Results of Esos Act review published in Australia

Australian international education providers face a whole new raft of rules governing the enrolment of international students after recommendations made by the Baird review of the Esos Act were adopted by the Australian government last week.

Under the new rules, all education providers in Australia that enrol international students will have to disclose to students the amount of commission they pay to agents and providers are also prohibited from enrolling a student who is currently studying with another provider and who has yet to complete the first study period of their initial course.

Details of the Esos Amendment Bill regarding the re-registration of international education providers were also revealed last week. Under the new regulations, all providers registered with Cricos will have to be re-registered in a graded assessment scheme by the end of the year. Providers deemed to be of higher risk, as well as new providers on the list, will be faced with a tougher assessment process that could include a site visit. Others that have already assessed by another quality assurance body will be automatically re-registered with Cricos on the strength of an application form.


New Dublin language school under question

The launch of a new language school in Dublin that professed to have a contract to provide English language and foundation courses to 750 Saudi students from April this year has been put in doubt after the Saudi Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) denied any such contract existed.

News of the language school, called Citywest Institute of Education, was launched in February this year at a press conference involving Jim Mansfield, owner of the Citywest hotel complex where the school was to be located. Sean Whelan, Chief Executive Officer of the Mansfield Group, said, “This venture is a new departure for the Mansfield Group and brings a new international dimension to Irish Educational services. I am particularly proud that the English language programmes will be provided by County Dublin VEC, our near neighbours in West County Dublin.”

A press release issued by the school through the PR company Unicorn PR, stated that the school would welcome 750 Saudi students in April this year. “The MOHE has been seeking a suitable location to establish an international hub for English language and other courses for some time,” it said. “After extensive global site evaluation and following thorough analysis, the Saudis selected the South Dublin facility as the location that met the standards required by the MOHE.”

A statement issued by Dr Al Mosa on the website of the Ministry of Higher Education in Saudi Arabia, denied these claims however. “The claim that 750 students are going to study English at Mansfield Group’s Citywest Institute is far from real,” he said. The statement also reported that Citywest Institute had not been in contact with the ministry.

Stephen Bearpark from Dublin VEC said that he was unable to provide any details about the new school. “We have no firm agreement with Citywest,” he said. “They did approach us tentatively to provide English language tuition some time ago but we have not signed anything.”


UK introduces electronic visa letters

The final phase of the UK’s T4 student visa system was launched in February this year, requiring student sponsors to issue an electronic confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS) to all student applicants and also report on students via the sponsorship student management system (SMS).

Under the regulations, language schools will have to issue all potential students with a CAS reference number and sponsor licence number in order for them to apply for their visa. Before issuing the CAS, schools have to assess the student’s ability to follow the course of study by assessing their language ability and confirming any qualifications that the student already holds. Schools are also required to report to the UK Border Agency if a student misses 10 expected contacts (eg two weeks of lessons) and if significant numbers of students drop out or fail to enrol they will be investigated as to their overall suitability as a licensed sponsor.