Lucrative training contracts for the Australian Federal Police and the Department of Defence have been awarded to a private college group that has been under investigation by the federal government.
The new contracts between ACTE, trading as Evocca, and the Department of Defence and the AFP come after the college graduated just 12 per cent of students over a three-year period while earning $180 million in taxpayer-funded student loans under the scandal plagued VET FEE-HELP scheme.
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Vocational loan scheme axed
First he tried to fix it, now Simon Birmingham has axed the vocational education loan scheme all together - clamping down on unscrupulous operators. Courtesy ABC News 24.
A spokeswoman for the AFP said the selection of the training provider "met all government purchasing and procurement requirements".
The tenders, worth more than $200,000, have been awarded under several different company names, including Dimension Data Learning Services, to supply training for less than five months in software courses, electrical services and general training.
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DDLS was acquired by Evocca in October and now shares the same Australian business number listed on the tenders, more than a year after Evocca came under investigation by the federal government's regulator in 2015.
DDLS chief executive Mal Shaw said the company remained a standalone division of Evocca. "[We] have been providing IT training to the Department of Defence for 10 years," he said.
The Department of Defence has been contacted for comment.
The latest data on the now scrapped VET-FEE Help scheme, a HECS-style student loans program that allowed students to pay back their fees when they earned more than $52,000 a year, reveals Evocca earned $110,000 in taxpayer funding per graduate between 2013 and 2015 after only 1600 of its 13,000 students completed their courses.
An Evocca spokeswoman said the completion rates were "misleading" due to course duration, "partial completions" and that many students are still on track to graduate.
The Australian Skills Quality Authority launched the investigation into the college's recruitment practices after allegations were raised that the college had enrolled students that did not pass basic literacy tests and few support services were being provided.
At the time, the chief executive of Evocca College, Craig White, admitted he was "not happy" with the low number of students emerging from study with a diploma.
An ASQA spokesman said that Evocca was one of 21 colleges investigated as part of a "targeted audit".
It found the college did not meet ASQA's standards in regards to its assessment system, the accuracy of its marketing, and its complaint and appeals policies and procedures.
The college had additional reporting and assessment conditions imposed upon it by the regulator and rectified these concerns by the conclusion of the audit.
In March, 200 employees lost their jobs at the network after the college shut down 17 campuses across Australia following a government crackdown on student numbers and the implementation of more stringent checks on the students all colleges were was able to enrol.
Do you know more? Email eryk.bagshaw@fairfaxmedia.com.au