Students only sausage rolls in Aussie takeover   4 Sep 2015

Students only sausage rolls in Aussie takeover

Students will suffer when Academic Colleges Group (ACG) gets swallowed up by an Australian company that makes everything from electricity to sausage rolls, says the national student union.

Under the current Government’s loose approach to private education, ACG has grown to be the largest private provider of university foundation studies and tertiary training. With 12,000 students and 1000 staff across its varied operations, ACG even runs high schools.

The takeover company is Pacific Equity Partners (PEP), one of Australia’s largest private equity firms. Among PEP’s subsidiaries is Australian Pinnacle Bakery and Integrated Ingredients, which delivers ‘more than 3,300 frozen, chilled and dry products each week’, including sausage rolls.

The transfer proves that students have become a commodity to be bought and sold by profit-seeking companies, the union says.

“Our students will matter as much to this Aussie outfit as a batch of sausage rolls" says New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations President Rory McCourt.

He says some of ACG's schools like the Yoobee School of Design were performing well recently, and the transfer could put student success in jeopardy.

“What happens if they flick these providers off in a few short years, like they’ve done with Tegel and Spotless in the past? Changing ownership is stressful for staff and disruptive for students’ learning. What we need are providers who stick around, put us first, and put profits last.”

“Sadly, the only equation made in this deal was whether the shareholders will see future profits worthy of purchasing this provider. Where is the concern for learning, for students, for New Zealand’s needs for skills and training? Those considerations are painfully absent. There is no explanation about what qualifies these investors to run our most precious institutions, or evidence of their commitment to education.”

“Deals like this are all about money-making and they’re the inevitable consequence of privatising education funding. And all propped-up by public money.” says McCourt.

The takeover is worth $530 million, The Australian Financial Review reports.

ENDS

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