Transparency of accredited course content

27 July 2018

In early January 2018, ASQA contacted course owners about a recent decision by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Industry and Skills Council (CISC) to improve the transparency of accredited courses by publishing additional information on the National Register of vocational education and training (VET) (training.gov.au). This information was to include the titles and codes of units of competency and modules, as well as a brief description of the course.

On 12 July 2018, the Australian Government amended the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Regulations 2011. This amendment requires the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) to publish the following additional information on VET accredited courses.

the titles and codes of units of competency or modules comprising a VET accredited course for current accredited courses and expired courses with training delivery reported through the Total VET Activity collections since 2015
a description of the course for those courses newly accredited or reaccredited from now, and
a reference to an earlier or later version if that version is accredited on or after 1 September 2018.

While this amendment only requires ASQA to publish this additional information on the National Register, the Training Accreditation Council of Western Australia will also be entering this information for courses that it has accredited to ensure that the level of information available on accredited courses is nationally consistent.

Ensuring these additional matters are entered on the National Register increases the transparency of accredited course information and enables Unique Student Identifier (USI) transcripts to include information on units of competency/modules. Once the information has been published on the National Register, it will be used to improve the information available on the My Skills website (www.myskills.gov.au), which will enable prospective students and employers to better understand course content and suitability.

For further information, or if you have any questions or concerns, please visit the FAQs on our website.