Top Education Institute, headquartered in the University of Sydney's biomedical sciences building in Sydney's inner west, circulated advertisements targeting Chinese international students on social media app WeChat last week, spruiking the opportunity to "work closely with PwC partners" in a program with a "1 per cent admission rate in Australia".

Top Education staff told prospective applicants the "internship" program would cost $2800, sparking anger from students concerned that the world's largest professional services firm was selling work placements to the highest bidder, rather than based on merit.

But the advertisements misrepresented what was actually a two-week training course, the companies now say.

Approached by Fairfax Media on Monday, PwC said the advertisements related to a "career development course" delivered through Top Education in conjunction with PwC.

"The description of the course as an 'internship' was incorrect," the firm said in a joint statement with Top Education.

The advertisements would be reissued to "accurately reflect the nature of the course" and students who signed up to the course - scheduled for mid-June - would be offered full refunds if they did so in the belief they would be participating in PwC's internship program.

"PwC and Top Education apologise for any confusion that may have been caused."

Reached earlier, Top Education's assistant principal of external engagement, Susan Cao, said PwC had approached Top Education to start a partnership.

"PwC provided the opportunity to us, we are providing the opportunity for our students," she said,.

"We don't want the journalist to report this," she said. "We already take off the advertisement, we want to change the words."

The advertisements reveal that for the more than $2000 price tag, students would have the opportunity to be exclusively placed for 10 days in PwC's Sydney offices, the Australian hub of the global company that turned over $35 billion in revenue last year.

Craig Mcllveen, a former PwC partner of 16 years, currently sits on the council of Top Education.

Top Education's chief executive, Minshen Zhu, is a senior adviser to the University of Sydney's Confucius Institute with connections to China's Fudan University and wields considerable clout at home as a delegate to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the Communist Party's people's forum.

While Top Education said spots for the PwC program were reserved for its students only, representatives from migration agents and training providers Monkey King and Navigator Union circulated ads on WeChat saying their clients could apply too.

Expensive, unpaid work experience programs in the country have proliferated in recent years, according to research by Unions NSW.

Websites such as Internships Australia and Internships Down Under advertise internships in hospitality, communication and administration for up to $2200.

The secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Dave Oliver, said the practice of students paying for internships went against our most basic Australian ideal – "the fair go".

"Any instance of a company requiring payment for admission to an unpaid internship would be an unconscionable act of exploitation by an employer, and it has no place in the modern labour market," he said.

With Kelsey Munro