Australian Immigration Daily News

Details issues identified after receiving significant number of complaints about education agent based in Queensland

This paper details issues identified by our Office after receiving a significant number of complaints about an education agent based in Queensland, who allegedly defrauded overseas students of tuition and other fees.

As a result of the Office’s investigations and the valuable collaboration and support of other departments and agencies, positive results were achieved for those students who were enrolled but had not been paid a refund of the fees they were entitled to under the Education Services for Overseas Students (ESOS) Act. However, those who were not yet enrolled (i.e. intending students) fell outside of the protection framework.

Mr Manthorpe emphasised that “while the actions of one agent are not indicative of a system failure, this incident has highlighted opportunities for improvements when it comes to the administration of the international student protection framework”.

Source: Commonwealth-Ombudsman-issues-paper-released-re-administration-of-international-student-protection.pdf