They replied straight away
I guess most of the students have either been offered relocation, have enrolled themselves in new colleges or are just plain waiting on ACPET’s decision. It sure this taking a long time. They did say it was going to take a month. They’ve got another week to come up with something.
Regarding my question about whether it’s possible to negotiate one’s own transfer to a new school, ACPET pretty much tells you to get fucked if you can’t wait for their offer.
Here is the information regarding enrolling yourself in another college without ACPET’s assistance: Not all colleges are ACPET Members. If you decide to enrol yourself in another college without ACPETs assistance, you will disadvantage yourself in the following ways:
- ACPET cannot negotiate a credit-free tuition period for any money you may have lost as a result of your college closing.
- You may be waiving your rights under the Legislation to claim a refund from the ESOS Assurance Fund.
- The new college is entitled to charge full fees as per a normal student enrolment which means you may pay for the same qualification twice.
It is highly recommended that you wait for ACPETs relocation offer.
Kind regards, ACPET Team www.acpet.edu.au PO Box 551, East Melbourne. VIC 8002 E: meridian.mel@acpet.edu.au Fax. 61 3 9416 1895 Creating futures For information from the ACPET website regarding this closure please copy and paste the link below into your Internet Browser: http://www.acpet.edu.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6308&Itemid=403
The ACPET website will be updated on a weekly basis.
ACPET is busy this summer
I’m one of the hundreds (probably thousands) of students that are still waiting for a relocation offer.
On the ACPET website:
Meridian, MelbourneEMAILS:ACPET is currently managing over 3000 students across Australia who have been affected by the Meridian Group college closures.
ACPET anticipate it will take up to 48 hours for a detailed response to be sent to your email in response to you query, as this will enable ACPET to ensure we are giving you the correct information. ACPET apologise for any inconvenience this delay may cause you.
Note: Please make sure in your emails you tell us which school you attended (e.g. Meridian International Hotel School) so we can assist you appropriately.
But having said that, I did receive a response from them straight away when I emailed earlier. I wanted to know if I could facilitate my own transfer to an ACPET-affiliated school and whether that still makes me eligible for ACPET’s assistance in qualifying for the credit-free tuition period.
ACPET relocate students to a new college when a college has failed to provide the course before its completion. ACPET relocate students to a suitable alternative course at a new college. In the case of a college closure if a student has prepaid tuition fees for tuition not given, the student will be given a credit-free tuition period at a new college under the Tuition Assurance Scheme.
If you have money owing to the closed college you will be required to pay this outstanding money to your new college.
ACPET will also certainly relocate you to a college which is affiliated with ACPET
Kind regards,
ACPET Team
www.acpet.edu.au
PO Box 551, East Melbourne. VIC 8002
E: meridian[dot]mel[at]acpet[dot]edu[dot]au
Fax. 61 3 9416 1895Creating futures
For information from the ACPET website regarding this closure please copy and paste the link below into your Internet Browser:
http://www.acpet.edu.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6308&Itemid=403
The ACPET website will be updated on a weekly basis.
Another one bites the dust
Looks like the college collapse nightmare is not over. Maewill English College in NSW and Queensland closed last week.
UP to 200 international students are thousands of dollars out of pocket after an illegally operated Gold Coast English college they were studying at was shut down by the Federal Government.
ACPET’s board members own or manage their own private schools
ALL of them own or are directors of private schools and colleges. I guess when one school shuts down, they stand to benefit by relocating those displaced students to their own schools. Seems like it’s less a tuition assurance scheme for students, and more of an insurance company for private schools in Australia.
KAYE GANLEY
National Chair
Director representing Queensland since 2002
CEO, Charlton Brown
JOHN MARTIN CASS
Deputy National Chair
Director Representing NSW since 2008
Director, JMC Academy
LARRY DAVIES
Director representing WA (since 2007)
CEO Directions
TRACY EDINGTON-MACKAY
Director representing Tasmania since 2008
National Business Development Manager, Australian College of Training
MARK LUCAS
General Board Member since 2008
Managing Director, iAE Global Ltd
JULIE MOSS
General Board Member since 1998
Managing Director, Photography Studies College
JULIANA STACKPOOL
Director representing Victoria since 2009
Executive Officer, Headmasters Advanced Academy Training
RICHARD TEO
Director representing NT since 2008
Chief Executive of Seafood & Maritime Industries Training Ltd
TANYA VISCARIELLO
Director representing SA since 2008
CEO, International College of Cosmetic Technology and Business Studies
RUSSELL WELCH
General Board Member since 2008
Director, John Paul International College (Qld)
How sad is that?
ACPET rejected proposal to allow students to complete the last 2 weeks of term
Full article here.
A number of Meridian staff members were reported as having kindly offered to voluntarily run the courses for 14 days, so that students will be able to complete the remaining two weeks of the year. However, this proposal has been rejected by ACPET.
Why??
New relocation info from ACPET
ACPET has offered design students a new home: Holmes Institute
However the college doesn’t seem to offer any design courses, the closest I could find was an IT program. I think ACPET is offering this option to students who are completing their diploma. I’m not sure but maybe they have a different school for those who are in the middle of their course, like me.
Also I don’t know why, but I’ve stopped receiving emails from ACPET since the Belongings Pick-up one. They still send me text messages but no more emails. I’ve checked my spam folder and they’re not there. So I emailed them and copied in the ESOS email address as well. Hopefully that’ll sort it out for me. Is anyone else having the same problem?
One more thing, I’ve gotten some bad feedback about Holmes College… is there anyone here that knows someone who has gone there?
Submit the Relocation Request form by Nov 13 Friday
If you haven’t submitted the relocation request form to ACPET (they were distributed on Monday’s student meeting), and if you want ACPET’s assistance in relocating to another school, you must submit the form by this Friday, otherwise ACPET will consider that as a non-acceptance of their help.
The form can be downloaded here. The details you need to be able to send either via fax or email is on the ACPET site.
Computer generated response from the ESOS email
Dear Chris
Thank you for your email and we appreciate your concern. I have attached some information regarding the consumer protection framework which applies in such circumstances. For updated versions of this information please visit http://www.aei.gov.au/AEI/ESOS/Default.htm over the coming days.
You should have also received an invitation to student meetings to be held over the coming days. I urge you to attend this meeting to hear important information about your visa and study entitlements.
Sincere regards
Gavin Williams
Assistant Director
Consumer Protection and Registrations
ph. 61 2 6240 5472
fax. 61 2 6123 6297
Then he attached more of the information for me to go over. PDF here (196 kb)
News from SMH
Tenth school for overseas students collapses
THE reputation of Australia’s $16 billion overseas education industry has been dealt another blow by the sudden collapse of the Global Campus Management Group, which ran four colleges in Sydney and Melbourne with about 3000 students.
The collapse is particularly embarrassing for the Federal Government, which has been working hard to rebuild the industry’s battered image, as hundreds of the the Sydney-based students were placed in the school by the Department of Immigration after their previous school, Global College, went broke last year.
INTERNATIONAL students crippled by a spate of college foreclosures this year will be exempt from paying $540 visa fees to stay on in Australia as the country resets its immigration intake to attract the people it needs.
From January 1, the Government will waive fees for as many as 4700 students reapplying to study at new institutions after 12 colleges collapsed.
Action needed over private college failures
From the Australian Education Union
“The fact is that TAFE is the only one that can deliver a guaranteed, high quality education to all students,” Mr Gavrielatos said.
I’m getting less and less hopeful we can fight for a refund or even a good school to relocate to. We’ll just have to try and warn other students who are thinking of going to a private school in Australia.
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