Decision reserved on unregistered school
The director of an unregistered private training school will have to wait to find out his fate for illegally enrolling international students.
The director and the school faced 33 charges, 16 in relation to the director and 17 for the school for breaches of the Education Act.
Judge Brooke Gibson reserved his decision on sentencing yesterday in the Auckland District Court.
In March, John Billington QC appeared on behalf of the director and the school where he entered a guilty plea. At that appearance, Billington filed permanent name suppressions orders in court citing ‘‘extreme hardship to the defendant’’ and ‘‘undue hardship for students and employees’’.
Yesterday, Judge Gibson granted interim name suppression until the sentencing.
In December 2016, the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) filed criminal prosecutions against the school and its director.
The director and education establishment faced charges relating to the unapproved enrolment of international students, falsely claiming the institution’s courses were approved by NZQA, and the unauthorised use of ‘‘protected terms’’ such as ‘‘New Zealand’’ to describe its offerings, NZQA chief executive quality assurance Grant Klinkum said.
Crown prosecutor Mark Harborow, acting on behalf of NZQA, said the establishment was not registered and never had been.
‘‘It cannot by law offer something on the [NZQA] framework that’s not registered,’’ he said.
Harborow said the establishment gave the impression that it could offer awards or qualifications in an official way.
The establishment was also unlawful in enrolling international students as an unregistered entity, Harborow said. ‘‘These weren’t enrolments out of the blue, [the defendant] was warned in September 2015 not to enrol international students by NZQA.’’
NZQA was then advised by the school it would not do so, Harborow said. However, it carried through with enrolling 18 international students.
Judge Gibson reserved his decision on the sentencing and the name suppression.