ACCC Closes Investigation into Allegations of Cartel Conduct in Tertiary Education Sector
Tuesday 10 January 2017 @ 10.35 a.m. | Legal Research | Trade & Commerce
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has completed its inquiries into alleged anti-competitive conduct by tertiary admissions centres (TACs) and revealed that it has decided to discontinue its investigation.
The ACCC commenced its investigation after the Australian National University (ANU) alleged that the:
- Western Australian Tertiary Institutions Service Centre (TISC); and the
- South Australian Tertiary Admissions Centre (SATAC)
had both, independently, refused to supply tertiary admission services to ANU.
Background
Improving the Transparency of Higher Education Admissions Processes was published on 16 November 2016. One of the report’s considerations was whether the current state-based arrangements allowed students’ mobility to apply to institutions across state borders. See TimeBase’s previous article for more on this topic.
On 16 December 2016, the Government announced that it had accepted the recommendations in the Report and will aim to implement as many of the recommendations as possible for the start of the 2018 academic year.
The ACCC began an investigation in April 2016 into alleged anti-competitive conduct after admissions centres in Queensland, WA and SA rejected the ANU’s bid for membership.
According to the ANU Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic Professor Marnie Hughes-Warrington, a Federal Government push to make university admissions more transparent meant the ACCC investigation was no longer warranted.
The Allegations
The ANU had alleged that this course of action was for the purpose of preventing or restricting ANU from attracting students based in WA and SA respectively, and competing with the local tertiary institutions in those States.
Professor Hughes-Warrington said the refusal made it more difficult for students from these States to attend the national university in Canberra, but commented that as of December 2016, the Federal Government had accepted the findings of the review:
"… The changes will guarantee fairness, openness and equal access to all students across Australia when choosing where to study. As Australia's national university, around half of the annual student preferences to study at ANU come from people who live outside of the national capital. The government move will make it easier for students across Australia to choose where they want to study, either within their home state or in another state."
Comment from the ACCC Commissioner
ACCC Commissioner Sarah Court said:
“In considering this complaint, the ACCC examined a range of potential competition issues, including whether the alleged conduct could substantially lessen competition in the market for tertiary education. While the ACCC recognises that the alleged conduct has the potential to raise competition issues, it has decided to discontinue its investigation in light of the recent Higher Education Standards Panel’s report, Improving the Transparency of Higher Education Admissions Processes. The ACCC has noted recommendations from the Higher Education Standards Panel’s report which, once implemented, will improve the accessibility and comparability of information for prospective students. Implementation of the recommendations is also likely to minimise any lessening of competition arising from the alleged conduct in the future.”
TimeBase is an independent, privately owned Australian legal publisher specialising in the online delivery of accurate, comprehensive and innovative legislation research tools including LawOne and unique Point-in-Time Products.
Sources:
ACCC closes tertiary admissions centres investigation - ACCC Media Release MR 252/16
ACCC drops probe sparked by Australian National University's complaint of cartel conduct - smh.com.au
