Ben Houston

Director, Systems and Compliance Section Policy and Systems Branch International Group DET

Ben Houston is Director, Regulation, Recognition and Tuition Protection, Quality Frameworks Branch, International Group in the Department of Education and Training.  Ben has worked in the Department since 1990 spending most of that time in International Group developing and managing the systems that support the international student industry.  He has an extensive knowledge of the legislative frameworks underpinning the international student sector, the consumer protection arrangements for overseas students as well as experience with the AQF and qualification recognition frameworks.  He is also responsible for the DET education agent performance data project using enrolment and visa data from PRISMS.  He is also responsible for Qualification Recognition functions as head of the Australian National Information Centre under the UNESCO Recognition Conventions.  Ben also manages the development and support of the Country Education Profiles, Qualification Assessment Guidelines and approval  of and support for the Skilled Migration Assessing Authorities.

All Sessions by Ben Houston

  • Symposium


  • 11.10 a.m  - 11.40 a.m
    Brett and Ben from the Commonwealth Department of Education and Training will discuss recent developments in the National Code requiring providers offering courses to overseas students to ensure their education agents have appropriate knowledge and understanding of the international education system in Australia. They will describe their continued work to improve the transparency of agents’ operations to ensure providers and students can make well-informed decisions about which agents to work with, and to assist providers to meet their obligations under the ESOS Act. Government has taken further steps since 2017 to improve data sharing among government agencies by providing regulators and enforcement agents with access agent data on PRISMS. Brett and Ben will touch on how they work closely with Austrade, the Australian Standards Quality Authority (ASQA), the Tertiary Education and Quality Standards Agency (TEQSA), the Department of Home Affairs and law enforcement agencies in particular to identify areas of risk for targeted regulator audits and action. The Department has increased its communication activities to prospective overseas students to increase awareness of the need to use a good agent; and more generally when incidents are drawn to the Department’s attention through website alerts, Twitter and Facebook.
    Education General




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Ben Houston