Issues Papers

2022

• Improving fairness in written agreements between international students and Australian education providers
  Overseas Students Ombudsman: International students sometimes withdraw from their courses with Australian education providers, and ask for refunds of fees they have pre-paid for periods they won’t study. This issues paper gives guidance to Australian education providers about the written agreement terms that are sometimes applied in those situations, and using principles from the Australian Consumer Law, gives suggestions for ensuring written agreements are fair, reasonable and transparent.
• Private Health Insurance Ombudsman issues paper - Lessons learned following a major system transformation
  Commonwealth Ombudsman: This issues paper sets out lessons health insurers and other customer service organisations can learn from a private health insurer’s experience upgrading its systems. The change impacted the insurer’s ability to deliver services and resulted in a substantial increase in complaints.

2018

• Issues in the administration of the international student protection framework identified through the investigation of complaints about an education agent - June 2018
  Overseas Students Ombudsman: In 2017, the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman identified an emerging issue from a significant number of complaints about an education agent based in Queensland, allegedly defrauding overseas students of tuition and other fees.

2016

• External complaints avenues for international students
  Overseas Students Ombudsman: With the launch of Australia’s first National Strategy for International Education and increasing international student numbers, it is timely to assess whether the current system of external complaint and appeal bodies meets the needs of international students and the sector.

All Issues Papers