Australian Business Academy review: Service of Student Manager and lack of care for students 16

Worst decision of my life.

that place is the worst organise educational institute ever, it is a joke how disorganised it is. I wouldnt even call it educational.

Hi Guys it seems the academy has changed heaps! Was looking on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Australian-Business-Academy/169142723117647
And not impressed on the feedback! There are really good stories!

whole class recieved no certificates or promised jobs on completion two months on and still waiting

One thing I've noticed about ABA is that they have a person going into complaints forums and act as a Student or anonymous personnel and talk up their money scamming school. Looks up and sees the 1 positive comment. Not happy Jan. This organised crime scamming organisation was so bad I almost considered suing them. The funny thing was only 1 out of 20 odd students was satisfied with the college.

They hired a guy who taught us off the Microsoft tutorials and when questioned about it he said it was the syllabus. After the final exam, we were told that we were to fail the computing subject of this course as we did not answer the questions correctly. How could we answer these questions if we were taught something completely different? This shows the lack of attention the Student Manager and their staff have when they hired this fool. The day after the exams, he quit and student manager didn't know what to do.

The main concern I had, was my exam grades. When I completed my certificate, they advised me that I passed all subjects and I was fit and ready for the workforce. I had a meeting with the Student Manager who organised a job interview for me. The SM apparently spoke to all her contacts within the company and spread the word that I was one of the best they have ever had. Of course this was a load of B******* and asked my employer at the time if the SM contacted them and she said no, the SM only sent through my resume and they just happened to have a position at the time. Mind you, I wrote my whole resume by myself no help from them.

To conclude, I think this organisation is not fit to offer courses and needs to examine their procedures. The government should do something about these schools.

I first heard about the Academy through a friend who had enrolled. I thought that the concept was great, and convenient that I could 'study now, pay later'. $20, 000 worth of debt later, I am a very unsatisfied customer!
Materials that had been given to us were poorly put together, and many parts didn't even make sense.
We did not receive relevant learning materials to our required assessment, nor did we receive appropriate support in completing assessment. As great as the concept is, I could have done a 3 year university degree for the cost of one year at Australian Business Academy. It wasn't worth the amount that they charge. I would recommend studying at TAFE/CIT for an extra 6-12 months and spend 10% of the fees.

Don't waste your money! Canberra site is no different from Parematta by the sound of things. I can't believe they can get away with putting such false information on their website! Not a single person in my classroom was satisfied. We all feel as though we paid for our degree. If you are planning on using this school to get into university my advice is DON'T! you are much better off doing a prep course through the university. Trust me, you will save money and learn a whole lot more. To be fair, my tutors were great, but the school itself I would not recommend. They didn't help with employment or the EMP100 program as promised and in fact told our entire class that we "passed" even though we didn't have to do anything. I found the school very unorganised and extremely unprofessional.
It is such a shame as when i had the initial interview everything sounded so wonderful! unfortunately I was filled with false hope.
There are a number of people I know who were students in 2012 who are willing to make a serious complaint.
IF ANYBODY WOULD LIKE TO BE A PART OF THIS PLEASE EMAIL ME AT unhappy.aba.grads@gmail.com
LETS PREVENT PEOPLE FROM WASTING THEIR TIME, MONEY AND EFFORT ON THIS SCHOOL!

About Parramatta Campus - Diploma of IT (Systems Analysis & Design)

Completed a government survey about education, the following was in the survey, minus the last bits which I completely forgot to add!

No assignments/exams provided in training, just a "booklet" of assessment questions to be competed and handed in by end of term. Very little theory covered - everything learnt was done while answering assessment questions.

First term at Australian Business Academy was pathetic and useless with 5 modules completely unrelated to the Course - and all students told if they did not receive a pass for these subjects, they would fail their course, which is EXTREMELY unfair as they had little to zero relevance to the enrolled course.

Use of internship program was pathetic - upon looking for work the 60 hours completed at Australian Business Academy made little impact upon employers as they looked for "longterm and sustained employment".

Fees were extremely unfair at Australian Business Academy. Told at enrolment my enrolment fees would be approximately $16, 000, however upon receiving a statement it was closer to $20, 000.

Campus was very non-stimulating, and completely opposite to what their website states.

The pictures on the website appear to be stock photos with no relation to the campus or course.

Three friends and I from ABA got into UTS Sydney with the Diploma of IT and could get NO credit recognition at all! We were informed that we could get "significant credit recognition" - UTS said Australian Business Academy has NO arrangements with UTS. If only I had paid the $52 for a TAFE Diploma - I could have gotten at lease some credit!

You would think that after paying $15, 000 they could shell out some free tickets to graduation. I had to pay $100 just for my parents and brothers to watch me graduate plus $65 for a ratty old gown.
Their guarantee to find a job within 12 weeks of graduating is also b.s. I graduated 8 months ago and still haven't been able to find a job because I don't have "experience". The 60 hour industry internship is pretty much like the work experience you have to do in year 10. Employers don't seem to count an average of 1.5 weeks of an internship as experience. Imagine that!

Furthermore, I've recently enrollednin university. "Get recognition for prior learning" theybsaid. "First year units are covered". I've just enrolled im bachelor of business management after doing diploma of business management. But what do you know? The content from ABA s significantly short of university standard. That was a bit of a waste of $15, 000 and a year of my life.

Run away from ABA. Run very, very fast...

Hi everyone. My name is Matthew Smith and I’ve been the General Manager of ABA since March 2012. I have been listening to the feedback from our students and we’ve improved our processes and our courseware significantly over the past 18 months.

My apologies to those graduates who did not enjoy their ABA experience. In relation to the points made by the students from 2012 and 2013:

• We now have a Student Representative Council and they are satisfied with our current courseware, but we are continuously improving it regardless. They are also very happy with our current staff.
• All our courses receive one year of credit toward the relevant degree courses at UWS, UC and other institutions. Please see our website for more specific information. Credit towards other degrees is possible, but it is up to the university. This is explained during the student enrolment interview.
• Our Employment Pathways Program (EMP100) prepares our students for job seeking and life at work. The internship is an important part of this program. It is up to the student to find this internship, but we provide support those who are not able to.
• We make our courseware as relevant, interesting and enjoyable as possible, but the units included in our courses are specified by the Australian Skills Quality Authority. We are not able to provide our Graduates with a Diploma if all the units required are not taught in the course.
• Graduation is an optional event we organise for our students. The cost of the Graduation Ceremonies is significantly more that the money recouped from ticket sales, but we are happy to provide our Graduates with this experience.
• We are very proud of the success our graduates have with finding employment and gaining entry into to the University of their choice. We have emailed our 2012 Graduates and those who have not been able to achieve one of these things have been offered ongoing access to our Employment Pathways Program.
If anyone would like to discuss these points, or if you are a Graduate and would like ongoing support, please contact me at matthew.smith@aba.edu.au.

ABA was good to me.. I was happy with the organization :)

I got extra support I was happy with everything and I made it into my 2nd year at uni.

Avoid ABA.

Did an IT Diploma in 2012, the fees do not justify the Diploma, nor the time. They say they fast track courses, I would have been able to finish my course in 3/4 of the time if they hadn't of added a bullcrap *foundation course*, which lasted an entire term, full of subjects unrelated to modules of the IT framework. In fact, upon orientation I was told this was offered free of charge - now it is on my HELP-FEE. Even worse, they were failing students for not completing these subjects that were not relevant to the students chosen study.
The census date is set BEFORE any actual coursework starts for your chosen subject.

It wasn't until after we graduated that we were told universities will more often than not, not accept RPL for ABA as they don't agree with the structure of courses - no exams! Course co-ordinators at UTS know ABA by name and will tell you that it isn't worth anything. I graduated in 2012. Here I am in 2015, still at uni and unable to get a job.

Luke James, was your course called 'Diploma of System Analysis and design"?