Launch of new body to clean up Australian VET-lattestnews24

Australian VET QVET, a non-profit membership organisation, is soft launching this August, with providers going through a rigorous quality audit before being admitted to the group.

The organisation’s founders, Vivek Sharma and Jonathan Marshall, are currently working with a core group of roughly 40 providers from different states and aim to build QVET’s membership to over 1,000 providers by 2026.

“QVET membership is open to everyone, but qualified auditors will audit providers with the same rigour and depth as the national regulator, ASQA. Once we are satisfied and they are admitted as members, that’s where their journey starts,” Sharma told The PIE News.

“Audit-based membership entry itself sets us apart because no one does it in the industry… but we wanted to change that,” said Sharma.

Troy Williams, chair of the Independent Tertiary Education Council Australia, which represents private VET providers, maintained that: “Not every institution can meet ITECA’s rigid membership criteria; however, those collaborating with others under the community of practice that ITECA provides share approaches to quality, innovative teaching approaches, and best practices when it comes to student welfare.”

Once providers are admitted as members to QVET, they will start on their quality certification path, benefitting from tools, workshops and one-on-ones to improve their services and become certified.

“It’s not just about ticking boxes to reach the regulatory compliance… it’s about a change of mindset and we want to instil in them a culture of quality,” said Sharma.

“We have designed a new framework which incorporates all the existing standards and goes some level above to encourage and promote quality practice, and the providers that we talk to are searching for this and understand that it is automatically good for productivity.”

It’s about a change of mindset and we want to instil in them a culture of quality

Vivek Sharma, QVET

Alongside QVET’s quality endorsement and member services, it aims to be a collective voice of the sector to lobby the government and protect the rights of its members.

“There’s been no consultation with the private sector at all about recent legislative changes… There’s been so much negative publicity, but providers don’t know who to talk to or how we can separate the good providers from the bad providers,” said Sharma.

Stakeholders have raised concerns about insufficient VET regulation allowing bad operators to flourish and eroding public confidence in the sector.

“The fact that the national regulator ASQA has been unable to distinguish between Australia’s quality VET providers and those with deeply unethical practices, who’re often just masquerading as offering training, is deeply problematic,” VET expert Claire Field, former head of ITECA’s predecessor, ACPET, told The PIE.

“What we are dealing with now is not just poor practices such as a provider not having the newest equipment for students to use or not having the most engaging online content – what we have seen is criminal behaviour, which is much, much more serious.”

“While establishing and running a membership organisation is not an easy task, those providers wanting to come together to lift quality in the sector by setting rigorous benchmarks are to be applauded and hence I wish those working on the new QVET agency all the very best,” said Field.

According to its founders, QVET has held focus groups, engaging with small and large providers, as well as ASQA and government ministers. It hopes to hold a national conference for all levels of the sector to convene annually.

“It will be something very unique and something very disruptive to the sector … I know it’s a big task and a big challenge for us but eventually the organisation will run itself, it’s a public company and it will be a self-propelling organisation,” said Sharma.

According to an ASQA spokesperson, the regulator has been undertaking “compliance blitzes focussing on unlawful behaviour, including targeting non-genuine providers that may be exploiting international students and the visa system”.

“While it is pleasing to see ASQA, in its new risk priorities for the sector now committed to weeding out these criminal operators, up until recently they had identified issues such as too much online learning and the transition to new Training Packages as the key risks facing the sector,” said Field.

According to ASQA, the national regulator has issued a higher number of sanctions in the past 12 months compared to previous years, and is encouraging the education community to report any concerns about VET providers to the body.