International education providers to be the focus of regulatory scrutiny
Providers of international education have been put on notice that they will be the target of greater scrutiny under an updated regulatory strategy from the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA).
ASQA Chief Commissioner Mark Paterson said the agency has seen strong growth in the number of training providers seeking registration on the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS).
It will now undertake a strategic review of the delivery of VET and English language courses to overseas students, aimed at identifying what it describes as “good provider practice and potential areas of risk to overseas students and Australia’s reputation…”.
It will also review training providers offering assessment-only services to offshore students in a number of target countries including China, India and the UK.
A second broad area of ASQA’s crackdown will focus on trainers and assessors, including the delivery of the Certificate IV Training and Assessment (TAE).
“This continued scrutiny will apply to both RTOs currently delivering training products from the TAE Training Package and to any RTOs seeking to deliver these training products for the first time,” ASQA says.