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THE Department of Education and Training says it is investigating complaints made by a group of Karen refugees in Bendigo about organisations they say tricked them into signing up for a diploma course.
About 50 say they have sought to withdraw from a diploma-level early childhood education course run by Churchill Education, claiming they were given either misleading or no information about it and were falsely told the course would be free.
The students signed up to the course by way of a third party provider, Treble J Enterprizes.
The students are seeking to have the $16,800 VET FEE-HELP debt they incurred by enrolling in the course reversed.
An advocate for the group, Bendigo Neighbourhood Hub coordinator Angelique Whitehouse, submitted complaints to the Australian Skills Quality Authority and the Department of Education on behalf of the group.
A spokesperson for the Education Department said it, along with ASQA, would be investigating the organisations at the centre of the complaints.
The spokesperson said there were now increased consequences for training providers who failed to comply with standards with the passing of the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Amendment Bill 2015 in the Senate on Monday.
"It provides for a new quality standard to allow for swift action to be taken in response to any concerns the Australian Skills Quality Authority may have about the quality of VET providers or courses," they said.
"The Bill allows ASQA to follow up with a registered training organisation to give 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.
"This includes any debt that may be incurred, when repayment is required and under what conditions."
The spokesperson said students could request a review if their requests for a debt to be reversed were not upheld by the VET FEE-HELP provider, providing they had successfully applied for a remission of the debt in the first place.
A Churchill Education spokesperson told the Bendigo Advertiser earlier this week that it received withdrawal forms from some students in Bendigo and was working with students to help reverse their debts.
It has also invited students to meet with four of its staff in Bendigo on March 22.
Treble J Enterprises chief executive Richard Turner has also defended his organisation's operations and said students fully understood the terms of their enrollment.
