One thousand people have registered for a free online pre-entry franchise education program aimed at creating better informed franchisees and reducing conflict.

Launched on 1 July, 2010, the program was developed by Griffith University’s Asia-Pacific Centre for Franchising Excellence and is funded by the ACCC.

The Centre developed the program following franchise conflict research findings, which highlighted a need for franchisees to do more research or ‘due diligence’ before signing a franchise agreement, said professor Lorelle Frazer, director of the Asia-Pacific Centre for Franchising Excellence.

The research found many franchisees enter franchising with unrealistic expectations, which can later cause conflict in the franchise relationship. Prospective franchisees are also anecdotally notorious for not investing in in-depth research and advice before entering franchising so we sought funding from the ACCC to offer the program for free, she said.

The online program consists of five modules, which are a combination of video, audio and text and includes an assessment quiz at the end. Upon successful completion of the quiz the recipient receives a certificate of completion.