Eight collapsed language schools owned by the Japanese-based GEO Group will remain shut, leaving the places of 2,300 students up in the air and 390 employees out of work.
Administrators Justin Walsh and Adam Nikitins of Ernst & Young said in a brief statement released yesterday that the financial position of the schools, which were shut down last week, was such that they could not continue to trade.
“We are continuing to investigate the financial affairs of the companies and will report to key stakeholders in due course,” the pair said.
Total debts owed to students and other creditors could be as high as $10 million, according to media reports.
The colleges are located in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane, Gold Coast and Cairns, with the largest number of students based in Melbourne (530 students) and Sydney (500 students).
Australia’s international student system contains consumer provision protections which means students at a collapsed school will be given places at other institutions.
The administrators said they will now work with “the Federal Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations and relevant state government departments in relation to alternative arrangements for students”.
“Government agencies will also be holding information meetings for affected students in relation to consumer protection and alternative arrangements from Wednesday this week.”
GEOS Oceania is part of the GEOS Group, which operates language schools in North America, Europe, Singapore, South Africa, Korea and New Zealand.
Most of the schools in Australia have been running since the 1990s, while the Brisbane campus was established in 1987.
GEOS, which stands for Global Education Opportunities and Services, was founded in Japan in 1973 by Tsuneo Kusunoki.
The company’s global expansion has been wound back somewhat in the last few years, with 10% of the company’s Japanese schools shut down in 2007 and centres in Vancouver and London closed in 2008.
Troubles at the GEOS college in Melbourne appear to have been mounting in recent months. According to The Age, the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority had become concerned about GEOS following a financial audit.
The collapses are another blow to Australia’s beleaguered international education system, which has seen a string of high-profiled failures in the last 12 months.
Sterling College and Melbourne International College went under in July, while four schools – Meridian International School, Meridian International Hotel School, International Design School and International College of Creative Arts – with a total of 13 campuses, collapsed in November.
Collapsed college owes students $10m
THE collapsed GEOS English language college network was permanently shut yesterday after administrators discovered the Japanese owners had left it with no money to keep going.
Students and staff are owed more than $10 million in pre-paid fees and entitlements.
Worst-hit are about 1000 students who had paid GEOS for homestay accommodation and who could now face eviction.
GEOS student Joachim Adam from Germany has already been told by his landlady in Melbourne to immediately pay his weekly rent of $220 dollars or leave, even though he has already paid all his rent to GEOS.
“I must pay by this evening or I must go,” he said.
Administrator Justin Walsh of Ernst and Young said remaining funds “are vastly insufficient to continue trading”. GEOS was put into administration by its Japanese parent on Friday.
The Australian understands students, landlords and agents could be owed about $10 million, while the entitlements of the nearly 400 staff also run into the millions.
Student fees are protected under an assurance scheme run by peak body English Australia in which students are entitled to be placed with other colleges.
English Australia said it was confident of being able to place all students, but some are already regretting they chose to study in Australia.
Mario Galindo, a 39-year-old university tutor from Colombia, paid almost $7000 for a ten-month course to improve his English. He has been left stranded with two months tuition owed.
“I thought this was a serious country . . . but now I think it was a mistake,” Mr Galindo said.
Pina Vigo of West Preston in Melbourne was yesterday showing her newly arrived nephew, Filippo Zilio, from Italy, where his GEOS college was, only to find it closed. Mr Zilio, 19 had paid for a month’s study.
“It stinks,” Ms Vigo said. “How can they do this to the students? How can the government not know?”
GEOS has schools in NSW, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia.
Corporate pension age ‘to rise to 65’
The government will raise the eligibility age for a corporate, defined contribution pension plan from the current 60 to 65, chiefly in response to an increase in the number of employees working past the standard retirement age of 60, sources said.
Should the eligibility age be raised for the plan–a Japanese version of the U.S. 401K corporate pension plan–the accumulation period for financial contributions would be extended, thereby increasing the amount that pensioners could receive during retirement.
To raise the eligibility age, the government will submit a bill to revise the Defined Contribution Pension Law during the ongoing ordinary Diet session, according to the sources.
There has been an increase in companies that employ workers past 60, by extending the retirement age ceiling or rehiring retired employees.
The trend is attributable to the fiscal 2006 enactment of the revised Older Persons’ Employment Stabilization Law, which requires companies to extend, in stages, the employment age of workers up to 65.
However, under the current corporate pension plan, employees who turn 60 must leave the plan. This has prompted calls to raise the eligibility age for making financial contributions to 65.
The government plans to implement the age hike in April 2012. The qualified retirement annuity system, which has been adopted mainly by small and midsize companies, is to be abolished at the end of March the same year, making it necessary to improve the corporate pension plan to accept those workers covered by the system.
The revised plan also will make it possible for workers themselves to financially contribute to the plan. Under the current system, only companies can contribute.
Foreigners win ¥17 million for trainee abuses
The Kumamoto District Court awarded more than ¥17 million in damages Friday to four Chinese interns who were forced to work long hours for low wages in Kumamoto Prefecture.
The court ordered that the union Plaspa Apparel, which arranged the trainee work for the four, to pay ¥4.4 million and that the actual employer, a sewing agency, pay ¥12.8 million in unpaid wages.
It is the first ruling that held a job broker for foreign trainees liable for their hardships, according to lawyers representing the four interns.
The four female Chinese trainees, aged 22 to 25, engaged in sewing from early morning to late evening with only two or three days off a month after arriving in Japan in 2006, according to the court.
Big gap as Coast’s language school shuts
MORE than 250 foreign students receiving tuition on the Gold Coast have been left without a school and, for some, a place to live after their English language school was closed suddenly yesterday.
Eight schools operated in Australia by the GEOS group, including one in Surfers Paradise, shut their doors in the afternoon after receivers were appointed when the group went into voluntary liquidation.
Nationally, the closure affects about 2300 students from countries such as Japan, China, Switzerland, Argentina and Brazil.
Jean-Baptiste Fouroux, 29, from France who had been studying at the Queensland College of English in Surfers for two months, said he was shocked.
“We have been told nothing,” he said last night. “I went to class today (Friday) and they said nothing to us.
“If this is true, I want my money back. I’ve paid $320 a week for my course which runs for 12 weeks.
“I don’t know what I will do.”
Mr Fouroux’s host father in Mermaid Waters, Christian Ulrichsen, also was unaware of the administrators moving in.
“I have two students staying with me,” said Mr Ulrichsen.
“I haven’t been informed — I haven’t even gotten an email.
“I will assist them as best I can but I’m limited in my resources.”
Justin Walsh and Adam Nikitins of Ernst & Young are administrators to nine companies operating the schools in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane and Cairns.
Bill Egerton, who is contracted by GEOS to pick up foreign students for the Surfers Paradise school in his Koala Blue bus, said: “The receivers walked in and told everyone to leave. They have closed the doors. I’m owed about $4000 from them.”
Mr Egerton said there were about 260 students at the school.
He said 15 students were due to arrive this weekend but would have nowhere to go.
“These kids pay $10,000 to $15,000 each for tuition.”
The administrators said a better understanding of the financial situation and a decision on future operations should be known by the close of business on February 1.
http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2010/01/30/183565_gold-coast-news.html
Shock as St Mark’s International College shuts doors
EMOTIONAL scenes erupted outside a Perth language school today after it closed unexpectedly due to financial problems.
Dozens of foreign students, who have already paid thousands of dollars for courses, were still arriving for night English classes at St Mark’s International College in Perth tonight.
The school is one of eight language schools across Australia, owned by the GEOS group, that went into voluntary administration this afternoon.
About 2300 foreign students are currently enrolled across the nation, facing an uncertain future.
Some students could be forced to return home if the terms of their visas have been breached because they are unable to take part in full-time study.
Justin Walsh and Adam Nikitins of Ernst & Young have been appointed administrators to nine companies operating the schools in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane, Gold Coast and Cairns. They have about 390 employees and international students from a number of different countries.
“The financial position of the companies is such that the directors appointed voluntary administrators,” Mr Walsh and Mr Nikitins said in a statement on Friday.
“School operations have been temporarily suspended while the financial situation of the companies and ability to fund future operations of the schools is assessed over the next few days.”
The companies under administration are GEOS Melbourne Pty Ltd, GEOS Adelaide Pty Ltd, GEOS Sydney Pty Ltd, GEOS Cairns Pty Ltd, GEOS Gold Coast Pty Ltd, GEOS Perth Pty Ltd, GEOS Brisbane Pty Ltd, GEOS Management Services Pty Ltd and GEOS National English Academy Pty Ltd.
The administrators said a decision on future operations should be known by the close of business on Monday, February 1. Students have been told to return for a meeting at 2pm.
“Employees, students and creditors will be advised as soon as possible,” the administrators said.
One student said she had paid $3000 for a three-month English course, while another stood to lose $11,000 for a 12-month course.
Students huddled together outside the college tonight, unsure of what the future held for them.
Eight English language schools in limbo
Eight English language schools operated in Australia by the GEOS group have gone into voluntary administration, leaving about 2300 foreign students unsure of their future.
Justin Walsh and Adam Nikitins of Ernst & Young have been appointed administrators to nine companies operating the schools in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane, Gold Coast and Cairns.
They have about 390 employees and international students from a number of different countries.
“The financial position of the companies is such that the directors appointed voluntary administrators,” Mr Walsh and Mr Nikitins said in a statement on Friday.
“School operations have been temporarily suspended while the financial situation of the companies and ability to fund future operations of the schools is assessed over the next few days.”
The companies under administration are: GEOS Melbourne Pty Ltd, GEOS Adelaide Pty Ltd, GEOS Sydney Pty Ltd, GEOS Cairns Pty Ltd, GEOS Gold Coast Pty Ltd, GEOS Perth Pty Ltd, GEOS Brisbane Pty Ltd, GEOS Management Services Pty Ltd and GEOS National English Academy Pty Ltd.
The administrators said a better understanding of the financial situation and a decision on future operations should be known by the close of business on February 1.
“Employees, students and creditors will be advised as soon as possible,” they said.
Administrators called to Perth school
Ernst and Young has been appointed voluntary administrators to private English language school GEOS Perth and eight other affiliated companies, affecting a total of 2,300 students from a number of countries.
Justin Walsh and Adam Nikitins from E&Y will be administrators of the nine companies that operate eight schools in Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney, Cairns, Gold Coast, Brisbane and Perth.
The schools have about 390 employees.
The pair will also be administrators of GEOS Management Services Pty Ltd and GEOS National English Academy Pty Ltd.
“The financial position of the companies is such that the directors appointed voluntary administrators,” E&Y said.
“School operations have been temporarily suspended while the financial situation of the companies and ability to fund future operations of the schools is assessed over the next few days.”
In 2006, GEOS Perth, which at the time was affiliated with St Mark’s International College, was a finalist in the education export category for the WA Industry and Export Awards.
http://www.wabusinessnews.com.au/en-story/1/78178/Administrators-called-to-Perth-school
Rebuked ex-teachers lose ‘Kimigayo’ suit
The Tokyo High Court on Thursday rejected a demand for compensation by former teachers who argued they were refused postretirement re-employment because they had remained seated during the national anthem at school ceremonies in defiance of their principals’ orders.
The ruling overturned a February 2008 decision by the Tokyo District Court that awarded a total of around ¥27.5 million in compensation to 12 former teachers and a clerk at high schools run by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.
Several lawsuits have been filed, mainly by teachers who have been reprimanded, seeking nullification of the disciplinary measures and a court confirmation that the orders are unconstitutional.
The Tokyo District Court ruled in September 2006 that the board of education cannot force teachers to sing the anthem in front of the national flag or reprimand them for refusing to do so, as such practices infringe on the Constitution.
Guiding hand for Indonesian nurses
Program helps hospital ease assimilation for newcomers
Cultural barriers faced by Indonesian nurses who come to this country to work are gradually being lowered, but the government has yet to help the Japanese hospital staff adapt, according to Keio University professors who recently launched an in-house training program to teach the employees how best to welcome the new additions.
Staff at Saiseikai Yokohamashi Tobu Hospital in Kanagawa Prefecture received training earlier this month from Naomi Sugimoto, a professor of communications studies in Keio’s faculty of nursing and medical care, prior to the arrival of two Indonesian nurses last week.
“The government runs training courses for the Indonesian nurses, but I saw that there was no training for the Japanese staff who are taking them in,” Sugimoto said. “The fact that hospitals are accepting foreign employees for the first time means that their staff have never worked with foreigners, so they are very nervous.”