Academy Of Design 12 Charles Avenue, Broadbeach, Queensland 4218

"I had a great time studying my diploma of specialist makeup at Academy of design, the team are so enthusiastic when it comes to creativity, love organizing events and showcasing the skills of students. The trainers are amazing and overall it is a friendly, fun environment."

"Ill try to keep this brief but everything I am posting is 100% factual and even though some of its so intence its almost unbelieveable, it happened to me. So, I enrolled into a makeup course through the Academy of Design, also known as Rycki symons pty ltd. Although alot of things didnt add up, (the false advertising, the dangerous conditions we were studying in, the lies we were made to believe from the Director himself) I continued to study at this campus. (Afterall, we were bullied into believing that if we dropped out, Vet fee would not help us again). Heres where it gets interesting, after the whole class got quite sick (many of us believe it was from the classroom conditions) I made a complaint to the director. We were forced to study in a basement that had NO windows, fans or air conditioning. Although aircon was installed, it was faulty. One girl was treated for heat stroke from being in the class room. There were NO cleaners, dead cockroaches under makeup tables that had been there for weeks, the toilets were not cleaned and smelt horrible, aswell as being told by one of the directors that our makeup brushes were to be washed in the sink in the staff toilets. One day, because of the campus I hot a pretty bad injury and they did not have a first aid kit. When I said this to the director he straight out called me a liar. After making this complaint, nothing was done. Nearly 2 weeks had passed so my mother called to complain. ( I was unaware of this at the time) Then it started. Rycki (the academy director) did not like that someone finally stood up to him. Instead of dealing with the complaint professionally, He immediatly called me and starting calling my mum names making me feel uncomfortable. I apoligised that my mum had upset him and left it at that as I had no idea what was going on. The next morning, I recieve a call from Ryckis personal phone. He literally went crazy phsyco at me. Told me that I am scum, he will ruin me and any career I wish to pursue, my mums uneducated, we are both bogans, oh, and we are bullies, and all bullies deserve to be dead! and the list goes on. He told me I had to withdrawal from the course immediatly or he would get a police order out on me. After the phone call, he went to my usual class and told them all his side of the story which was 99.9% lies. As well as bad mouthing us, he disclosed some personal information that he got from my enrolment forms and next of kin forms. I have a voice recording of all of this so he can not state that is a lie. After leaving the academy, a few students left due to what he had said about me in class. They refused to study in an institute run by somebody like that. When they left, Rycki and his team made life hard for those students as AOD would not confirm our withdrawals. Since leaving the academy, I have been in touch with other students, staff members and even my own teacher that he has done the EXACT same thing to. When being pulled up for not paying staff, he has fired them all and threatened them the same as me in hopes the problem will die down. Well, Rycki has NOTHING on any of us now. He intimidated me once, but now with the support of family, friends and his other victims, I am speaking out."

"signed up for the Diploma of Makeup in March 2015 for what I thought would be the greatest time of my life, finally accomplishing a dream of mine to become a accredited makeup artist. If only someone would of told me about this school and I wouldn’t of felt like I wasted so much money and time. This school is so unprofessional, firstly they have freshly finished students become teachers without any real life experience the way they describe they do. You have to pay money out of pocket for an enrolment fee or makeup kit (they couldn’t decide what money actually was for) and only charging half the student this amount while the others got away without losing money on this. That “professional” portfolio hahah that was the biggest joke, they get students who have no clue to take these photos leaving you with photos you could of taken better on your phone for a professional portfolio which is supposed to help you get a job. The bullying from the administration staff (owner included) is off the charts. I was personally victimised by the owner and one of the teachers by standing up to the teacher for bullying a young student! The bullying from the teacher forced me to transfer to the Brisbane campus so I felt I might get a decent education for which they tired to charge me my fees again when I wasn’t restarting just moving campus. And the list goes on and on. If the owner response to this like the other HONEST reviews, it just shows what you are getting into. DON’T GO TO THIS SCHOOL. DO YOUR RESEARCH AND ATTEND A BETTER SCHOOL."

"This school is absolutely amazing. Everyone here makes you feel so comfortable. I finished my diploma and have never been happier. This place is the best private college out there. The staff are so friendly and always ready to help out no matter what. Before I enrolled I looked around at other private colleges and this place by far stood out from the rest. I RECOMMEND THIS PLACE TO EVERYONE!!"

"I was appraoched at a beauty convention by The school which really interested me and led to me signing up. Enrolment was fast and easy and seemed to be great. I absolutely loved my teachers and class mates however this is the most unprofessional business I have EVER come across! Work place health and safety was not in order, bullying from the organizers/owner/management on students and teachers and temporary photographer, was promised professional quality photographs for our port folios which we did not get because they didn't have a photographer for weeks! A student from our class just happened to do photography so he picked up the slack for the school on top of doing the assignments and assessment pieces himself as well as editing them for hours/days with No pay or anything! When they finally hired a photographer we all loved him and his amazing work until he quit because they stomped all over him and then disposed because he had enough of the bullshit which we witnessed. Then they promised another photographer so many times to which was a big stuff around and we didn't receive pictures for half of our work. Higher positions always ignoring any communication and concerns from students and our awesome teachers. Alot of extra out of pockets costs that they dont warn you about beforeyou need them. Added an extra day of school half way through the course rather than before beginning forcing people to take extra days off work, organizing children and so on. We finally got through the hell and finished our diploma to have our graduation cancelled because of low attendance from lack of communication and organization. Didn't receive our qualifications until two months later. Some of our names misspelled. Had a pile of lies told to us saying they had sent them out weeks ago but when they arrived the date was current. ALSO enrollment fee's were MADE UP ON THE SPOT to every 3rd person. The price also ranged to whatever they felt like taking from $100-$500 . Some students were given invoices for this and some weren't. When the topic was brought up between us students it was revealed that this happened to a few of the others but the rest of us were never asked to pay it. They enquired and some were given part of the money back and some weren't. One student who paid and had two witnesses of her paying and WASNT given an invoice was simply told "I don't recall that ever happening so it mustn't have happened". A quick $13,000 for the owner! I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS PLACE TO ANYONE!!!!!!!!!"