Retitling of Vocational Graduate Diplomas and Vocational Graduate Certificates

As of 1 January 2015, training.gov.au removed the word ‘vocational’ from any existing qualifications so that existing Vocational Graduate Certificates and Vocational Graduate Diplomas can be retitled Graduate Certificates and Graduate Diplomas respectively.

This is following agreement from all jurisdictions for the full implementation of the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) from 1 January 2015. This affects 39 Vocational Graduate Diplomas and Vocational Graduate Certificates. 

For registered training organisations (RTOs) with Vocational Graduate Diplomas or Vocational Graduate Certificates on scope, these courses will need to be renamed as simply Graduate Certificates or Graduate Diplomas. Once the relevant training packages have been transitioned to meet the new training package standards, RTOs will be required—as per usual practice and teach-out period requirements—to teach the new training package. In the meantime, RTOs should remove the term ‘Vocational’ from any courses advertised and from any testamurs issued. There will be no change to the qualification code or content.

For existing learners and holders of qualifications, the AQF implementation arrangements state that ‘… holders of Vocational Graduate Certificates and Vocational Graduate Diplomas are considered to hold, respectively, a Graduate Certificate or Graduate Diploma’.