Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women's Issues) Share this | Hansard source

in reply—We have before the House this evening for consideration two bills to amend the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000, the ESOS Act. The ESOS Act and its complementary legislation represent international best practice in the regulation of education and training delivery to overseas students. The growth of the industry to date is in no small part due to the effectiveness of this regulatory framework. However, Australia’s position as market leader is under challenge from our traditional competitors, a number of whom are duplicating aspects of the ESOS framework. In this environment it becomes critical that Australia continues to set the pace in the effective regulation of our international education and training services to remain competitive.

The amendments to the ESOS Act in the Education Services for Overseas Students Legislation Amendment (2006 Measures No. 1) Bill 2006 and the Education Services for Overseas Students Legislation Amendment (2006 Measures No. 2) Bill 2006 demonstrate Australia’s ongoing commitment to ensure the delivery of high-quality education to international students studying in Australia. The ESOS Act protects the high-quality reputation of Australia’s education and training export industry by regulating education and training providers, providing consumer protection for overseas students and ensuring the integrity of the student visa program.

The evaluation of the ESOS Act made recommendations for the improvement and clarification of provisions to support its effectiveness. The amendments proposed in these bills will have a beneficial impact on each of the three main objectives of the ESOS Act. The ESOS Act safeguards the interests of overseas students by setting standards for education and training providers. All providers who deliver education and training to overseas students must be registered on the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students, CRICOS.

Before registration, in addition to meeting state based quality requirements, providers must demonstrate that they are fit and proper to be registered. The ESOS Act currently applies the ‘fit and proper’ test to providers and their prescribed associates. Amendments will extend the test to others with positions of authority with providers and will allow for the ‘fit and proper’ test to be applied not only upon registration but at any time during a provider’s registration. Sanctions can be applied for noncompliance. These amendments will prevent persons with a history of noncompliance with the ESOS Act from taking up positions of responsibility with other providers and will allow for enforcement action to be taken against providers who no longer meet the ‘fit and proper’ requirements. They will provide a further guarantee of the credentials of CRICOS registered providers.

The ESOS Act provides three levels of consumer protection for overseas students. It places refund obligations on registered providers, allows for placement in any alternative course by the provider or their tuition assurance scheme—another acronym, TAS—and establishes the ESOS Assurance Fund to place a student in an alternative course or provide the student with a refund if the two previous consumer mechanisms fail. Amendments will oblige a provider who offers a student placement in a course as an alternative to a refund to obtain the student’s acceptance of the placement in writing. If there is a claim on the fund, this will clarify whether a suitable offer has been made and whether or not it has been accepted.

The ESOS Assurance Fund was established with Australian government support and is now maintained by annual provider contributions. This bill addresses industry concerns that the current provisions of the act which govern fund refunds may result in some students effectively receiving part of their education at no cost, which was not the original intent. This instance could occur if a student receives academic credit or recognition of prior learning for completed study in addition to a full refund from the fund.

An amendment will now allow the fund manager to reduce the amount of a refund where it can be demonstrated that a student has received academic credit or recognition of prior learning for study undertaken with their former provider. The legislation should work to ensure that students receive the education and training for which they have paid and that they do not effectively receive part of this education at no cost if a provider fails.

Similarly, the introduction of a 12-month sunset clause for claims on the fund will provide the fund manager with more certainty regarding liabilities and assist with managing the fund’s assets. To date, lack of access to student information has hindered the TASs—tuition assurance schemes—in fulfilling their placement function, but an amendment which will give TASs access to student information will facilitate a faster placement of students in alternative courses.

The ESOS Act supports the integrity of the migration system by placing obligations on registered providers to recruit only genuine students and to monitor and report on breaches of visa conditions relating to attendance and satisfactory academic performance. A breach of these visa conditions may result in the cancellation of a student’s visa. The extensive consultation with industry undertaken as part of the ESOS evaluation revealed that the attendance and satisfactory academic performance visa conditions no longer reflect educational practice. The Department of Education, Science and Training has been working with the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs and peak bodies to develop changes to providers’ monitoring and reporting obligations that better reflect teaching, learning and assessment in each sector while maintaining the visa integrity intent of the act.

The revised national code will reflect the outcome of these discussions. The migration regulations will be amended to impose student visa conditions that support the revisions to the national code, and these visa conditions will be prescribed in the Education Services for Overseas Students Regulations 2001.

In conclusion: protection and enhancement of Australia’s reputation for providing reliable and high-quality education is absolutely crucial to achieving sustainable growth of this important export industry, which is currently worth over $7½ billion annually to the Australian economy. These measures will further strengthen the ESOS regulatory framework and ensure that Australia continues to be a destination of choice for overseas students. I commend these bills to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bills read a second time.

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