Interview with Anurag Kanwar - BEc, LLB, LLM, GDLP, AAPRI, FIML, MAICD.
Anurag has over 15 years of experience in higher education all within the private higher education space. She is the executive secretary of the GCA Board of Directors. She is a prolific commentator on LinkedIn with over 6000 followers commenting on international education, technology and continuous experience.
She is a practising lawyer specialising in the area of corporate governance and risk. She is also an experienced lecturer and publishes in the area of international education and business law. She is a board member of the Australian Risk Management Institute, and a member of their Education Committee of the Australian Risk Management Institute. She is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Managers and Leaders, an Associate of the Australian Risk Management Institute and an Associate Director of the Project Management Institute Sydney Chapter.
She is also a member of Law Ninjas online networking group for in-house lawyers and the former deputy convener of the admissions and compliance working group of IEAA. Outside of the international education and law space, Anurag is a member of the Career Progress Network Sydney Chapter a group dedicated to helping young people and immigrants gaining employment.
Anurag is currently the Compliance and Continuous Improvement Director at Group Colleges Australia.
Sukh Sandhu: As a supporter and promoter of vocational education and training in Australia, what roles have you played?
Anurag Kanwar: I worked for a number of dual sector providers, and in private practice, I assisted RTOs in meeting their compliance obligations through internal audits and performing audit rectification work.
Sukh Sandhu: What are your thoughts on the ways ASQA is currently changing its regulatory and legislative practices?
Anurag Kanwar: I don’t work in VET anymore but from my reading, ASQA is now moving towards more self-assurance for institutions with a greater emphasis on evidence.
Sukh Sandhu: Why has working in the vocational education and training sector been rewarding?
Anurag Kanwar: The sector is dynamic and has the means to change people’s lives.
Sukh Sandhu: Why is working in the VET sector challenging?
Anurag Kanwar: Changes to the regulatory environment. There was a time when there were changes every 2 weeks. This then creates a high cost of compliance.
There are also a number of consultants in the sector who are not legally trained which also can be problematic. There is also sometimes a mismatch between the various pieces of legislation. For example, a number of providers found themselves in breach of the ESOS Act because they were delivering short courses such as responsible service of alcohol to international students. The providers were not CRICOS registered.
Sukh Sandhu: What do you believe are the primary threats to the Australian VET system?
Anurag Kanwar: The pandemic with its challenges and the high cost of regulatory compliance.
Sukh Sandhu: What do you wish someone had told you when you first started out in this position?
Anurag Kanwar: A sense of humour is a must. Another tip is to understand risk and what mitigation strategies can be used.
Sukh Sandhu: What would you like to communicate to training providers operating within the regulated environment?
Anurag Kanwar:
- Sign up for ASQA and TEQSA alerts
- Twitter is a good source of information from government agencies.
- Connect with other industry people. We can all share from each other.
Anurag Kanwar can be contacted through the LinkedIn profile. https://www.linkedin.com/in/anurag-k
