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Proposed amendments to the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000

July 15, 2024 by Sally Tansley

As you’re no doubt already aware, a bill to parliament is proposing amendments to the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000. These amendments were referred to the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee for review.

Earlier this month, RTO Works provided a submission to that Committee highlighting the aspects of the bill that concern us most, namely proposed s14D and Part 8 and Part 4.

The proposed s14D and Part 8 amendments suggest changes to legislation that would allow the Minister to suspend the processing of applications to add courses to a provider’s scope of registration, as well as suspend or cancel certain courses.

Our Submission Response

In our submission, we raised the concern that the s14D amendment is limiting as it doesn’t allow CRICOS providers to reposition their business to meet new skills shortages or to seize new opportunities for partnership or expansion that may arise.

We are also of the opinion that basing Part 8 on “[the course’s] value to Australia’s skills and training needs and priorities” doesn’t make sense as international students predominantly come to study in Australia and then return to their home countries. It would be unfair to say, for example, that business courses are of low value when in fact, these skills may be very important in various other countries.

Our Recommendation

Our recommendation is that these amendments are not included although we do note that unfortunately, restraint of trade measures (i.e., RTOs cannot add to scope in their first two years) are already in place through the amendments to the NVETR Act.

For us, the most concerning aspect of the legislation is Part 4, which proposes an amendment such that a provider seeking registration must have first delivered a course to “students in Australia other than overseas students for consecutive study periods totaling at least 2 years”.

Apparently, the rationale for this amendment is to “deter non-genuine providers from entering the international education sector purely for facilitating migration outcomes, to ensure that a provider is genuinely intending to deliver educational outcomes for students.” However, this proposed amendment shows a lack of understanding of international providers in the VET sector.

Many of the clients we work with were international students themselves or have migrated from overseas and they want to provide training and assessment to target groups they understand and identify with. The proposed amendment contradicts the common business practice of targeting a specific group and providing products or services to meet that group’s needs.

Our recommendation would be to remove this amendment and increase oversight of international providers by ASQA. That would be far more effective and stop this approach of the whole international VET sector from being tarnished with the same brush.

Following this submission and similar concerns from all over the industry, we’re hoping that the committee will hear our reason and recommend changes to the proposed amendments.  

Supporting Your RTO Through Change and Uncertainty

In the meantime, in this unstable time for VET, we are here to help you and guide the way forward. If you’re looking to diversify your offerings or would just like to speak to an experienced RTO consultant, get in touch with the RTO Works team to talk about new pathways, as well as our retainers and internal audits services to ensure your RTO is prepared for any scrutiny ASQA decides to throw your way.

See further information about the proposed changes here.

Review RTO Works’ submission as well as other submissions here.