The Office of Private Occupational School Education (OS) licenses qualified private occupational schools (also known as "proprietary schools") that meet the requirements to provide post-secondary occupational training programs. OS’s mission is to protect the public’s health, safety, and welfare and to enact fair and consistent enforcement of the licensing laws. As part of school licensing, OS also approves schools’ instructional locations, curriculum, staff and instructors; and, licenses schools’ sales representatives. OS also works with relevant Massachusetts Boards of Registration to ensure schools’ curricula adequately prepares students to apply for professional licensure, when required, and to sit for any state or national exams, when available or required. OS also protects consumers by investigating complaints, conducting inspections, disciplining licensees for noncompliance, and sanctioning unlicensed individuals and entities for operating without a license. Since 2012, OS also retains students’ records from closed schools so students may obtain their records for up to sixty years from the school’s closure.