Amendment No. 1 - Higher Education Support Act 2003 - VET Provider Guidelines

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Issued by the authority of the Acting Minister for Education on behalf of the Minister for Employment Participation and the Acting Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations

Subject: Higher Education Support Act 2003

 Amendments to the VET Provider Guidelines

Authority

Clause 99 of Schedule 1A of the Higher Education Support Act 2003 (the Act) provides that the Minister may make Guidelines for the purposes of the Act.  In particular, Item 1 of the table in subclause 99(1) of Schedule 1A specifies that the Minister may make VET Provider Guidelines (the Guidelines) to give effect to matters set out in Part 1 of Schedule 1A of the Act.

Purpose

The purpose of this legislative instrument is:

1. to include definitions for new terms under chapter 1 of the Guidelines in order to specify the meanings to be given to these terms for the purposes of the amendments made to chapter 2 of the Guidelines by this legislative instrument; and
2. to make amendments to chapter 2 of the Guidelines which provide for requirements relating to VET credit transfer arrangements which a body corporate must comply with to be approved as a VET provider under the Act.

Commencement

This legislative instrument commences on the day after the day it is registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.

Consultation

The amendments contained in this legislative instrument were made available publicly to the vocational education and training sector for comment in June 2009.  They were distributed to each state and territory education department, to the Australian Council of Private Education and Training, to TAFE Directors Australia and to Technical and Vocational Education Australia Limited. They were also distributed to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship and to the Australian Tax Office.  The amendments were also placed on the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations’ website and comments were invited

A very small number of submissions were received as a result of consultation.  The majority of submissions concerned general policy issues rather than the content or structure of the Guidelines amendments.  Suggested changes were generally inconsistent with either the legislative framework or the Australian Government’s policy intent for the Scheme, and therefore no substantial changes were made to the Guidelines.  Minor alterations were made to the text of the legislative instrument to clarify the intent of the amendments.

Overview of amendments

Amendments are made to Chapters 1 and 2 of the Guidelines (Chapter 1 Interpretation and Chapter 2 VET Credit Transfer Arrangements) and give effect to the Australian Government’s decision in 2008 to remove the VET credit transfer requirements for certain bodies corporate applying for approval as a VET provider. In particular, amendments to Chapter 2 allow for bodies corporate registered in a Reform State or Territory or with the National Audit and Registration Agency to be approved as a VET provider without meeting the current VET credit transfer requirements, where those bodies corporate also offer diploma or advanced diploma courses in a Reform State or Territory.

Amendments to Chapter 1 introduce four new terms to support the operation of the new provisions at Chapter 2.

Detailed explanation of the amendments

Chapter 1

Chapter 1 Interpretation has been amended to include four new terms to support the operation of new subsection 2.5.5. In particular, a new definition of Reform State or Territory and a new definition of Registration apply to identify those bodies corporate to which the VET credit transfer requirements at subsection 2.5.1 do not apply.

Chapter 2

The previous Chapter 2 VET Credit Transfer Arrangements has been retitled and renumbered in view of the insertion of new subsection 2.5.5. The following changes have been made to it:

• The Chapter 2 heading has been deleted and replaced with new Chapter 2 heading Requirements for the Purposes of Paragraph 6(g) of Schedule 1A of the Act.

• Subsection 2.5.1 has been amended for greater clarity but remains substantively the same. The subsection requires a body corporate that offers only VET diploma and/or VET advanced diploma courses to have in place at least one VET credit transfer arrangement for at least one of those courses in order to be approved as a VET provider.

• New subsection 2.5.5 provides that the requirement at subsection 2.5.1 does not apply to bodies corporate that have Registration in a Reform State or Territory or Registration managed by the National Audit and Registration Agency (NARA), and where those bodies corporate also offer VET diploma or VET advanced diploma courses in a Reform State or Territory.  

• The previous subsection 2.5.5 has been renumbered as subsection 2.5.10. The subsection remains substantively the same and lists the credit levels that will be used as a guide for approving VET credit transfer arrangements. 

• The previous subsection 2.5.10 has been renumbered as subsection 2.5.15. The subsection remains substantively the same, and details what must be contained in a VET credit transfer arrangement. The requirement for the agreement to be in writing and approved by the Group Manager has been removed from the previous subsection 2.5.1 to this subsection. In addition, a technical amendment has been made to the previous subsection 2.5.10 to correct an incorrect reference by replacing the words “VET provider” with the words “body corporate”.