Melbourne training college collapses less than a year after sale

The founder of a collapsed education provider says “drastic” changes to the visa laws for international students have damaged the education sector, one of Australia’s top industries.

Bill Kardamitsis, who founded the collapsed Melbourne-based Australian Institute of Technology and Education in 2004 but sold the business around the end of 2010, says he’s not embarrassed to criticise the Federal Government’s foreign student visa changes.

According to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, the Australian Institute of Technology and Education – a registered training organisation with a range of vocational courses and English language courses – went into administration last week.

“The international education industry is one of the biggest three earners in Australia, no thanks to our politicians,” Kardamitsis says.

“I’m not embarrassed to say this – you don’t have an $18 billion industry and then decimate it.”

New owner Mark Smith is described in a company document from earlier this year as a “successful entrepreneur and venture capitalist with years of experience in the information technology and telecommunications field.”

According to the company’s founder, Australian Institute of Technology and Education made a couple of mistakes: increasing fees when demand had fallen, and cutting fees to immigration agents and education consultants who find international students.

Calls to the Australian Institute of Technology and Education could not be connected.

The company’s administrators, Brooke Bird in Hawthorn East, were also contacted for comment but did not respond before deadline.

A creditors meeting is to be held this week.