VET regulatory reform

Subheading

Presentation Title

Presenter’s name

00.00.2013

VET regulatory

reform

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Rethinking the VET regulatory approach

The Australian Government is committed to reducing the regulatory burden on business.

What does this mean for the VET sector?

• lower regulatory burden on high-quality, fully compliant providers

• more support for providers who are trying to do the right thing but have some

difficulties in fully meeting the national standards

• even more rigorous regulation of the minority who are seriously non-compliant, poor-

quality providers

• Regulatory action is more likely to be triggered by ASQA’s identification of risk, rather

than applications.

Reducing the regulatory burden and cost

• Automatic updates of equivalent training package qualifications without applications

and payment of fees to ASQA (announced June 2014)

• Ceasing financial viability assessments as a requirement for re-registering existing

RTOs (announced June 2014)

• No increase in ASQA’s fees for the foreseeable future (announced September

2014)

• A new delegated regulatory authority for high-performing RTOs to add to their scope

of registration without an application or fee to ASQA (announced September 2014)

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Initiatives already announced

Earned autonomy – Delegations for RTOs

• ASQA previously had delegation arrangements in place with 27 RTOs – mostly

TAFEs in Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia – as a legacy

arrangement from the move to national regulation.

• A delegate will be able to add new qualifications or units of competency to their scope

of registration, without having to submit an application and pay a fee to ASQA each

time they make a change.

• ASQA is now inviting high-performing RTOs with a history of compliance with the

national standards and who have already met the eligibility criteria to apply for a

delegation of regulatory responsibility.

Who can have an ASQA RTO delegation?

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Earned autonomy – Delegations for RTOs

RTOs must meet the following criteria to be eligible for a delegation of regulatory

responsibility:

Who can have an ASQA RTO delegation?

Registered for at least 5 years

Renewed without audit by ASQA or if audited compliant

at audit

No outstanding regulatory action

or compliance concerns

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Earned autonomy – Delegations for RTOs

If ASQA deems your organisation eligible for a delegation of responsibility, you will

receive an invitation to apply by email.

On 17 October, ASQA invited 555 high-performing RTOs with a history of compliance

with the national standards, who have met the eligibility criteria to apply.

Who can have an ASQA RTO delegation?

Earned autonomy – Delegations for RTOs

Key requirements to be met when accepting an invitation

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Providing data to ASQA when exercising delegation

Having a documented

quality management

system

Agreeing to have an audit of the

delegation function if requested

Remaining compliant

Nominating a delegate contact

Earned autonomy – Delegations for RTOsImplementing the new policy

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Now

• 5 years registration

• Already renewed without rectification required

• Due to be renewed by end of 2014

From 1 July 2015

• 5 years registration

• Due to be renewed 2015 to 2017

• May be offered limited compliance audit

From 1 July 2016

• Invitations will be offered to RTOs whose renewal involved rectification may be offered limited compliance audit or didn’t accept previous offer

From 1 July 2017

• Ongoing invitations to eligible RTOs

ASQA’s emerging regulatory approach

ASQA is transitioning to a data/intelligence led regulatory model with the aim of targeting

regulatory scrutiny and resources to areas of greatest risk

The elements of this model include:

• an intelligence framework to capture and evaluate information

• environmental scanning to inform where and how ASQA should apply greater scrutiny

in its regulation

• provider risk rating and provider profiling to assess providers’ compliance posture

• strategic industry reviews to better address significant and systemic risks in the VET

sector, and

• a broader suite of regulatory tools (‘soft’ and ‘hard’).

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Standards for Registered Training Organisations 2015

The new Standards for RTOs 2015 will be implemented from 1 January 2015 for

prospective RTOs and 1 April 2015 for existing RTOs.

The new Standards can be grouped as follows:

• training and assessment

• obligations to learners and clients, and

• governance

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Standards for Registered Training Organisations 2015

The key areas of difference with the current standards are:

• more detail about assessment

• verification/validation process

• obligations around third-party arrangements including brokers and VET-FEE-HELP

• greater disclosure to students

• clearer and more detailed requirements around marketing

• certificate on compliance

• new requirements about trainers and assessors

More detail about the Standards later today.

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Standards for Registered Training Organisations 2015

• All applications should be submitted based on the information on ASQAnet

o forms on ASQAnet will be changed to reflect new standards well before the

standards take effect

• All decisions on applications or compliance must be made against the standards in

effect at the time of the decision

• ASQA will take a fair and reasonable approach to the transition

o No adverse decision will be made based on new requirements without the

provider being given a reasonable period of time to rectify any non-compliance

• Detailed advice on transition arrangements will be published on ASQA’s Web site as

soon as available

Transition

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Helping RTOs to understand and meet national

standards

• Comprehensive information about the new national

standards

o an ASQA Users’ Guide to the new standards

o mapping of the new standards to SNRs and

AQTF

o questions and answers about the new standards

o new ASQA videos and webinars

• A series of 26 face-to-face information sessions, like

today’s, are being held across Australia about what

the new standards mean and how ASQA will regulate

them

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Helping RTOs to understand and meet national

standards

• Revised ASQA Info line procedures (implemented March 2014) to give callers a

specific ASQA contact and access to auditors for certain enquiries

• Launched its rebranded website in July to provide:

o a new, single help centre including video centre to help RTOs better understand

their regulatory requirements

o more information about delivery to overseas students

o enhanced functionality and search capabilities.

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