A month into the childcare safety crisis the Australian Skills Quality Authority is “seeking to better understand,” the quality of training at institutions it regulates.
The authority wants to know student numbers and assessment details for certificate and diploma courses in early childhood education.
ASQA adds information “will not be used as “evidence for any regulatory decisions” it may follow-up on “any significant concerns.”
It follows apparent effort to increase awareness of its work, with recent announcements of cancelled qualifications at multiple colleges. The Authority’s new corporate plan also warns, “non-genuine providers and bad-faith operators … seek to exploit the system by enabling unqualified people entry into critical roles and defrauding government funding through VET and other social service programs.”
That ASQA is acting will cheer the HE community no end. Most universities were collateral damage last year when the government capped international student numbers, responding in large part to community concerns that some VET providers cover for intending migrants who pretend to study when they are working full-time.
But it is not especially newsy news. The training regulator received $33m in October ‘23 to improve compliance with study-requirements and its 2024 annual report pointed to investigations of 140 providers, mainly in the international market. Most related to alleged fraud, including bogus qualifications, cash for qualifications, fabrication of assessments and evidence, non-genuine providers (‘ghost colleges’), funding fraud and visa/migration risks.
ASQA now promises its Integrity Unit will “protect the public” with more of what it already does, including;
- its in-place “tip-off line”
- “intelligence, analytic and investigative capacity”
- participation in the Fraud Fusion Taskforce (“combating alleged criminal activities necessitates the sharing of information and intelligence across agencies.”) ASQA also participates in the Australian Border Force’s Operation Inglenook, “strengthening immigration compliance and integrity.”
- “rigorous” scrutiny of applications to set up colleges focused on “phoenixing”
“The activities of our Integrity Unit will continue to send a clear message that threats to the quality and integrity of VET will be met with decisive action,” is the message.