ASQA given additional powers to seek civil penalties and issue infringement notices 

On 12 July 2018, the Governor-General, Sir Peter Cosgrove AK MC made the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Amendment (Enforcement and Other Measures) Regulations 2018(NVR Regulation Amendment 2018).

The NVR Regulation Amendment 2018 allows ASQA to seek civil penalties for breaches of the Standards for Registered Training Organisations (the Standards), even in cases where a provider has since rectified that breach.

This legislative change enhances ASQA’s capacity to effectively support the quality of the VET sector by providing an additional mechanism to protect students from poor-quality providers.

ELICOS course template now available 

The Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) has developed a course proposal template for use by providers applying to register English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students (ELICOS) on the Commonwealth Register for Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS).

ASQA has developed this template in response to feedback from providers seeking guidance and a consistent format for providing evidence to demonstrate compliance against ‘Standard C1—Mandatory requirements for course applications’ of the ELICOS Standards 2018.

The use of this template is strongly recommended but not mandatory.

• Access the ELICOS course proposal template (DOC)

Cancellation of registration as a provider of vocational education and training (VET) services:

• Captain Cook Institute Pty Ltd (RTO number 91707; trading as George Brown College). Decision to take effect on 23 August 2018.
• Australian Accredited College Institute Pty Ltd (RTO number 45146). Decision to take effect on 23 August 2018.
• Wood Group PSN Australia Pty Ltd (RTO number 41287). Decision to take effect on 27 August 2018.
• Universal Training Centre Pty Ltd (RTO number 41167). Decision to take effect on 27 August 2018.
• Oztech Trade Training College Pty Ltd (RTO Number 40997). Decision to take effect on 29 August 2018.

Rejection of application to renew registration as a provider of VET services:

• Australian Higher Education Services Pty Ltd (RTO number 91116; trading as Sydney College of Business and Information Technology). Decision to take effect on 23 August 2018.

Extension to transition period for Advanced Diploma, Diploma of Accounting qualifications

The Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) has approved an extension to the transition period for the FNS50215 Diploma of Accounting and FNS60215 Advanced Diploma of Accounting.

The qualifications were superseded in February 2018 by the FNS50217 Diploma of Accounting and FNS60217 Advanced Diploma of Accounting, which are not equivalent. As a result, current learners were initially given until 12 February 2019 to complete their training and assessment.

However, learners transitioning to the replacement qualifications must meet additional entry requirements. This would genuinely disadvantage any learners in the superseded qualifications who are unable to complete the qualifications by 12 February 2019.

As such, ASQA has agreed to an extended training, assessment and certification issuance period for these qualifications, which will end on 12 February 2020.

For more information, please visit ASQA’s websitehttps://www.asqa.gov.au/news-publications/news

When we look at the current Standards for Registered Training Organisations 2015, the clauses relevant to Registered Training Organisations’ regulatory compliance, the reporting and governance practice, they all clearly underpin good management practices and effective compliance control procedures—and, as a result, the effective functioning and sustainability of RTOs.

These Standards support RTOs to provide high-quality student experiences and learning outcomes.

Under the Standards, RTOs are responsible for:

• Ensuring authorised Executive Officers and High Managerial Agents meet the Fit and Proper Person requirements and are vested with sufficient authority to ensure the RTO complies with the RTO Standards at all times (clause 7.1)
• Satisfying financial viability risk assessment: Your RTO is required to present an acceptable level of financial viability risk at all times (this includes any parent entities). ASQA assesses each RTO’s financial viability risk to evaluate the likelihood of business continuity and the RTO’s capacity to achieve quality outcomes, as outlined in the Financial Viability Risk Assessment Requirements 2011. ASQA considers this against the potential for adverse consequences if your entity collapses or becomes unviable and makes a judgement about whether the level of risk is acceptable, unacceptable, or requires additional controls. To enable a preliminary financial viability risk assessment, the initial registration application requires the applicant to provide:
  • a range of financial sustainability information
  • independent certification.

ASQA may also require your RTO to undergo a financial viability risk assessment at any other time. (clause 7.2)

• Compliance and reporting: The RTO must make sure it complies with the SRTO’s 2015, other Commonwealth, State and Territory legislation and regulatory requirements relevant to its operations, at all times, including where services are being delivered on its behalf. The RTO is required to provide an annual declaration on compliance to confirm whether it:
  1. currently meets the requirements of the Standards across all its scope of registration and has met the requirements of the Standards for all AQF [Australian Qualifications Framework] certification documentation it has issued in the previous 12 months.
  2. has training and assessment strategies and practices in place that ensure that all current and prospective learners will be trained and assessed in accordance with the requirements of the Standards.

RTOs are also required to make sure its staff and clients are informed of any changes to legislative and regulatory requirements that affect the services delivered. (clauses 2.1 and 8.4 to 8.6)

• Recording, monitoring and reporting third-party arrangements: All third-party arrangements must have a written agreement, the RTO must have sufficient strategies and resources to systematically monitor any services delivered on its behalf, and notifies the Regulator:

1. of any written agreement entered into under clause 2.3 for the delivery of services on its behalf within 30 calendar days of that agreement being entered into or prior to the obligations under the agreement taking effect, whichever occurs first, and
2. within 30 calendar days of the agreement coming to an end.  (clauses 2.3, 2.4 and 8.3)

• Holding public liability insurance: RTOs are responsible for ensuring they hold public liability insurance throughout their registration period. Your RTO must hold public liability insurance to cover all training and/or assessment activities it provides as an RTO. (clause 7.4)
• Meeting Data Provision Requirements:

RTOs are responsible for providing accurate information about their performance and governance in accordance with clause 7.5.

The Data Provision Requirements outline information that your RTO is required to submit. Apart from information required with applications, this falls generally into two categories:

Australian Vocational Education and Training Management Information Statistical Standard (AVETMISS) data

Quality Indicator Data.

Data such as national training activity is very important—this informs decision-making about policies and funding for the national VET system and allows measurement of the system’s performance.

The quality indicator data provides information for RTOs about their students’ experiences of their services and can be used to continuously improve the quality of the training for students and employers. (clause 7.5)

Providing requested information to ASQA:

RTOs are responsible for:

• Cooperating with ASQA
• Ensuring any third party delivering services on the RTO’s behalf is required to cooperate with ASQA.

Your RTO and any third parties delivering services on your behalf must cooperate with ASQA in responding to requests for information, undergoing audits and managing records. The information you and third parties provide to ASQA must be accurate, truthful and authentic. Any documentation provided at audit must be an accurate representation of your RTO’s practices.

You must notify ASQA within 90 days of the following:

• Changes to executive officers or high managerial agents
• Changes to financial administration status (e.g. liquidators being appointed)
• Changes to legal name or type of legal entity
• Changes to ownership, directorship or control (including changes to parent entities)
• Significant mergers or associations with other RTOs
• Registration (or application) with other education regulators (e.g. higher education provider with the Tertiary Education Quality Standards Agency)
• Anything that may affect the fit and proper person status of an influential representative of the RTO
• Changes to any fundamental funding/revenue source (e.g. access to or loss of government funding contract allocation)
• Changes to the RTO’s business strategy (e.g. more to online delivery, assessment-only delivery, offshore delivery)
• Delivery to apprentices or trainees employed under a training contract
• Any other significant event.

(clauses 8.1 and 8.2).

In the next post we will look into the “quality assurance” requirements and obligations for your RTO.

To be continued…

When you plan to run a registered training organisation (RTO), you may find it difficult to know:

• the complete regulatory framework and environment 
• your legal obligations and
• everything else required to run a successful, compliant Registered Training Organisation.

Take compliance and quality assurance, for example, you may have heard about them, but do you know what they mean?

What is compliance?

Numerous legislation, regulations and guidelines in Australia regulate the way we run an RTO such as:

• Australian Consumer Law (ACL),
• the Racial Discrimination Act 1975,
• the Sex Discrimination Act 1984,
• the Disability Discrimination Act 1992,
• the Age Discrimination Act 2004,
• the Child Protection Act 1999,
• the Work Health and Safety Act 2011,
• the Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986,
• the Privacy Act 1988 and
• the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Act 2011. 

This is not an exhaustive list. These legislation, regulations and guidelines specify the framework and the obligations to operate an RTO.

A number of these obligations are applicable on all business entities that operates within Australia and are overseen by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

The law does not allow you to be an officeholder or manage a company (without court consent) if:

• you are currently bankrupt
• you are still subject to a personal insolvency agreement or composition under the Bankruptcy Act 1966, or
• have been convicted of offences like fraud or breaching your duties as an officeholder.

If you are member of ACPET or other industry bodies, they may also have codes of conduct and specific guidelines that you must follow to continue to be a member. These requirements and obligations come under “compliance”. Failing to meet all state and federal guidelines for compliance can result in serious consequences for your registered training organisation (RTO). Along with altering your company’s legal status, which may leave you vulnerable to lawsuits, government agencies may conduct audits, enact fines or even dissolve your business entirely. 

What is quality assurance?

Standard 2 of the SRTOs 2015 (Standards for Registered Training Organisations, 2015) states that the operations of the RTO must be quality assured. Quality assurance refers to “meeting and delivering intended performance according to certain benchmarking standards”.

Let’s look at Standard 2:  Clause 2.1 – 2.4

2.1 The RTO ensures it complies with these Standards at all times, including where services are being delivered on its behalf. This applies to all operations of and RTO within its scope of registration. 

2.2 The RTO:

• Systematically monitors the RTO’s training and assessment strategies and practices to ensure ongoing compliance with Standard 1; and
• Systematically evaluates and uses outcomes of the evaluation to continually improve the RTO’s training and assessment strategies and practices. Evaluation information includes but is not limited to quality/performance indicator data collected under Clause 7.5, validation outcomes, client, trainer and assessor feedback and complaints and appeals.

2.3 The RTO ensures that where services are provided on its behalf by a third party the provision of those services is the subject of a written agreement. 

2.4 The RTO has sufficient strategies and resources to systematically monitor any services delivered on its behalf, and uses these to ensure that the services delivered comply with these Standards at all times

While Standard 2 of SRTOs 2015 addresses the key client criteria of quality training and assessment strategies and practices there are many other quality considerations that make up a quality-assured RTO business.
Every RTO must have a system (often referred to as a ‘business or quality management system’) to manage its operations. The system should provide the basis for quality assuring a business.

Quality assurance is maintained by ensuring that:

• The organisation understands the relationship and differences between Quality Management systems, Quality standards and Regulatory standards.
• Understand how a properly implemented business (quality) management system can help improve fundamental business performance well beyond just meeting compliance/regulatory requirements
• Use quality assurance techniques to help review their existing system and processes
• Revitalise their existing quality management system
• Organisation participate in professional networking with colleagues across RTOs and wider industry.

To be continued…

Definition of Enterprise RTOs updated

ASQA has recently updated their guide for the Application of Initial Registration with changes taking effect as of the 1st of July, 2018.  You can find this and download for your own reference here:
https://www.asqa.gov.au/sites/g/files/net3521/f/application_guide_-_application_for_initial_registration.pdf?v=1525230496

Once of the changes noted, has been to the definition of an Enterprise RTO.  ASQA now deem an Enterprise RTO to be:
 
“An enterprise or the training function or department of an enterprise that is registered to provide nationally recognised training. Training is delivered only to its employees. 

This includes, for example: 

Enterprise—government (for example, Department of Defence) 
Enterprise—non-government (for example, Woolworths, Qantas)”

Issuance of false qualifications leads to $31,400 penalty

A Queensland man who misled three individuals into providing payment for false qualifications has been ordered to pay a pecuniary penalty of $31,400.

On 5 July 2018, the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) successfully obtained a declaration from the Federal Court that Scott Andrew Jones created false qualifications concerning “Engineering—Fabrication Trade”, in the names of three different people, and provided those documents for a fee.
 

The court found that Mr Jones falsely represented to these individuals that each qualification was a legitimate vocational education and training (VET) qualification issued by a registered training organisation (RTO).
 

ASQA Chief Commissioner Mark Paterson said ASQA began investigating Mr Jones following a complaint.
 

“The investigation identified that Mr Jones had offered to assist work colleagues by enrolling them with TAFE Queensland to seek recognition of prior learning for engineering qualifications. Mr Jones took money from these individuals and then copied a legitimate qualification in order to issue documentation, which he purported to be from TAFE Queensland, to his colleagues. 
 

As a result of its investigation, ASQA commenced a civil prosecution against Mr Jones.

Read more

Under the Standards for Registered Training Organisations 2015, all RTOs are obliged to provide accurate and complete data. 
 

All ASQA-registered training organisations RTO must meet mandatory annual data submission requirements, including:

• Submitting the annual declaration on compliance to ASQA
• Submitting total VET activity (TVA) data, including the reporting of unique student identifier (USI) data.

There is a limited number of exemptions for some short courses and eligible RTOs, however, if you are delivering training under a funding agreement you are required to report all of your contracted delivery to the relevant Department. 
 

Organisations are, therefore, responsible for a number of reporting requirements under the Standards for Registered Training Organisations 2015. The reporting requirements include:

The annual declaration on compliance

The Standards require each RTO to provide ASQA with an annual declaration on their RTO’s compliance.
The annual declaration must be signed by the principal executive officer/chief executive officer registered with ASQA as listed on training.gov.au.  

If you are the RTO CEO or PEO, ASQA will notify you by email of your obligation to complete the declaration and provide you with a link to the online form. You can check your details on training.gov.au to ensure that ASQA has access to your current email address to ensure you receive this invitation.

When you submit the declaration, you are confirming to ASQA that you:

• Systematically monitor your RTO’s compliance
• Implement preventive and corrective actions where considered necessary.

The declaration also asks you to confirm that records pertaining to your RTO, as reflected on training.gov.au, are accurate and up to date.

Reporting requirement: Total VET Activity (AVETMISS and USI) 

The Australian Vocational Education Training Management Information Statistical Standard (AVETMISS) for VET Providers is a national data standard that ensures the consistent and accurate capture of VET information about students, their courses, units of activity, and qualifications completed. It provides the mechanism for national reporting of VET activity. 

Provides information through NCVER to Industry stakeholders about: 

• Statistical information captured for national reporting 
• Unique Student Identifier and all award issuance activity conducted in the previous year

Reporting requirement: Quality Indicators 

These include learner and employer survey data to collect evidence-based and outcome-focussed continuous quality improvement, and assist the VET Regulator to assess the risk of an RTO’s operations:

Other information you must submit:

You must collect AVETMISS-compliant records for all students, and for all competency enrolments and outcomes achieved, throughout the calendar year.

Early in the following year, you must report this data to the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) unless you have previously done so through existing contractual arrangements.

RTOs should refer to NCVER’s publications AVETMISS 7.0 VET Provider Collection Specifications and AVETMISS data element definitions which describe the AVETMISS data to be collected.

There are a number of student management systems that can record and produce AVETMISS data files for reporting. A register of data entry tools and student management systems is available on the NCVER website.

NCVER has developed a free AVETMISS data entry tool for RTOs with less than 100 students and an AVETMISS validation software for RTOs to validate their data before submission. Both tools are available on the NCVER website.

For further information, and a range of fact sheets, about Total VET Activity data, please see the:

• National VET Provider Collection Data Requirements Policy
• Department of Education and Training website
• NCVER AVETMISS Frequently asked questions page
• NCVER AVETMISS Data reporting fact sheets

Visit ASQA website for more information  https://www.asqa.gov.au/vet-registration/meet-data-provision-requirements