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Assitant Minister Julian Hill has issued a stern warning to students and agents against manipulating the system by rushing into enrolments for a graduate diploma before its deregistration, threatening to suspend providers who breach the new rules.
Julian Hill says students should be wary of anyone pressuring them to start another course while they are still completing their existing studies. Julian Hill says students should be wary of anyone pressuring them to start another course while they are still completing their existing studies.
Colleges warned ‘do not try to game’ student visas after last-minute enrolments for cancelled diploma soarPrivate colleges have issued nearly 3,000 last-minute enrolments to a diploma course that is being cancelled after allegedly being “misused” by non-genuine students, as Labor threatens to suspend providers that are manipulating new rules.into the graduate diploma of management ahead of its deregistration on 5 October, which the government says was being used by some non-genuine students to remain in the country. The assistant minister for international education, Julian Hill, said at the time the system had been “misused”.
The regulator says since the ban was announced on 4 September, more than 1,300 new enrolments had been issued and more than 1,500 students have had their future enrolments brought forward. Some immigration education agents have offered promotions for the month of September, including in WhatsApp messages and texts, encouraging students to join the course or those who have a future enrolment to study now. Several ads promote discounted course fees or a free certificate of enrolment to join immediately.
The Department of Home Affairs has issued letters of concern to several providers asking them to explain their behaviour and practices. Hill said he was prepared to use powers not previously exercised on colleges that have breached the rules, preventing them from being able to recruit new students.
“The message to providers, agents and students is simple: do not try to game this measure,” Hill told Guardian Australia. “A paper enrolment, a rushed orientation or token activity is not a licence to evade the intent of the action and curious patterns are now being actively examined. “Providers should expect any attempt to circumvent the intent of these measures to attract close regulatory scrutiny, looking at the substance of what occurred, not simply the paperwork.
” The course is taught by close to 450 institutions, has more than 15,000 current students and has more than 40,000 future students registered. More than 1,500 of those students have brought their enrolment forward. Any student who begins the course before 5 October will be allowed to complete it “where no integrity breaches are identified”.
One private college has sent immigration agents a promotion offering “attractive” commissions with same-day offer letters and confirmation of enrolment for students, with two “special intakes” on 21 September and 2 October – just three days before the course is cancelled. As part of the rule changes, students who have “packaged” a lower-level vocational course with the graduate diploma will need to enrol on to a higher-level course to meet their visa requirements.
By fast-tracking the start date of the graduate diploma, that could mean studying two courses at the same time. Hill said regulators were monitoring students whose study arrangements appeared not to be genuine, such as those studying two full-time courses at once. He warned students in “non-genuine” arrangements could put their student visa or any future visas at risk.
“Students should be very wary of anyone pressuring them to start another course immediately, particularly while they are still completing their existing studies,” Hill said.
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