Other licensing and registration requirements

Licensed or regulated occupations

Some occupations require workers to hold specific VET credentials. These requirements are usually put in place by the Australian Government, or state and territory government authorities.

While a VET credential itself may be sufficient for industry recognition, it could also be a mandatory prerequisite for gaining an operator’s or practitioner’s licence.

Some Australian Government or state and territory government authorities may also require that an individual’s VET credential be obtained from an endorsed provider  approved through the relevant licensing authority’s quality assurance processes.

Authorities may also require people to ‘refresh’ VET credentials over time to maintain their status as an approved operator/practitioner.

Regulatory requirements

RTOs are required to comply at all times with legislative or regulatory requirements relevant to their operations. RTOs must also provide accurate and factual information to prospective learners about the training products most appropriate to their needs.

Where an RTO offers a training product that is an entry requirement for a regulated occupation, the RTO must inform prospective learners upfront about whether completing its course will enable them to work in these regulated roles.

RTOs must not claim that a learner will be eligible for any licence or accreditation unless the issuer of that licence or accreditation has confirmed this to be the case.

Where licensing requirements differ from the endorsed specifications of the training product, RTOs must still ensure that they meet all aspects of the training package or accredited course requirements. Licensing requirements may be additional to the training package or accredited course requirements.

Industry approvals

Some qualifications or units of competency have approval restrictions placed on them through an arrangement between a licensing or industry authority that regulates working conditions in that industry and ASQA. In these cases, any RTO or organisation seeking registration as an RTO would require that authority’s endorsement before applying to add those qualifications or units of competency to its scope of registration.

These applications require evidence of pre-application approval from the nominated industry authority through supporting documentation. An RTO must attach this evidence at the time of submitting its registration application to ASQA. If the evidence is not attached, the application will be considered incomplete.

Some RTOs have a delegated authority from ASQA to manage their own scope of registration. Before an RTO exercises its delegated authority to add a qualification or unit of competency that requires an industry authority’s pre-endorsement for registration to its scope, the RTO must ensure that it has the necessary endorsement from the industry authority.

Note that evidence of endorsement from an industry authority does not, by itself, guarantee approval of a registration application.

The RTO may be required to provide evidence of support from the relevant authority:

• where a training product is later updated or superseded by a newer version
• for a future registration renewal application
• should an RTO possessing the industry approval change its ownership or legal identity.

The RTO must retain the authority’s support for its continued registration, and must immediately inform ASQA should that support be withdrawn. Where ASQA becomes aware that an RTO no longer has support from an industry authority for a designated qualification, ASQA will immediately commence regulatory action to rescind the RTO’s registration for that product.

Nominated industry authority arrangements

The following industry sectors are listed as guidance only. Evidence of approval from the relevant government agency/industry body will be required with a registration application.

* National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Act 2011