墨尔本时代报报道，墨尔本最大的私立TAFE学院之一的MERIDIAN酒店管理学校、Meridian高中，国际设计学院共5所学校，（均属于中国一家在开曼群岛注册的sinaEd机构旗下的全球校园管理集团公司下属学院），昨天宣布进入自动清偿管理程序，也就是说宣布破产。这直接影响到维州的2000名海外学生和新州的1400名学生，其中主要是印度学生，其次是中国学生。

由于澳洲对TAFE技术移民政策不断收紧，TAFE签证也越来越难，同时印度市场负面宣传澳洲，印度市场几乎全部萎缩，所以学校生源受到很大的冲击，再加上该学校内部股东意见不一致，导致了发展受挫。

目前澳洲政府正在全力安排把学生转移到其他学院继续学习，不过澳大利亚留学网建议，面临政策的调整，留学生也应该及时分析移民和就业市场的变化，为自己的留学方案做出优化措施。比如当初因为看TAFE便宜、而且移民快捷而去读TAFE的申请人，就应该放弃这样的想法，如果你的条件允许，完全可以考虑本科或者硕士课程，或者其他专业不受TRA政策影响的文凭课程。具体情况，欢迎广大留学生朋友到澳大利亚留学网和资深顾问、移民专家进行免费的咨询。

 

College collapses hit VCE

SUSHI DAS

November 6, 2009

THE crisis in international educational has spread with the sudden collapse of four colleges in Melbourne and Sydney, leaving 2000 students stranded.

Foreign students studying for VCE exams in Melbourne were among those caught out when a company that owns the four private colleges went into voluntary administration yesterday.

Victorian education officials rushed to ''secure'' the exam papers of 19 VCE students, and a new venue was last night being hastily arranged for them to sit their exams from Monday.

Yesterday's closures amounted to the single biggest loss of student places in a day since the crisis began. Nine Victorian colleges have now closed since July, affecting a total of 2695 international and domestic students.

The State Government has promised to place the year-12 school students in Government secondary schools and offer training students places in similar courses with other colleges as soon as possible.

The $16.6 billion international education industry is braced for further college closures in coming months as the Federal Government cracks down on migration fraud, which is expected to result in the rejection of some visa applications.

The placement of Global Campus Management Group into voluntary administration yesterday forced a senior secondary school and three vocational training colleges to close. They were Meridian International School, Meridian International Hotel School, International Design School and International College of Creative Arts.

Angry students gathered outside colleges demanding answers. Karun Sachdeva, 24, from India, was studying at International Design School. He said he did not know whether he would be refunded the $2500 he had paid for the next semester. ''I made the biggest mistake coming to study in Australia,'' he told The Age. ''The quality of education here is shit. We have nothing but the media to rely on now [to protect our rights].''

Teachers at the Meridian International Hotel School were called to a meeting in the Flinders Street offices at 4.55pm and within minutes were told they had lost their jobs. Terrence D'Souza, who taught commercial cookery there, said teachers were stunned and shocked.

''They said they do not have enough funds to pay us and we would have to leave straight away,'' he told The Age.

The Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority said the immediate priority was to ensure students doing VCE exams experienced no disruption. ''The VRQA has sent senior staff to the secondary school today to ensure that all VCE examination papers are secured and that students are properly briefed on the situation and where they will be undertaking their examinations,'' director Lynn Glover said.

Further college closures could hit Victoria's economy hard - international education is the state's biggest export earner, bringing in more than $4 billion a year.

Industry insiders say governments - state and federal - have been slow to rein in unscrupulous operators because of reluctance to upset a lucrative industry.

A spokesman for state Skills and Workforce Participation Minister Jacinta Allan said the Government's primary concern was for the students.

The State Government is auditing 41 colleges it believes pose a high-risk to international students.

 

THE private college sector was in crisis last night after the Chinese-owned Meridian International group collapsed, leaving 3400 international students in Melbourne and Sydney needing to be found new places or to be refunded their fees.

The collapse is by far the biggest in a spate of recent college closures, as the once booming private college international student market goes into reverse.

And there are growing fears of further shutdowns as state and federal regulators pursue an overdue crackdown.

The sector has been hit by a visa and regulatory crackdown that has cut the numbers of students from India, the key growth market. Demand from India has also been hit by publicity over assaults on Indian students and exposure of fraud and exploitation at "dodgy colleges".

Meridian's courses are mainly in hospitality and English language.

But it also runs an international senior high school program in Victoria, where students are in the middle of statewide Year 12 exams.

Worried that sensitive state school exam papers at the college could be leaked, officers from the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority moved in yesterday to secure the papers.

Meridian, which is owned by Cayman Islands-based Chinese group SinoEd, yesterday called in voluntary administrators PPB to take over the business, but it wasn't enough to stave off closure.

Meridian's closure will hit about 2000 international students in Melbourne and about 1400 in Sydney.

Of Meridian's Victorian students, about 800 are from India, with a similar number from China.

Meridian's chief executive, Joff Allen, could not be contacted last night.

Before Meridian, four international student colleges had collapsed in Sydney and Melbourne since July, affecting more than 1000 students.

It is also reviewing state legislation and guidelines.

Andrew Smith, the head of the Australian Council for Private Education and Training, said: ''ACPET will make every effort within our obligations to transfer students to a comparable college with minimal disruption.''

A spokesman for PPB, the appointed administrator, said he was unable to comment last night.