In the 2019-20 financial year, the Commonwealth Ombudsman's office received a total of 1,526 complaints from overseas students and finalised 1,563, a spokesperson has told SBS Hindi. Some finalised complaints were from previous period.
"More than 40 percent of these complaints were about the written agreement between the student and their provider, the most common complaint issue across all overseas student groups," the spokesperson said.
Highlights:
- Around 15 percent of complaints finalised during 2019-20 were from Indian students: Commonwealth Ombudsman
- "Falling enrolments have led to drop in complaints in last financial year"
- "40 percent of complaints are about written agreement which relates to fee refunds"
Around 15 percent of complaints finalised during 2019-20 were in relation to Indian students, the spokesperson from the Ombudsman for Overseas Students said adding for the last two financial years, India was the top country of origin recorded in finalised complaints.
With falling enrolments since last year, complaints have also decreased during current times, the spokesperson said, adding that this is estimated at around 12 percent in 2020-21.
''In both financial years most of the finalised complaints were about the written agreement between the student and their provider," the spokesperson said.
'Written agreement’ usually means that the international student has withdrawn from their studies, and there is a dispute about the student’s entitlement to a refund of the fees paid for future study, or about course fees that the student may still owe to the education provider.'
The Ombudsman's office further confirmed that it had experienced an initial increase in complaints from overseas students when the pandemic began as some students were dissatisfied with the change to online delivery and requested a reduction in fees accordingly.
''Our office produced a fact sheet to assist students and providers to deal with common issues related to COVID-19,'' they said.
Written agreements (fees and refunds) continue to be the most common complaint issue. Source: Getty Images/Peter Dazeley
"Our 2020-21 financial year complaint figures have not yet been released, however we estimate that both the number of complaints received from overseas students and number of complaints finalised decreased by approximately 30 percent,’’ the spokesperson said adding 130 complaints (12 per cent) from Indian students have been finalised during the same period.
The latest quarterly report for the period of 1 January-31 March 2021 released recently, shows that 220 complaints and enquiries were lodged and that they continue to receive complaints from international students about providers’ actions or decisions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For the first three months of 2021, the report said that most commonly, students sought refunds for pre-paid course fees (46 percent) and support to continue studying despite financial and logistical difficulties (19 per cent).
However, there was a downward trend in the number of complaints received which was not unexpected, given the decreased number of international students currently in Australia due to the pandemic.
'Written agreements [fees and refunds] continue to be the most common complaint issue at 38 percent. These complaints are generally due to students seeking a refund of prepaid tuition fees where they ceased their study before finishing their course," the Ombudsman said.
It was also noted that complaints lodged regarding transfers between providers (19 percent) and deferring, suspending and cancelling enrolment (7 percent) were the next most common issues raised, while the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector continued to be the most investigated provider.
Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector continues to be the most investigated sector. Source: Getty Images/Pgiam
The report added that complaints from students originated from 20 different countries during the quarter with students from Brazil and India emerging as the largest group of complainants at 17 per cent each of the total complaints.
Ravi Lochan Singh, President of the Association of Australian Education Representatives in India (AAERI), told SBS Hindi, ''There is no doubt that some of the private VET providers are very suspect in what they deliver.''
He further pointed out that during the pandemic, AAERI also observed that there were increased incidents of Indian students moving from universities to lower cost private VET providers.
''AAERI has been asking the government to allow movement and incidences of transfers only where it is genuine,'' he said.
