Australia deregisters diploma as colleges rush students in before October 5

Wider restrictions bar lower-level transfers and ban agent commissions

Private colleges around Australia are offering last-minute discounts and expedited enrollment for the graduate diploma of management (learning), a course the federal government is deregistering on October 5 over concerns it has been “misused by shonks” to keep non-genuine students in the country. Promotions circulated through WhatsApp messages, text messages, and social media in recent days have advertised discounted course fees, free certificates of enrolment, and same-day offer letters, according to Guardian Australia. One private college sent immigration education agents a promotion offering “attractive” commissions and scheduled two “special intakes” — on September 21 and October 2 — just three days before the cancellation takes effect.

The government announced the cancellation in early September, citing the suspicion that the diploma had been used by non-genuine students to maintain their Australian visas. Close to 450 institutions teach the program. More than 15,000 students are currently enrolled, and more than 40,000 are registered to begin the diploma after completing a different vocational course, the Guardian reported. Students who are already enrolled and studying by October 5 will be allowed to complete the course.

Some education migration providers are encouraging the more than 40,000 international students with future enrolments to start the course now before it is cancelled, the Guardian reported. Some of those students would need to do so, or choose a different course such as a bachelor’s or master’s with a high qualification level to maintain their visa conditions — a sequence that could mean completing two courses at the same time. Students who have “packaged” a lower-level vocational course with the graduate diploma to be completed after will need to enrol into a higher-level course to maintain their visa requirements.

One international student, who spoke to Guardian Australia on the condition of anonymity, said they had originally come to Australia to study a bachelor’s degree but unenrolled after one semester on the advice of a migration agent. They were then advised to pursue a vocational course in carpentry followed by the graduate diploma in management, a sequence that would meet the qualification level required for a valid student visa. They said they were now being told to start the diploma immediately and complete both courses at the same time. “I talked to the agent, and they told me the new rules. They want me to study concurrently, [so] I can study both courses at the same time. I don’t know if I can take this much study load,” the student said. They added that friends on the same pathway had been given the same advice.

Phil Honeywood, the chief executive of the International Education Association of Australia, supported the government’s decision and said it could put some private providers trying to loophole the system into financial trouble. “The government for all the right reasons moved to stop non-genuine international students from using this course to stay in the country,” Honeywood said. “High-quality providers will always have a place in the international education ecosystem … they would rather have these factory-type private providers out of the system for all the right reasons.”

Melanie McFarlane, the New South Wales president of the Migration Institute of Australia, distinguished between agents helping students into master’s degrees and those rushing students into the cancelled course. “Those students needing to find an alternate course, they’re being placed by, I would say, reputable agents, into a master’s degree within the same institution where that graduate diploma was otherwise available,” McFarlane said. “But then you’ve got the other side where there are migration agents who are potentially going out of business because of all the changes to the industry … and might be rushing students into that course in the time that they can.”

A migration agent who asked not to be named told the Guardian they had heard of other agents and institutions pushing students to expedite enrolment, and said the government would view such behavior suspiciously. They expressed concern that the conduct would damage the reputation and credibility of the rest of the sector. The same agent said private institutions might shift to other courses with the same visa-qualification level, such as the graduate diploma of strategic leadership, which just over 34 colleges currently teach, or the graduate diploma of portfolio management, taught by only a few.

Julian Hill, the assistant minister for citizenship and multicultural affairs, said the department and education regulator would be “closely watching student and provider behaviour.” “Students and providers are on notice that curious patterns of early commencement or new enrolments will be investigated and action taken against those doing the wrong thing,” Hill told Guardian Australia. At the time of the deregistration announcement in September, Hill had said in a statement that “the Coalition left behind a shocking mess in 2022, with unsustainably high growth in student numbers in the least reputable parts of the sector, and our high-quality student visa being degraded into a low-rent illegal work visa and misused by shonks.”

The deregistration is part of a wider Australian set of restrictions on visa misuse. The government has banned international students from starting one qualification and transferring to a lower-value qualification, which would allow them to remain in the country and work more hours instead of studying. The change would help prevent a student enrolled in a bachelor’s degree from downgrading to a vocational course. It has also banned commissions for agents transferring students between courses in Australia. From next year, Hill said, international students looking to change providers will have to apply for a new visa.