Smart City Vocational College has registration cancelled

The Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) has cancelled the registration of Queensland-based training provider Smart City Vocational College Pty Ltd (SCVC, RTO ID 6494).

Chief Commissioner Mark Paterson said regulatory scrutiny of SCVC by ASQA officers had identified behaviour that was non-compliant with the requirements of the VET quality framework.

ASQA found SCVC did not have:

• a sufficient number of appropriately qualified trainers and assessors to deliver to the number of students enrolled across all qualifications, modes of delivery, and locations;
• sufficient learning resources to deliver to the number of learners enrolled across all qualifications, with respect to the RTO’s training and assessment strategies, locations, and mode of delivery provided; and
• sufficient facilities to continue to deliver in a face-to-face manner to those learners who have been enrolled in a face-to-face mode of delivery (either totally face to face, or blended).

“ASQA issued SCVC with a notice of intent in December inviting it to provide further evidence and information as to why its registration should not be cancelled. However, a review of the evidence provided indicated that the training provider was still non-compliant,” Mr Paterson said.

“ASQA has therefore taken the decision to cancel Smart City’s registration as a provider of VET services.”

ASQA’s decision was to take effect from 6 March 2017. However, SCVC has sought a review of ASQA’s decision in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. SCVC has also sought a stay of ASQA’s decision pending the determination of the review.

SCVC was audited in 2015 as part of ASQA’s VET FEE-HELP Targeted Audit Project, in which regulatory scrutiny was applied to 22 registered training organisations (RTOs) that were also approved VET FEE-HELP providers.

On the basis of the 2015 audit finding, ASQA undertook further regulatory scrutiny of the provider in 2016 as part of its 2016 VET FEE-HELP Regulatory Strategy.

“Between May and November last year ASQA undertook regulatory scrutiny of 26 training providers which it - in collaboration with the Department of Education and Training - had identified as providers of concern,” Mr Paterson said.