News

Apprentice and trainee commencements down in June 2019 quarter 
The latest release of national apprentice and trainee data show commencements were down 3.3% to 33 295 in the June 2019 quarter, when compared with the same quarter in 2018.
Apprentices and trainees 2019 — June quarter, published by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER), provides a national picture of apprenticeship and traineeship activity and includes both quarterly and annual figures that can be broken down by state and territory.
Trade commencements were down 19.7% to 11 980, with the biggest decrease seen in construction trades workers, down 39.8%, when compared with the June quarter 2018.
Non-trade commencements increased by 9.3% to 21 310 over the same period, with the biggest increases seen in carers and aides, up 19.1%, and sales assistants and salespersons, up 16.8%.
There was a modest increase in completions in the June 2019 quarter, up 1.3% when compared with the same quarter last year.
Overall there were 272 920 apprentices and trainees in-training as at 30 June 2019, down 1.4% from 30 June 2018.
For more Information, please visit here. 
ASQA’s approach to managing complaints
On Monday 2 December, ASQA will be launching asqaconnect—a new online portal to receive complaints, or reports alleging provider non-compliance, from all members of the community.
ASQA will no longer investigate and substantiate individual complaints received.
This means, ASQA will not act on individual complaints. Instead, we look at the provider’s pattern of behaviour identified throughout complaints and use this information to inform our decisions on when and if further regulatory scrutiny of a provider is required.
ASQA does not have any consumer protection powers, and cannot act as an advocate for individual students or resolve disputes between students and providers.
Reports about your personal experiences with, or observations of, providers are vital inputs to effective regulation. The information you provide contributes to ASQA’s knowledge of a provider’s behaviour and practice. ASQA uses this information to help protect the quality and reputation of the vocational education and training (VET) and English language intensive courses for overseas students (ELICOS) sectors.
For more Information, please visit here. 
Webinar recording available–proposed changes to ASQA fees and charges 2020-21
ASQA hosted a webinar on Tuesday 3 December on proposed changes to ASQA fees and charges 2020-21 as part of its consultation with the vocational education and training (VET) sector.
The recording and slides from the webinar are now available online.

• Access recording [YouTube]
• Download presentation slides [PDF; 859.6 KB]

For more information, refer to ASQA’s Fees and charges proposal 2020-21 consultation paper (PDF) and asqa.gov.au/costrecovery.
Asqanet release—what you need to know?
The latest version of asqanet has launched this morning.
ASQA has also launched asqaconnect—a new online portal to receive complaints alleging provider non-compliance.
This asqanet release will provide services for:

• third party arrangements—providers are now able to create and cease third party arrangements via asqanet
• delivery locations—asqanet is now better able to differentiate between VET & CRICOS locations
• business names—will be sourced directly from the Australian Business Register (ABR)
• asqaconnect—ASQA’s new online portal for complainants
• portal user verification—asqanet users will no longer need to respond to secret questions and answers. A verification code will be sent to their registered email.

For more information, please visit here.
AVETMISS reporting: 2019 annual activity due by 28 February 2020
The VET national provider collection is an annual collection of AVETMISS data from all RTOs.
The collection window for direct reporting of 2019 AVETMISS feefor-service activity to NCVER opens at 8:45am (ACT) on 2 January 2020 and closes at 5pm (ACT) on 28 February 2020. 
Please check deadlines if you are reporting fee-for-service activity via a state training authority (STA), as their deadlines may be earlier.
We encourage you to validate your data and fix errors prior to the end of the year so that you can submit when the window opens. 
Reminder: data needs to be reported accurately as at 31 December 2019 and needs to include all activity for the full calendar year (1 January — 31 December 2019)
For more information, please visit here.
AUSkey is Changing
Why AUSkey is being decommissioned?
AUSkey has not kept pace with changes in technology and does not meet the future needs of most businesses. You can find more detail on the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) website at AUSkey decommissioning.
What is replacing AUSkey?
AUSkey is being replaced by a new whole of government digital identity service – myGovID and Relationship Authorisation Manager (RAM).
Together, these services offer an easy, secure and more flexible authentication and authorisation solution.
Put simply:

• Standard and Admin AUSkeys have been replaced by myGovID and RAM, and
• Device AUSkeys will be replaced by a new Machine-to-Machine (M2M) authentication solution.

See AUSkey is Changing factsheet and ATO video – Your new key to business is here, for a general overview.
For more information, please visit here.
There is huge potential in Australia’s education relationship with India
Just over a year ago in his landmark India economic strategy, the former head of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Peter Varghese, said the relationship between the two countries had the potential to become one of the defining partnerships of the future of the Asia-Pacific region.
He then pointed to one sector above all others as the key to ­solidifying that partnership as well as lifting Australia’s trade and investment ties with India: ­education.
Both countries are now turning their minds to how they can strengthen the education relationship, which already benefits from natural synergies, combining the quality and expertise of Australia’s institutions with the growing demand for quality education in India.
For more information, please visit here. 
Education minister Dan Tehan restores ‘university college’ category 
The federal government has given way to sector pressure and reinstated the university college category for higher education institutions.
Education Minister Dan Tehan said on Tuesday that “in response to stakeholder feedback” on the recent review of provider category standards, the government would retain the name university college for institutions just below university level, instead of calling them national institutes of higher education.
The national institutes were to have a measure of self-accrediting authority status and the option to apply for university status.
For more information, please refer here.