Submitted by NSW Teachers Federation on 5 October 2016
In a statement headed “Good riddance to VET Fee-Help” the AEU today welcomed the federal government’s decision to ditch the rort-riddled loans scheme and called on governments to invest in TAFE.
The VET Fee-Help scheme, which saw taxpayers saddled with billions of dollars in student debts, went “hand in hand” with cuts to TAFE funding and TAFE must now be reinvigorated to ensure students have access to quality training, AEU Federal TAFE Secretary Pat Forward said.
Under the funding cuts TAFE was forced to cut courses and teacher numbers.
Ms Forward said federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham’s decision today to allow TAFEs automatic access to the new system, VET Student Loans, “is a recognition that public VET is providing high-quality courses for students while the private sector has failed to do so”.
VET Fee-Help was set up in 2012, and the decision to open it up to all private providers saw the scheme hijacked by scores of unscrupulous private providers who recruited thousands of students through false pretences for dodgy courses, offering inducements such as free iPads. These providers pocketed millions of dollars from the loans scheme.
VET Student Loans will limit access to credible colleges that will be intensively monitored, and the size of loans will be restricted.
In a statement headed “Good riddance to VET Fee-Help” the AEU today welcomed the federal government’s decision to ditch the rort-riddled loans scheme and called on governments to invest in TAFE.
The VET Fee-Help scheme, which saw taxpayers saddled with billions of dollars in student debts, went “hand in hand” with cuts to TAFE funding and TAFE must now be reinvigorated to ensure students have access to quality training, AEU Federal TAFE Secretary Pat Forward said.
Under the funding cuts TAFE was forced to cut courses and teacher numbers.
Ms Forward said federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham’s decision today to allow TAFEs automatic access to the new system, VET Student Loans, “is a recognition that public VET is providing high-quality courses for students while the private sector has failed to do so”.
VET Fee-Help was set up in 2012, and the decision to open it up to all private providers saw the scheme hijacked by scores of unscrupulous private providers who recruited thousands of students through false pretences for dodgy courses, offering inducements such as free iPads. These providers pocketed millions of dollars from the loans scheme.
VET Student Loans will limit access to credible colleges that will be intensively monitored, and the size of loans will be restricted.
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