top providers suffer

Should outstanding providers of international education pay for the poor practices of others, asks John Mitchell.

The following article featuring Phillip Charlton, CEO, Hospitality Training Association (HTA) recently appeared in Campus Review.

ACPET thanks Dr John Mitchell and Campus review for permitting ACPET to publish the article in its entirity.

There is an unfortunate downside to the avalanche of publicity over the last six months about a minority of private providers offering international students dodgy educational experiences. The downside is that some outstanding VET providers of hospitality and hairdressing programs are now suffering for the actions of their rogue colleagues.

One such provider that deserves acclamation not punishment is the Hospitality Training Association (HTA), one of the largest private providers of international education and hospitality training in Queensland.

Established by the tourism and hospitality industry in 1982 as a response to skills shortages at that time, the HTA Board decided only four years ago to enter the international student market. Within three years enrolments climbed to an average of 950 international students per annum, and although enrolments in early 2010 are strong, enrolments for the remainder of this year are down on previous years.

The HTA has never positioned itself as a conduit for international students seeking residency, says chief executive officer Phillip Charlton.

“Less than 10% of our students would normally apply for PR [permanent residency]. We are always focused on the way the tourism and hospitality is growing worldwide, and on worldwide employment [for our graduates], portability of skills, transferability of skills and high standards and quality. We always try to distance ourselves from any other issue.”

Rather than bundling international students into large classes, the average class size at HTA is sixteen and “the general policy is we limit each class to no more than four people from the same nationality”.

“The reason for the small class sizes is so that we can develop hands-on skills to a high skill level and have interaction of students with trainers.

“In our programs we integrate theory, the practical, the hands-on skills and internships in industry. The students get that full exposure to industry and have an educational experience while also maturing and developing their skills in a hands-on practical sense in an Australian workplace.

“We invite guest chefs in and we work very closely with the industry and keep them informed of what our students are doing. Something like 95% of our students have [secured] part-time jobs from their internships.”

As a way of contributing even more to the industry, HTA set up a scholarship fund. “We provide eighteen scholarships at $18,000 each, so every year we will provide around about $324,000 worth of scholarships.”

Last year’s recipients are now part of a group on exchange in Europe. “We wanted to really test the transportability of skills and benchmark ourselves so we actually arranged an exchange. We’ve actually got twenty students spread across Finland, Holland and Italy.”

Integrity of brand Australia

To further ensure the quality of its courses, HTA is now accredited to deliver the UK’s City and Guilds programs. “All our students at no extra cost take dual examinations and receive City and Guilds qualifications as well as their Australian qualifications.”

HTA looks beyond students gaining a qualification and a job. “We have a strong focus on making sure our students are trained for their career, not for the establishment they’re currently working in.”

The HTA also supports the whole industry by undertaking research. “We have an ongoing relationship with the University of Queensland and we’ve commissioned a whole range of reports including one which is looking at green technology for use in hotels”.

Despite these good practices the HTA finds itself caught up in the fall-out from the government’s recent focus on irresponsible providers in the field of hospitality training.

“As we look forward to our intakes in June, August and September, they’re down probably about 50%. And our agents are saying there is a perception that ‘The Australian government keeps changing its mind, they’re not being consistent in their views’. We get all this negative feedback.”

While pleased with the overall recommendations of the recent Baird Report, Charlton is particularly concerned by the new requirement that each provider has to declare the actual amount paid to overseas recruitment agents. He believes this will assist overseas competitors in countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and the United States.

“I have no problem putting disclaimers on all our paperwork to say yes, we use agents and they’re paid a commission, but the moment I start advertising on the website what commissions we pay, that opens us up for predatory pricing from our overseas competitors. I don’t think there’s been enough thought about how to protect brand Australia and the integrity of our international markets.”

Putting aside this latest challenge, Charlton remains confident. “We see our student numbers possibly dipping a bit but we see that being a natural cycle and I think probably in the next six months to twelve months that market will rebound quite strongly.”

Fortunately providers like HTA have firm foundations that enable it to ride out the bumps and troughs in their industry. But they don’t deserve punishment.

Contact phillip [dot] c [at] hta [dot] org [dot] au (Phillip Charlton) and see www.hta.org.au

Dr John Mitchell specialises in VET workforce development. See www.jma.com.au