“Course work was outdated, riddled with errors and accessing support took ridiculous amounts of time.
It is hard to attain reputable placement due to poor industry reputation and scheduling of meetings with tutors during placement is often impossible.
Did I get a role in the industry? Sure.
Would I study through OC again? No.
Would I recommend anybody study through OC? No.”
Hello Egan,
Firstly, thank you for your feedback, as each piece we receive helps us better improve the student experience.
At Open Colleges, we provide nationally recognised courses, which are part of the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). Courses are subject to review and audited by the Australian Skills Quality Authority. The course you studies is now superseded, and brand-new content is currently being created to meet the new industry requirements.
We appreciate the specific feedback around the difficulties of accessing support and the scheduling of meetings of tutors during placement – this is valuable feedback, which we will be passing on.
We want to end by congratulating you on your graduation. Well done on remaining dedicated to your studies throughout your learning journey. We wish you all the best, as we continue to improve our student experience.
Thank you.
“I had very little quality support all the way through. I’d develop a good relationship with a trainer and then they’d disappear and no one would know where they’d gone. So then I had to start the process again…this occurred twice.
🤯😡
My last trainer/assessor (Michelle) was quality.
She was open with her communication and got the job done. Sadly it took until the very end of my course for me to experience that…”
Hello Christopher,
We want to thank you for your feedback, as every piece we receive helps us improve the student experience. We’re aware that your Allied Health course had some challenging staffing issues. We are working on ways to ensure we can provide students with quality trainer support that is both timely and sustainable. And for now, we have addressed this internally by choosing to discontinue the physiotherapy stream.
We are very glad to hear about your positive experience with your Trainer, Melissa. We’re sure she will be thrilled to hear that she provided you with the support you needed.
Lastly, we would like to congratulate you on your graduation. You overcame many challenges, and you should be very proud of your achievements, and of yourself.
Thank you again for your feedback. All the very best for your future.
“As a mature age student that has not studied since leaving school in 1974 the prospect of entering another industry and study was confronting.
Following discussion with Open Colleges I was happy with what was presented to me (Diploma of Community Services)..let's give it a go! I graduated yeah!
Once You get your head around how you need to research topics on google in conjunction with assessment reading provided, it all makes sense. Just a hint from me...when you get to the point of losing your way, that is the trigger point for you to ramp up your research on google and communicate with your trainer.
Good Luck!”
Thank you for your kind words, Roger! We are delighted to hear that your experience with Open Colleges allowed you to transition back into the education world easily and successfully. It is so rewarding for us to hear about our learners' positive experiences and successes! We appreciate your time and feedback. Wishing you all the best!
Best wishes,
The OC Team
Thank you so much, Gagandeep, for giving Open Colleges 5 stars! I'm so glad to hear that the course changed your life and that it has enabled you to secure a full-time job in a primary school. It's truly wonderful to hear that your decision to take the course has been so rewarding. We appreciate your time and feedback. Wishing you all the best!
Best wishes,
The OC Team
“The learning is invaluable and I call on it everyday in my job. While OC was perfect for my situation, online 24/7 education comes with big challenges namely instant support with questions at the time you are studying. The biggest help is to form a Facebook chat with peers for a more immediate support group out of business hours. My connections through the Facebook group got me through the tough modules and I secured placement through a fellow member.”
Thank you for your feedback! We're glad to hear that the learning with Open Colleges has been invaluable to you. We understand the challenges of online education and appreciate your suggestion of forming a Facebook chat group for support. Your experience and connections within the group are truly valuable. Thank you for sharing your journey with us!
Best wishes,
The OC Team
“The course I enrolled in was perfect for me as exactly at the time of enrollment I experienced a sudden health crisis and had to be indoors most of the day. I would have gone crazy if I wouldn't have had this interesting course to work through and it certainly enriched my life. Some teachers were quicker to grade than others but my overall experience was great. I really enjoyed the prac as well.”
Thank you for your feedback, Debra! We appreciate you taking the time to share your experience with us. We're so glad that our course was able to help you get through a challenging time. We really appreciate you being a part of the Open Colleges community. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Wishing you success in all your future endeavors!
Best wishes,
The OC Team
“I completely regret my decision to study with Open Colleges! The new platform is terrible, no support whatsoever ! complaints have been raised by 100+ students from various course and nothing has been done to resolve any issues properly. The complaints department is a complete joke! I personally sent a complaint through after not being able to contact OC for months, with no explanation, no sorry for the inconvenience, nothing! So completely unprofessional.
OC, have a complaints form and a complaints appeal form, which in my opinion is pointless. No such thing as a complaints department as is only 1 person who reviewed and signed both my forms. They should have an appeals team separate.
DO NOT!! I REPEAT DO NOT sign up with open colleges”
Hello,
Thank you for bringing these issues to light. We value feedback, whether it is negative or positive, as they help us implement new processes to better improve the student experience.
In regard to the feedback on the complaints policy, we have passed this onto our management team, and our goal now is to improve in this area to make it a better process for our students. We know that communication is paramount, and we are working on improving our processes based off student feedback like yours.
We are happy to say that we have been working hard to improve upon the issues with our new platform. We are constantly improving it for a better and smoother student experience, and the content is being fixed.
While we continue to improve, we do want to congratulate you on your graduation. You have managed to overcome and remained dedicated and committed to your studies throughout. You should be very proud of yourself!
“Terrible support, won’t help with work placement which was near impossible to find and they make you jump though hoops to pass assignments for petty things and then charge to resubmit assignments. Don’t study with Open Colleges…”
Hello Gary,
Firstly, we do want to thank you for speaking up about the challenges you faced whilst studying with us. We know that we cannot improve the student experience unless we’re aware of the issues that our students are facing.
While it is the responsibility of our students to find an organisation to complete work placement, we’re aware that it can be very difficult. We do offer some support if you have trouble after trying a certain amount of places. But we know that placement in the health services was extremely difficult in the pandemic due to the unprecedented restrictions.
We are looking at more effective ways to support students in the search for their work placement in this post pandemic world, and it’s something that we are continuing to improve upon going forward.
We do want to congratulate you on your graduation. The health services industry is so essential, and we know you will make an impact there. We wish you all the best with your bright future.
“Online study with Open Colleges made my life easy. Flexible, as I could study in my own time. Trainers were helpful and got good feedback with assignments. After completing placement, I was successful in gaining a new job. Thank you Open Colleges.”
Thank you so much for your rating and feedback! We're glad to hear that online study with Open Colleges was a great experience for you, and helped you gain a new job. We are always striving to make our learning environment the best it can be, and your feedback is invaluable. Thank you again for your kind words!
Best wishes,
The OC Team
“Open Collages is an easy, supportive and prompt platform that helped me gain my certificate online. Help was always there when needed and the educators were lovely all the way through. Would definitely recommend!”
Thank you so much for your rating and feedback, Jessica! We're so pleased to hear that Open Colleges was an easy, supportive, and prompt platform that helped you successfully earn your certificate online. We are delighted to have been able to provide you with the help you needed, and our educators do a fantastic job! We wish you all the very best in your future successes!
Best wishes,
The OC Team
“Terrible terrible experience!! If you wanna lose weight from stress and see how much stress you can possibly cope with and cry all the time then sure, yeah go for open colleges. Have fun. Im so grateful that I can do what I love in spite of the lack of “support” or help from open colleges. But I tell everyone I know not to go with open colleges. Such a nightmare. Seriously.”
Hello Lindsay,
Firstly, we do want to thank you for speaking up about the challenges you faced whilst studying with us. We know that we cannot learn from our mistakes unless we’re aware of the issues that our students are facing.
We want you to know that we are currently addressing student support by implementing a whole new orientation process to help improve the student experience.
We will continue to improve based off student feedback, but for now, we want to congratulate you on your graduation. Congratulations on all your hard work and effort. You should be very proud of your amazing achievement. We certainly are.
We thank you again for your feedback, and we wish you all the best for your bright future.
