Students bemoan course shift
Harriet Alexander Higher Education Reporter
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- g% e) u0 T) x5 g. i) P( M# a1 [January 23, 2008
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, N- u6 @ c2 |: a9 }A PRIVATE college is understood to be under investigation after students who had been promised places in commercial cookery courses were funnelled into business classes after they had paid their fees.
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Global College, which is popular among international students because it offers courses in skills shortage areas that give them priority for permanent residency, is understood to be under investigation by the Federal Department of Education.
; `+ W% J# Z! s7 i/ M0 FAbout 200 students are estimated to have paid a $4900 deposit to study in a hospitality course, specialising in commercial cookery, at the Pitt Street campus, only to find they were enrolled in business management when they confirmed their enrolment with the college.
& [$ [4 t2 k' i" w# V9 n, dThey were told the commercial cookery course was overenrolled and they had been put on a waiting list. But months later they still did not know how long it would take or whether they could transfer.
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The college teaches commercial cookery to about 1000 students and has applied to the NSW Vocational Education and Training Accreditation Board for approval to teach another 500.
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A Bangladeshi student, Al Razi Khan, said he had wasted a third of his 12-month student visa on the unfinished course. He planned to leave and go to TAFE instead. "We can't waste our time," Mr Khan said. "I don't have any interest in business management. It's not fair."
* R6 {) [* X0 Q: e3 y7 AThe college has agreed to refund $2400 of his deposit.
( n$ c1 l9 C& H4 g& yThe Government gives more points towards permanent residency for studying in commercial cookery than business management.
9 n) c2 n) w$ j+ }$ F# XGlobal College's operations manager, Omar Hong, said students were informed from the beginning that they would not get places in commercial cookery and hinted that they might have been duped by the education agents who enrolled them.
* ~5 B$ ?+ I# k5 bAn immigration agent, Karl Konrad, said it was not unusual for colleges to enrol students in courses they had not agreed to pay for, but this was the largest case.
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The Department of Education declined to comment.
2 @- L+ v5 _, Z* vhttp://www.smh.com.au/news/national/students-bemoan-course-shift/2008/01/22/1200764264519.html
