Australia

The quality of the Australian education system is protected by prosecuting misleading or deceptive conduct, including the provision of misleading or deceptive information on courses or accreditation. Similar protection is extended to overseas students through the Education Services for Overseas Students (Registration of Providers and Financial Regulation) (ESOS) Act 1991, which requires that "all providers offering education and training services to overseas students must be accredited to provide specific courses (and approved to provide these courses to overseas students) by relevant State/Territory authorities, and be registered on the Commonwealth Register of International Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS)." Quality controls were implemented in 2001-2 through the Multilateral Joint Planning Committee (MJPC) protocol formulated through joint discussions between Federal and State ministries (DETYA 2000e).

In 1997 private providers accounted for 49 percent of external courses not leading to an award and public providers accounted for the remaining 51 percent. With the formalization of state-based laws requiring the accreditation of most awards, the amalgamation of universities, and the search for community-based support for university programs, there has been a significant reduction in the percentage of non-award courses offered by private providers in the postsecondary sector (declining from 73 to 49 percent between 1993 and 1997) and a slight rise in the market share of private providers in enrolled award students (DETYA 2000a). There are 46 tertiary institutions presently obtaining government funding as recognized tertiary providers, in addition to a widespread state system for technical education, and a great number of smaller privately run business, professional, and vocational colleges.