The B.C. government plans to draft new regulations for about 500 private colleges and career training institutions aimed at foreign students, following complaints from students and the Chinese government, Advanced Education Minister Murray Coell said Tuesday.

But while the new rules will apply to colleges that offer a range of post-secondary courses, including career training, the minister also took aim at unregulated English as a second language programs, calling for national regulations.  

"We're obviously getting some suggestions from other governments that some sort of regulation would be helpful to them and helpful to their students," he said. "I think we have to take that seriously."

Coell said there have been complaints about private ESL schools in B.C. going back 15 years.

"The areas that the Chinese government are looking at across Canada are the ESL programs that are not regulated anywhere in Canada," Coell told reporters in Victoria.

"And I think there needs to be a national approach to regulations of ESL programs, so I've asked staff to give me some regulations, how we can accomplish that."

The new private college regulations come after the Chinese Ministry of Education recently warned students planning to study abroad about the lack of regulation of private schools in Canada.

Last year, the B.C. government agency that oversees the schools suspended the registration of Kingston College in Vancouver. Students there complained they had paid $15,000 in tuition for degrees the college was not authorized to offer.

The previous NDP government brought in a form of regulation of private colleges. When the Liberals came to power, they deregulated them.

Now the minister says some regulation is needed again.

New Democrat MLA Rob Fleming said cases like Kingston College are giving B.C. a black eye overseas. Fleming thinks the province should at least ensure the tuition is refunded when a school is suspended.