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Review summary
Open Colleges has mixed reviews from customers. Customers particularly appreciate service and professional, though some mention concerns about communication and customer service.
I completed my Certificate in Nail Technology and had a mixed experience.
The staff are AMAZING and always offer great support. Ellena, the course instructor offers excellent insight and advice around the realities of being a working Nail Technician.
My issues are with the platform itself and the out of date education being provided (which is NOT the fault of Open Colleges) and the lack of emphasis of WHERE nail products are manufactured for higher safety.
For example:
1. Having to upload a 8-10 minute recording, in mp4 format, that is under 470mb is ridiculous. (It says 500mb
but anything over 470-480 won’t work)
2. The overwhelming typos and confusing sentence structure is absolutely unprofessional to say the least
3. The constant going on about nail polish when MOST NAIL TECHS DO NOT USE this is out of date (again not the fault of OC)
4. The lack of actual education around Nail Art is disappointing given the reality of today’s working Nail Tech and what we are expected to be able to do/create
Overall, the staff are fantastic but the platform itself? Definitely needs to be improved.
the reading materials were often set for the American context rather than Australian and often full of typos. Navigating around the modules when doing assignments was clunky. Assessment tasks included menial activities that were time consuming but not a reasonable test of skill or knowledge (eg 'write an email to explain your findings'). Requirement for role plays wih multiple actors was a burden on family.
One of the great services of Open Colleges was having quick access to a teacher and get feedback within an hour. The times when the teacher was away they would contact me via email or phone when back at work. This service made learning blockages minimal and thus made studying easy and enjoyable.
The mini video lectures, quizes and written material was straightforward to understand and the assignments were all applicable to practical accounting work.
A few months after finishing my Certificate IV in Accounting and Bookkeeping I obtained a full-time accounting job. A big reason for this was the quality of the course from Open Colleges was of a high standard and the assistance from teachers was excellent. Highly recommend Open Colleges
Certificate III in Nail Technology course experience
I almost done my Certificate III in Nail Technology course. Happy with open college and appreciated the course and im really happy and thankful my trainer -Ellena. She is very patience and guidance and helpful and response my every emails very quick. I truly appreciate everything she have done to help me get thru my cause.
Corse material is good for Certificate II in animal studies. However, assessors take a while to mark and grade your assessments and there is little to no support from them. The open colleges student support is not good at all, they take a long while to reply and when they do they are often not very helpful.
Horrible $3,986.38 FORCE LEGAL DEBT RECOVERY & LITIGATION
They will steal your money.
Just money hungry.
Open Colleges Has been reported to Australian Competition & Consumer Commission.
Report Open Colleges to Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, Report is 100% online.
Wanted to change course less then a month when i start, now months open collages don't care, they just want your money.
Called my Bank and told them to stop Open Collages withdrawing payments out of my account.
They have already got more $400 for nothing but apparently that's not enough.
Struggling to pay car insurance
-
STAY AWAY
IF YOU DIDNT LIKE I HAVE, SEEK LEGAL ADVICE
IM SEEKING LEGAL ADVICE
poor course content
poor customer service
Money Hungry
Been to Tafe and University so i have experience with education organisation, they are the worst by far.
Don't waste your money and time, Go to TAFE.
# Post a negative review If you had slimier issue and let others know!
And tell all your friends on social media.
# INJUSTICE UNETHICAL and IMMORAL "Open Colleges"
GO TO Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) if you live in Victoria
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Previous employees of open colleges review on SEEK website;
Careers Advisor - Too much value placed on revenue generation rather than student experience Unrealistic sales targets which put pressure on employees.
Contract Trainer/ Assessor - This organisation is not about quality education for its students, rather about profits for shareholders.
Manager - When you are chasing the money, you are not putting the interest of the students first.
Education Delivery - many broken promises.
AND Reviews on GLASSDOOR website;
Student support officer - Open Colleges is just there for taking money off students rather than helping students succeed
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CONSUMER ACTION LAW CENTRE
Training Provider Open Colleges sued for breach of consumer law
Education, Goods and Services, Media Release Access to Justice
As the crisis in Vocational Education deepens, another student is fighting back by taking on education provider Open Colleges in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
Tanea Ferris (a 52 year old single mother of 3) of Hoppers Crossing was signed up to study online for a Diploma of Interior Design and Decoration with Open Colleges Pty Ltd in February 2014. It is alleged that Open Colleges breached the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) by engaging in unfair sales tactics. This included its sales representative telling Ms Ferris that enrolling in the course would make her deceased mother happy.
The ‘outline of dispute’ also alleges misleading and deceptive conduct by Open Colleges. The application claims that Ms Ferris raised concerns that the course may be too difficult for her as she had only a Year 10 education, but that she was told by the sales representative that she would pass with ‘flying colours’, downplaying the difficulty of the course.
“Private colleges should not be putting sales before education” says Consumer Action CEO Gerard Brody.
“Students looking to improve themselves can be particularly vulnerable. Sophisticated and emotionally charged sales tactics can put a business at risk of breaching the ACL”.
“One of the biggest problems our clients face in these situations is the requirement to continue paying fees even after they have withdrawn from the course.” says Mr Brody, “The Federal Government has introduced some vital reforms in this sector, but the courses like those offered by Open Colleges that charge a fee-for-service, rather than through a VET FEE-HELP loan, have so far been untouched.”
“The introduction of an industry-funded, independent Ombudsman in this sector would also assist Ms Ferris and many like her. An Ombudsman would be completely free for students, and able to resolve this case quickly, efficiently and without the need for legal representation,” says Mr Brody.
After finding the
Has been a great learning experience and had some fun times,the only down side is that Prac is not long enough. Has been a good flexible option to study two days a week at college and the rest at home and is perfect to fit around family commitments.
interaction with course coordinators the sense of student community was lacking even though I tried to interact with other learners. The coordinator needs to do an audit of working links throughout each unit as other leaner kept leaving comments like link not working or just downright negative which is not productive at all. Maybe add an additional comment box to the comment box just for report errors. Turn around time for assessor to get assessments back really affects the two year original limit for learning which put extra stress on ability to learn comfortably. You should increase the course time to take into consideration the 2 week assessment return time. You need more web conferences for the hardest concepts of the course ...coding , java script, HTML, database, sql, just a bit more from the college would have been helpful. But overall the assessor were positive and helpful when assessments were not right which was appreciated. Thank you for your efforts there is always time for more research and that is something that I constantly lacked but we all need something to improve on :)
When ever I called to speak to a representative they were always helpful, plus the trainers who I had dealt with were helpful too. I would recommend open colleges as my experience with them has been great.
The genuine support, encouragement and guidance provided by Open Colleges has helped me throughout this new experience of online learning. My assessor was pivotal in creating a very fluid and engaging course of study.
By completing this course, made me feel to be truly thankful to Open Colleges for reminding me the commitment, discipline, and perseverance I have been gone through. Thank you so much for motivating us to finish till the end. My tears rolled out on my face when I received my certificate. I am proud to be an alumni of Open Colleges.
Good experience I enjoyed studying at open colleges I liked how supportive they are, and the lectures are very knowledgeable and have a very good experience.
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