• Sector update: ASQA regulatory action to cancel qualifications issued by Luvium Pty Ltd

    21 November 2024

    The Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) has cancelled the qualifications and/or statements of attainment of more than 6,400 past students of former Registered Training Organisation (RTO) Luvium Pty Ltd as part of its ongoing work to ensure the integrity of qualifications gained through Australia’s VET sector.

    Background

    Luvium Pty Ltd (trading as Australia Education & Career College 52865) was registered to deliver training and assessment to domestic students but an ASQA compliance investigation found it had issued qualifications without appropriate training or competency-based assessment by qualified assessors between 1 January 2023 and 19 October 2024.

    ASQA sent notices of intent to cancel the qualifications and/or statements of attainment to 7,360 former students on 6 November 2024 after cancelling the registration of Luvium effective 19 October 2024 following an extensive compliance investigation.

    Of the 7,360 former students who were sent notices, more than 6,400 provided no response and ASQA therefore cancelled their qualifications and/or statements of attainment on 15 November. ASQA received responses from more than 780 former students and is considering their responses and will advise them of an outcome as soon as possible.

    All cancelled qualifications and statements of attainment were issued between 1 January 2023 and 19 October 2024. Information about impacted qualifications and statements of attainment is available from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations.

    Further information, including fact sheets, about this regulatory action is available on the ASQA website.

    TEQSA's role

    TEQSA is concerned that former Luvium students enrolled in a higher education program may have used a cancelled qualification as part of their admissions process or have been awarded recognition of prior learning (RPL) for these now cancelled qualifications.

    TEQSA notes:

    • Luvium Pty Ltd (trading as Australia Education & Career College 52865) is not registered with TEQSA to award higher education programs.
    • None of the issues ASQA has taken action on relate to delivery by any higher education provider.

    Provider actions

    TEQSA expects all higher education providers will review their records to identify where students may have used a cancelled qualification for the purpose of admission or RPL to a higher education course of study.

    Where a provider identifies a student may have used a cancelled qualification, in accordance with the provider’s institutional policies and procedures it should address any issues arising from the cancellation of the qualification. For example, any credit a provider offered to the student that relied upon that student having undertaken a legitimate qualification with Luvium Pty Ltd should be reconsidered.

    TEQSA also expects providers to implement appropriate safeguards to assure themselves that their institution will not be adversely impacted in the future.

    Relevant standards

    Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold Standards) 2021

    • Standard 1.1 Admission
    • Standard 1.2 Credit and recognition of prior learning
    • Standard 2.3 Wellbeing and safety

    National Code of Practice for Providers of Education and Training to Overseas Students 2018

    • Standard 2 - Recruitment of an overseas student
    • Standard 9 - Deferring, suspending or cancelling the overseas student's enrolment
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  • La Trobe University

    Overview

    Details

    Provider name
    La Trobe University
    Provider trading name
    La Trobe University
    Some providers use a trading name to deliver courses to students rather than their legal/business name.
    ABN
    64 804 735 113
    An ABN (Australian Business Number) is a unique number that identifies a business to the government and community. It is used for various tax and business purposes.
    Provider ID
    PRV12132

    Contact

    Head Office Address
    Plenty Road, BUNDOORA VIC 3086

    Registration information

    Status
    Registered, ongoing pending renewal
    Category
    Australian University
    Registration Period
    7 years - maximum allowable period and extended for a further 2 years

    If any regulatory conditions are applicable to this provider, they can be found in the Courses or Regulatory Decisions sections
    Self Accrediting Authority
    Yes
    Registered higher education providers may be authorised by TEQSA to self-accredit courses of study.
    CRICOS Registration Code
    00115M
    CRICOS (Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students). Educational institutions can only enrol and deliver education services to students in Australia on a student visa if they are registered on CRICOS.
    QILT link
    View the QILT details for La Trobe University
    The QILT (Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching) website provides prospective students with relevant and transparent information about Australian higher education institutions from the perspective of recent students and graduates.

    This provider is authorised to self-accredit its courses.

    Please visit provider website for information on the courses it offers.

  • Sector update: Experts undertaking independent reviews must be fully independent

    TEQSA reminds providers it is best practice to ensure any experts used for an independent review are fully and genuinely independent. If an expert is not independent, their judgement and the quality of their review may be influenced by other interests.

    Key points

    Independent reviews are a valuable way for a provider to:

    • leverage specialist knowledge from outside the organisation
    • check the effectiveness of its quality assurance
    • continuously improve itself
    • ensure and demonstrate good academic governance.

    It is in the interests of the provider to use independent reviews to support the self-assurance and continuous improvement of the organisation, rather than just to meet TEQSA or other requirements.

    TEQSA’s view of best practice is that an independent expert is an expert who does not have (or intend to have) any significant interest:

    • in the provider
    • in an associated entity of the provider
    • in reaching outcomes that may benefit another entity at the cost of the provider being reviewed.

    If an expert had any of these significant interests, it would likely interfere with their independent judgement and the quality of their review. This type of expert would be reasonably perceived as not independent.

    In its regulatory processes, TEQSA will give greater weight to reviews completed by fully independent experts than by experts reasonably perceived as not independent.

    Good practice

    TEQSA has developed resources to support providers in identifying and benefitting from the use of independent experts for reviews:

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