PricewaterhouseCoopers began work on a top-level consulting contract with the federal government's regulator of tertiary colleges twenty-four hours before agreeing to acquire a $5.5 million stake in one such college, the controversial Top Education Group.
abc.net.au/news/pwc-acquired-stake-in-college-while-consulting-to-teqsa/102480774PricewaterhouseCoopers began work on a top-level consulting contract with the federal government's regulator of tertiary colleges 24 hours before agreeing to acquire a $5.5 million stake in one such college, the controversial Top Education Group.
A spokesman for TEQSA has told the ABC that the agency "has been unable to find any documents that show PwC disclosed to TEQSA any conflicts of interest during contracts with the agency in 2016 and 2017"."Relevant contracts used by TEQSA appropriately require the declaration of conflicts of interests."
But the consulting firm's work for the regulator, while failing to disclose its stake in the college, will raise further questions about potential conflicts of interest when PwC consults for government. "Additionally, while a small number of PwC partners also made a personal investment in Top Education Group, none of these partners worked on engagements with the Department of Education or TEQSA."
TEQSA's regulatory decisions have had significant impacts on the education provider. In 2015, TEQSA briefly placed conditions on Top Education Group's accreditation for failing to meet its "threshold standards"; these were revoked seven weeks later after an appeal by the company. Top Education Group boasted, for example, that it has "co-developed with PwC Australia The Belt and Road Development Abroad training program designed to take advantage of the interest in China's Belt and Road Initiative".
The NSW Labor Party has been a significant beneficiary of Top Education Group's largesse, receiving about $150,000 in donations between 2009 and 2012.The decision by PwC's senior partners to invest their own money into Top Education Group came after the private college was thrust into a political storm, when it was exposed as a personal benefactor to controversial former Labor senator Sam Dastyari.
In 2019, Top Education entered into an agreement with artificial intelligence firm iFLYTEK Co. Ltd which, six weeks later, was placed on a trade blacklist by the United States Department of Commerce.
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