.au has contacted Hall Chadwick, the administrator of the failed colleges, for comment.
The first meeting of creditors will be held at the Hilton Hotel in Brisbane on February 18.
dana.mccauley@news.com.au
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