Government Cracks Down and Closes 18 RTO Providers in Victoria

The government’s latest quality-improvement program has closed down 18 training providers whose quality did not meet the standards. This blitz against poor quality is attempted to bring out a confident and competent bunch of students while making employers happy.
This hunt against poor quality training, worth close to $9 million, has shown to bestow a significant impact, as observed a year after the launch, as shifty training providers are being investigated or closed down completely.
According to Steve Herbert, Minister for Training and Skills, the program has, in the last 12 months, investigated around 62 Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) and terminated the contracts of 18 of these organizations. It is estimated that over $41 million of the taxpayers’ money from Victoria is about to be recovered and $9 million worth of investments are currently being withheld. The blitz has helped to remove the substandard training providers and the VET training has regained its lost confidence. In addition, the students who are taking these trainings will have higher confidence in the quality of training they are receiving and the hiring companies will be assured of the training their potential employees are of good quality.
The government’s Quality Assurance Review last year under Victoria’s VET system resulted in the start of this blitz. The Department of Education and Training has seen to it that the list of terminated training providers has been posted in its official website for the convenience of students and people seeking training.
The blitz, however, is not the only thing the government did for quality training. It has invested around $30 million over a time period of three years that would be used to increase the quality of training provided, including keeping a closer eye and control on third-party training providers, especially high-risk providers.
The Minister stated that the government is working to stamp out the dodgy training providers out of the country and boost the confidences of all associated parties regarding the training system before a new funding system is introduced in 2017. In addition, the government is making the contracts with the training providers stricter which have come to effect this January. This contract will prevent anyone involved in the management of a training company that has its contract terminated to join another training company that is funded by the Victorian government.
Alongside weeding out poor quality training providers, the government is reported to have heavily invested in TAFE that includes a TAFE Rescue Fund of $320 million.
The government issued an independent VET Funding Review and the new proposal for this sector is to be released soon.