Veronica S

Concern About Lack of Student Support and Unprofessional Communication

I enrolled with Skills Academy because of the positive reviews I saw online, especially on HelloPeter. As someone who is self-studying, I believed this would be a good institution to support students who need guidance while studying independently. At the beginning everything went well. We had an excellent accounting tutor for NQF4, Zolani Sqelo who was extremely helpful and professional. However, Skills Academy later informed students that he was no longer working with them. From around November last year, there was effectively no active tutor assisting students with their questions. Skills Academy provides Telegram groups for each subject and advertises that students can receive help there. Unfortunately, in practice, students rarely receive answers. Sometimes a tutor would appear briefly and tell students to send an email for assistance, but the questions on the group would remain unanswered. This was especially stressful because many students are preparing for ICB exams, which are challenging and require guidance. Because of the lack of assistance, I started helping other students in the Telegram group. I assisted them with things such as understanding where to submit assignments, how to book exams, and general questions about their studies. I did this simply to support fellow students who were clearly struggling and not receiving responses. Recently, a discussion started in the Telegram group about the lack of support students were experiencing. I shared a post I had seen on Facebook about tutoring help, purely because many students were asking for assistance and felt stuck before their exams. Today I received a missed call on Telegram from someone listed as an accounting tutor. Shortly after, a woman phoned my personal cellphone and introduced herself as “Carmen.” She immediately spoke in an aggressive tone and asked if I was a tutor and why I was sharing posts in the Telegram group. I explained that I am not a tutor, but simply a student who has been helping others because there has been little to no support from the college. During the conversation she became quite rude, and before ending the call she suddenly mentioned that she was calling from Skills Academy. It appeared that she initially pretended to be a student before revealing she was actually calling from Skills Academy. I found this approach very unprofessional. If the college wanted to speak to me, they could simply have contacted me directly and honestly from the start. Later, the Skills Academy landline called me and confirmed that Nurah Rain( True caller name) were checking whether I was acting as a tutor. I again explained that I had only been helping students informally for the past six months with general questions while they were struggling to receive support. My concern is not about this phone call alone. My concern is about the overall lack of consistent student support. Students often wait weeks for assignments to be marked, and questions in the Telegram groups frequently go unanswered, even close to exam times when students are most anxious. During the call I told them that if students are paying for a service, they deserve the support that is being advertised. To their credit, I was told that a new tutor would be introduced later today and that online classes would start for students. I sincerely hope this happens and that the level of support improves. My intention with this review is not to attack Skills Academy but to highlight the reality many students are experiencing. If an institution wants to be known as one of the best colleges, then the level of service and student support must consistently match that promise. Students need guidance, empathy, and timely assistance throughout their studies — not only at the beginning, but for the entire duration of their course. I truly hope Skills Academy improves their support systems for the sake of all the students who depend on them. — Current Student