In the face of continued uncertainty within higher education, South Australia’s business community has welcomed the Federal Government’s crackdown on rogue training providers in the vocational education and training (VET) sector.

In a week in which Education Minister Christopher Minister Pyne’s ambitions to reform the university sector were rejected by the Senate a second time, Business SA said VET changes that successfully passed through Parliament were timely and important.

The Assistant Minister for Education and Training, Simon Birmingham, said the new legislation requires people marketing a VET course to clearly identify which registered training organisation (RTO) is providing the qualification.

“This will enable the national training regulator, the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) to take action against an RTO, where they, or their marketing agent, fail to provide clear information to a prospective student about the qualification they are signing up for, where the training will be undertaken, how long the course will take, what support services are available and the costs associated with them,” Birmingham said.

He said the Government can now set new quality standards to allow swift action to be taken in response to any concerns students, employers, ASQA or the states and territories may have about the quality of VET providers or courses.

“These laws will provide better protection for students, taxpayers and the reputation of the national VET system,” Birmingham said.

Business SA director of policy Rick Cairney said “we’re pleased that the Federal Government has announced legislative changes to deal with some rogue training providers, the training system is too important to our economy and jobs growth to be jeopardised by some unscrupulous providers.”

Cairney said Business SA had long advocated for the promotion and funding of courses that lead to real employment outcomes as this not only assists potential employees in finding work but also enables employers to hire the appropriately trained employee and grow their business.

“The Federal Government has recently funded the Industry Skills Fund to the tune of $476 million with aim of encouraging small firms to use training to grow and develop their businesses,” Cairney said.

“Businesses are able to access skills advice and then potentially receive a training grant which, depending on the size of the business, can be up to 75 per cent of the training costs.

“Business SA has two Industry Skills Advisers and their role is to assist employers who meet the eligibility criteria to access subsidised funding to provide the skill sets that are required by employers.

“Good advice goes a long way, it is also important that the training sector is effectively operated and managed.”