Thousands of Victorian vocational students have had their qualifications recalled due to concerns with the quality of training they received during their studies.

About 9,500 students have been forced to hand back their certificates by the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority in the past year, while the qualifications of another 3,000 students are still being investigated.

It came after a Senate inquiry into vocational training heard private training organisations and education brokers were deceiving students about the cost of courses and job outcomes.

Former executive director of the Victorian TAFE Association David Williams said the students had been let down by a lack of regulation for training providers.

He said students could only have one training course subsidised before paying full fees so many may not be able to return to study.

"It's put [students] through a very difficult time of substandard training and potentially even blowing their future training entitlements," he said.

"The 2,500 who [who lost their vocational training certificates] have been looked after and they've got their entitlement back, but it's those who have gone through substandard training who are found by employers to be incompetent or don't maintain employment or don't get employment... who then are shut out.

"Say they've done a Certificate Three before, they can can never do a Certificate Three again unless they are a full fee-paying student, which can be exorbitant - $8,000 to $10,000.

"They have to study for a higher level qualification if they want access to a government-subsidised place."

Mr Williams said dodgy training providers who cut corners were making it difficult for good quality public and private institutions to stay in business.

He said the TAFE sector had previously warned government a market-driven system involving private training courses was "fraught with danger" and would lead to problems.

"We indicated if you don't pull it in we'd have a major blow-out in costs and within a few years time you'll have employers screaming at you that you are training people and giving them qualifications that aren't worth the paper they're written on.

"And that's what's happened."

Steve Herbert, the Victorian Minister for Training and Skills, blamed the previous government for failing to guarantee high standards for government-funded training.

"Since coming to office, I've become even more concerned about the extent of poor quality training and shrewd practices among government-funded training providers," he said.

"The proliferation of low quality training providers in Victoria will not be tolerated under Labor."

Eight registered training organisations have had their contracts terminated and two were surrendered due to "findings of non-compliance" with $4.2 million in funding being identified for recovery.