Anger as GEOS collapse leaves students and staff A$10 million out of pocket
All GEOS English language schools in Australia were permanently closed yesterday, leaving students and staff owed more than A$10 million in fees and salaries.
The announcement came after administrators Ernst and Young established the Japanese owners had left the network with no money to continue trading.
According to The Australian, students, landlords and agents could be owed around $10 million, with nearly 400 staff also owed millions. Meanwhile, up to 1000 students who paid GEOS for homestay accommodation could face eviction.
There were angry scenes at Geos’ Manly campus last night as staff and students learned of their fate at a meeting called by administrators. Students anxious to know about their visa status were met with blank faces by administrators while teachers – already angered by the fact they were not invited to the meeting and only learned of it via Facebook – were told to fill in a form for outstanding pay which could take at least six weeks to arrive.
Yesterday, executive director of peak body English Australia Sue Blundell told Thumbrella it was working to place GEOS students with other EA member colleges.
By Martin Lane · February 2nd, 2010 at 10:50 am
Comments
2 Feb 10
2:31 pm
On the other side of the Australian language school ledger the Navitas group made a $27 million (+45%) net profit.
http://www.smh.com.au/business.....-n74l.html
Good news for some.
greg cole
2 Feb 10
3:34 pm
Not so sure…. in addition to strong AUD, new student visa regime kicked in 1st January and effects may not be felt till April then mid year entry points. Many students may have applied, paid fees and done visa before 31 December to avoid these changes….
Also why population spiked year ago, to avoid impact of rumoured migration changes….
3 Feb 10
12:00 pm
Hi Andrew,
where can you point me to read some detail on these changes.
Cheers
greg cole
3 Feb 10
2:56 pm
Student visa changes here http://www.immi.gov.au/students/whats_new.htm plus lots more scrutiny of major markets such as India, China etc. and uncertainty regarding study to PR pathways, processing etc.
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