Student enrolment
Enrolment practices were in the spotlight in the recent decision (3 December 2021) of the Federal Court in the case ACCC v Australian Institute of Professional Education Pty Ltd (In Liquidation). The respondent (AIP) encouraged people to enrol in its courses, using commission-remunerated sales agents. It engaged in exploitative sales practices, offering free laptop computers as an incentive. It failed to inform applicants that they would be incurring debts, and it targeted consumers who had a high risk of being unsuitable for the courses being sold. The Court imposed a penalty of $153 million, saying:
Substantial penalties are called for when a commercial enterprise systematically predates on both a government education support scheme designed to help disadvantaged members of the Australian community, and, consequently, upon those consumers.
The ACCC put it to the Court (and the Court apparently accepted) that there was “no adequate and effective culture of compliance, and indeed an active culture of non-compliance.”
This is all very different from the behaviour of public universities. It does, however, raise the interesting question of what regulatory issues arise in relation to enrolment practices. There are potentially several - but we mention three:
consumer protection: the Federal Court found that AIP had engaged in a system of unconscionable conduct in enrolment practices. This is an offence under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth);
administrative law: statutory decision-makers should make decisions based on relevant considerations, and should not take into account irrelevant considerations. In 2011 the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Queensland resigned following a decision to admit a student who did not meet all the requirements for the course and who was a relative. It is good practice (if only for administrative law reasons) for admission criteria to be clearly set out and consistently applied;
registration with the Commonwealth: Registration under the Commonwealth Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Act 2011 requires registered higher education providers to meet the Standards set out in the Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold Standards) 2021. The first of the Threshold Standards deals with admissions. Students are to be informed of their rights and obligations, including all changes and policies on withdrawal from offers, acceptance and enrolment. Admissions requirements, policies and procedures are to be “applied fairly and consistently.”