★Companies on CrowdTrust can't offer incentives or pay to hide any reviews.
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My issues are with the platform itself and the out of date education being provided (which is NOT the fault of Open Colleges) and the lack of emphasis of WHERE nail products are manufactured for higher safety.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 The constant going on about nail polish when MOST NAIL TECHS DO NOT USE this is out of date (again not the fault of OC)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.
Better off studying with Tafe and more trusted avenues. my experience was horrible I paid way too much for something I never got, because their units and site is full of crap. I've studied many qualifications by far this was the worst.I tried multiple times to complete assignments contact teacher for support, I got nothing... these fake money scamming fk tards and liars.
Just criminals, no compassion or care at all, no morals
Started my course in around June this year, however due to unforeseen circumstances due to domestic violence, I was unable to complete or continue course. I only managed the first quiz, never used support team etc. I have an Bachelors degree and wanted to progress in study further, however the strain of this was too much.
I completed a Special Circumstances Form along with my Protection Order and supporting documentation. They said I can drop out but need to pay the full cost of the course out. No options to transfer money to another course after some time. No compassion or care at all, no real beliefs or morals in helping people to achieve their study. Just criminals, do not waste your money and time in this company.
I enjoyed the flexibility OC offered to me and my family when we chose to travel, gave me the opportunity for new experiences.
My trainers and assessors have elevated the course to exceptional standards and were helpful through the challenges I was facing personal and otherwise. I am forever appreciative of them.
To the amazing support team who were always available when I had a question or had issues while out on practicals, you were amazing.
The college was very helpful with extenstions that i required for various reasons.
Assignments were often long and the final portfolios during work placement were also detailed and comprehensive. Role plays that are included in the final exam were not as intimidating as I had expected and the tutor was encouraging and gave helpful feedback.
This is the worst studying experience to date. Wouldn’t get responses for months! Wouldn’t get clear communication on what was happening with anything. Had to constantly call and chase. Wasn’t until I asked to make a formal complaint that I got a response. This was 4 months later!
My advice study anywhere else but Open colleges.
Throughout the Modules some hyperlinks don't work, and it also has spelling and grammar mistakes.
If you worked full time and had a family it will be very difficult to complete the course within the 12 months allocated.
The video assessments are very involved and will require other people to assist on occasion. They also require more time than indicated to provide and show all the information the students are expected to give. Meaning that often information gets prioritised and discussed but not necessarily demonstrated, and then you have to resubmit video assessments in order to show you carrying out that activity instead of just detailing it.
I believe a lot of people are attracted to Open Colleges as they offer payment plans. They're incredibly attentive when selling the course, however rest assured that this contact will cease as soon as you've signed the bottom line. I study at university full time, and work part time. This certificate III in individual support was just to gain industry experience for my Masters program and unfortunately, it turned out to be the endeavour from hell.
There are major issues with course content, assessments, student support, teaching support, and placements. Student support via a "live chat" do not help with assignment-related queries (rendering them mostly useless). Instead, you must message a "tutor" and wait any number of days for a response. Learning materials offer surface-level learning with masses of written content. Sometimes, they'll have taken a youtube video from somewhere and added it to their content, but more often than not, these external sources are 'broken'. In response to such and other content issues relating directly to assignments, I was told to "google it".
The assessment items are incredibly dull and repetitive, and they do not promote an effective learning style. Once you have submitted an assignment, you're meant to have your marks within 10 business days. This is NOT the case. Marking can take up to 6 weeks. You'll get your grade back and, in some cases, the result was unsatisfactory because I had mistyped my student number or name. So, I'd fix the error, re-submit it, and then have to wait another 2-6 weeks for it to be approved.
These abhorrent delays, combined with the pathetic content, have you wondering from the very start where the thousands of dollars each student is paying is going. Furthermore, the delays mean that you are then very unlikely to be able to complete your assessment items within the mandated time period to complete the course. Therefore, many students find themselves having to pay anywhere up to $600AUd for an extension of up to 6 months. If that still isn't enough (for many, it's not), your course will be closed, your money will not be refunded, and you will be left with nothing and thousands out of pocket.
I particularly warn anyone who is going to be doing a course that requires industry placement. Many places (and, you can't blame them), do not take students from Open Colleges. I found this out the hard way after spending 3 months applying for placements. The colleges says that it helps with finding placement. It doesn't. They'll send you a form with hints and tips about how to make phone calls and write a resume. They do not have preferred providers in many or any areas-- so you're completely on your own. I found my placement through distant nepotism. Due to the nature of the course, I began my placement completely under-prepared but was lucky enough to have a wonderful supervisor who showed me the ropes.
I could go on, with pages of documented issues I've had during my course-- but, I don't want to waste any more energy on this pathetic organisation. What I do want to do is to warn absolutely everyone and anyone I can not to study here under any circumstance.
Marking assessments very slow, you gonna make a thousands of calls before your assessor gonna mark your assessments, you will keep emailing all the time you would never get reply, that what i have been through with open colleges before getting my certificate, but hopefully they would change their ways to make it better
Open collegues was a beautiful experience to improve my knowledge and skills in Human Resources to return to work since being the mother of two girls.
The knowledge was professional and personal because I had to improve my habits to achieve the discipline necessary to achieve daily student objectives.
Thank you very much Open Collegue for all your support and teaching in my professional career. You are excellent
From the admin/Student Support through time the course and the setup within the online system, I would absolutely not recommend Open Colleges.
The Student Support don’t follow through with any enquires and I had to ring multiple times just to get anything done. They make you jump through lots of red tape to do anything. Often, I would ask about something simple to be sent and it would be promised to me within a couple of days. More than a week later and it still wasn’t done. I’d call again to follow up. Same process. Can take weeks to get what you are asking for. Sometimes months.
The course setup on the site was hard to read and reference as you have to go to a new page each topic. Having to search through all of the pages to find where a small paragraph of text was frustrating.
Communicating with the assessors is useless as it can take a few days between each correspondence for the assessor to respond. This means it can take up to 2 weeks for 4 or 5 back and forth questions rendering their assistance almost useless.
The course itself had multiple spelling and grammar errors. For any teaching references, spelling and grammar errors are just unacceptable.
I wouldn’t recommend Open Colleges to anyone. Let alone the course. Both the system and support were not student oriented.
Anyone can write a CrowdTrust review. People who write reviews have ownership to edit or delete them at any time, and they'll be displayed as long as an account is active.
We champion verified reviews
Companies can ask for reviews via automatic invitations. Labeled Verified, they're about genuine experiences.
We fight fake reviews
We use automated software and a dedicated team to detect and remove fake reviews. We take action against anyone who tries to manipulate reviews on our platform.
We show the latest reviews
Reviews are displayed chronologically with the newest first, ensuring you always see the most recent customer experiences.
We encourage constructive feedback
We believe in honest, constructive feedback that helps both consumers make informed decisions and businesses improve their services.
We verify reviewers
We use various verification methods to ensure reviews come from real people with genuine experiences, not bots or fake accounts.
We advocate against bias
We work to ensure our platform remains neutral and unbiased, giving equal opportunity for all genuine reviews to be seen and heard.
