Australian Colleges Shut Down
As of 7th November, 2009 few thousand students will be stranded out in the chill because their Colleges have shut down in Australia. These are colleges run by Meridian Group and the Global Campus Management Group.
Colleges that were affected are as follows:
1) Meridian International School
2) Median International Hotel Management
3) Meridian English Pty Ltd
4) Meridian College Pty Ltd
5) GCM Fashion Institute Pty Ltd
6) International Design School
7) Internation College of Creative Arts.
Meridian had a big network of agents and consultants working to recruit students for thee colleges from India. In India their marketing was run by a group called Campus Management Group. Entire agent network in India was managed by Campus Management Group. Even the offer letters to students were issued by the group in India.
Eventually the Campus Management Group was bought over by the Meridian Group and called as Global Campus Management Group. The Indian company was run by Mr. Sumit Agarwal who now claims that he knows just as much as anyone else about the closure of the Colleges. Even he was not informed about the sudden closure. Sources say that Sumit, is now out of the country in Australia to discuss with the Meridian management about the future course of action. Sources say that he seems to be in as much of a shock as anyone else.
But the agents and students in India are aiming guns at the Campus Management group in India becaue they are ultimately responsible for the India network. In this entire collapse students and agents have lost out majorly because some students have already paid fee for the upcoming intake while agents are waiting for their share of commissions for the past few quarters. Sources say that the Meridian Group owes crores of Rupees to the agents in terms of commissions. Some agents are now worried that students would seek compensation from the agents for the amount that they have already paid the College.
Sources say that AAERI, which is an Indian body representing all the Australian agents is considering various options including legal action against the Meridian Group. They are also in discussion with the Australian Legal counsel for seek further course of action. It remains to be seen how and when the students and agents can get back their compensation.
For more information about the Australian Colleges that shut down, please visit the link: http://collegetou.com/australia-news/australian-colleges-shut-down
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