UP Education expands in Australia with two new acquisitions

UP Education has acquired two Higher Education (HE) and Vocational Education and Training (VET) organisations in Australia; the Australian Institute of Professional Counsellors and Acknowledge Education.

Mark Rushworth, UP Education Group CEO, says the acquisitions enhance the scale and diversity of UP Education in the Australian market and will deliver education and skills needed in the global modern economy.

“The acquisition of the Australian Institute of Professional Counsellors enables UP Education to scale in the rapidly growing category of Health and Wellbeing with demand for mental health services set to continue to grow.

“Additionally, Acknowledge Education is well positioned for growth through its key verticals of Community Services and Hospitality with a focus on delivering to the international education market. By offering competitive student rights and pathways to residency, the Australian international education market is set to rebound swiftly following the impacts of the pandemic.

“Over the past three years, Australia is a market UP Education has demonstrated its commitment to. During this time, we have acquired four HE / VET education providers, expanded our university partnerships to become a top-two pathways provider in Australasia, and we have driven the enablement of and access to online education through the establishment of a proprietary EdTech platform, eddy,” says Mark Rushworth.

About the Australian Institute of Professional Counsellors (AIPC)

Founded in 1990, AIPC is the leading provider of tertiary counselling education in Australia. It offers Diplomas, Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees.

AIPC primarily operates in two segments of the counselling education market:

• VET: Diploma of Counselling courses
• HE: Masters, Bachelors, Graduate Diploma

Serving 9,000 students, AIPC’s mode of delivery is predominantly online, with seven campuses across Australia for student support and practical elements. Locations include Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Gold Coast, Brisbane and Sunshine Coast.

AIPC operates two smaller colleges:

• Life Coaching Institute: VET courses in life coaching
• COLAB: Business college providing MBAs and business HE courses.

Acknowledge Education (AE)

Acknowledge Education is a group of Australian private tertiary colleges with a 140+ year history. It has a national footprint of eight campuses across Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Brisbane.

Focusing on international education with approximately 5,000 students, AE is a dual sector education provider offering VET and HE courses across three main verticals including Community Services, Cooking and Hospitality, and English Language.

AE has strong education agent relationships with agent representation across 70 countries.