Accredited course transparency

On 24 November 2017, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Industry and Skills Council (CISC) endorsed the recommendations of the review into alignment of the Standards for VET Accredited Courses with the Standards for Training Packages. One recommendation of this review was to publish additional information on accredited courses on the National Register of VET (training.gov.au).

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 (previous) version or later version of a course that is accredited on or after 1 September 2018.

As part of the review into alignment, many stakeholders noted that the lack of information on accredited courses made it difficult for prospective students and employers to understand the content and suitability of a course. This lack of information also means that students that have completed an accredited course currently only have the title of the course reflected on their Unique Student Identifier (USI) transcript.

Publishing additional information on accredited courses on the national register will have clear benefits for both students and employers, as it will assist them in determining the suitability of an accredited course.

The publication of the titles and codes of units of competency/modules will assist registered training organisations with their total VET activity reporting obligations and corrections to USI transcripts.

Over the coming months, the titles and codes of units of competency/modules for a large number of accredited courses will be entered onto the National Register (training.gov.au) by the VET regulators. The information will be published for current accredited courses as well as expired courses with training delivery reported in the Total VET Activity collections since 2015.

In addition, course owners will soon be required to provide a description of their course for publication purposes as part of their initial accreditation or reaccreditation process. Application forms will be updated to allow this information to be entered shortly.

A reference to an earlier or later version of the course will be inserted later this year for courses, where that earlier or later version is a VET accredited course on or after 1 September 2018.

As a result of an amendment to the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Regulations 2011, ASQA will be required to publish this information on the National Register (training.gov.au) for courses that it has accredited.

Information to be published will include the titles and codes of units of competency/modules, a reference to an earlier or later version of the course and a brief description. Course owners will control the description that will be published for their course on the National Register, which they will provide upon either accreditation or reaccreditation.

The substantive course content will not be published. Information to be published will only include the titles and codes of units of competency/modules, a brief description of the course, and a reference to an earlier or later version of the course. The description will only be published for courses that are accredited or reaccredited from the commencement of the new regulation.

If the information that has been published on your accredited course is incorrect, please contact the VET regulator responsible for accrediting your course. Contact details are as follows:

• Australian Skills and Quality Authority: call 1300 701 801
• Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority: vrqa@edumail.vic.gov.au
• Training Accreditation Council of Western Australia: taccourseaccreditation@des.wa.gov.au

Additional information on accredited courses will also be made available on the My Skills website (www.myskills.gov.au) in due course, which sources information from the National Register of VET (training.gov.au). My Skills entries for accredited courses will show the unit of competency/module titles, the course description, and a reference to the earlier or later version of the course (when available).

The unit of competency information will also be included on Unique Student Identifier transcripts.

Course owners with further questions in relation to the publication of additional information on accredited courses can contact the Australian Government Department of Education and Training at VETquality@education.gov.au.

As part of the review into alignment, many stakeholders noted that the lack of information on accredited courses made it difficult for prospective students and employers to understand the content and suitability of a course. This lack of information also means that students that have completed an accredited course currently only have the title of the course reflected on their Unique Student Identifier (USI) transcript, with no information on the course’s units of competency/modules.

Publishing additional information on accredited courses on the National Register will have clear benefits for both students and employers, as it will assist them in determining the content and suitability of an accredited course. Once the information has been published on the National Register, it can also be used to improve the information available on the My Skills website (www.myskills.gov.au). It will also mean that Unique Student Identifier (USI) transcripts can now include information on the course’s units of competency/modules. The publication of the titles and codes of units of competency/modules will also assist registered training organisations with their total VET activity reporting obligations.

For courses accredited by the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority, the titles and codes of units of competency/modules are already published on the National Register. Publishing this information for courses accredited elsewhere will ensure that the available information on these courses is nationally consistent.

The link between the two versions of the course will improve transparency of accredited courses. Users of the system will be able to easily identify the relationship between different versions of the VET accredited course.

Inserting this reference will also benefit students receiving financial support under the VET Student Loans (VSL) program that are completing an eligible VET accredited course. Under current arrangements, loans can only be offered for courses identified on the VET Student Loans (Courses and Loan Caps) Determination 2016 (the Determination), where courses are listed by their code and title. When a course is reaccredited however, it is given a new code. Inserting the link will allow the reaccredited version of the course to be identified from the previous version. This means that students can continue to access financial support under the VSL program when a course is listed in the Determination and later reaccredited, without having to wait for the Determination to be updated.