On 10 August 2017, the Australian Government passed the Education Legislation Amendment (Provider Integrity and Other Measures) Bill 2017 to amend the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000 (ESOS Act). The changes will strengthen the Government’s ability to monitor and prevent unscrupulous business practices from gaining registration to deliver education to overseas students.

This will protect overseas students studying in Australia and maintain Australia’s excellent reputation for international education.

The changes to the ESOS Act are not expected to affect the majority of providers that are operating with integrity. Rather, the changes seek to target the minority of providers who may act unscrupulously.

A factsheet on the amendments is available.

 

The Parliament recently passed changes to the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000 (ESOS Act), streamlining the legislative framework for overseas students.

 

These amendments streamline regulation, remove duplicative requirements and cut red tape in the ESOS framework, without compromising Australia’s strong student protections or our reputation as a world class destination for international students. The changes free up education institutions to invest in quality and innovative teaching and learning, so they can become even more competitive globally. They also give students, or the person paying tuition fees on their behalf, more flexibility to manage their tuition payments.

 

Three measures in the new legislation came into effect on 14 December 2015 to directly reduce administrative costs for education institutions. Please click here for fact sheets outlining the changes to:

Other changes that simplify registration and regulatory processes take effect from 1 July 2016 and can be found here: