2018 VET Data Collection Changes - what they mean for your RTO

The start of 2018 saw the implementation of a new National VET Data Policy which introduces a number of changes in the way Registered Training Organisations Collect and Report Data. In this post we give a brief overview of the major impacts of these changes.
We are assuming that your Student Management System Provider will have upgraded your system to ensure that the correct data is collected and will have provided the necessary Professional Development.

What ASQA has to say

ASQA in their publication - New National Vet Data Policy - summarises the changes as follows:

• consolidation of the policy to provide guidance about data collection, reporting, use and disclosure in one document
• enhanced AVETMISS reporting functionality to enable RTOs to report activity data as events occur throughout the year
• clarification that all student enrolment activity must reported with a USI, including for students who withdraw or otherwise do not complete
• streamlining of data reporting exemptions for community service organisations (exemptions on the basis of national security are largely retained)
• removal of partial data reporting exemptions for delivery of short courses and to employees and volunteers of enterprise RTOs
• introduction of a mandatory notification to students informing them of how their personal information may be used or disclosed
• more transparent and defined rules in relation to disclosure and use of data from the collections held by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research.

What the AVETMISS changes mean at the actual coalface

In our opinion the following changes will affect your administration processes the most:​

1. Privacy Notices and Student Declarations
2. USI
3. Quality Indicator Surveys
4. Activity Start Date
5. Completion Dates
6. Email Addresses
7. Highest School Level Completed
8. Outcome Codes

Privacy Notices and Student Declarations​

All students are required to be informed about how their personal information collected by or on behalf of governments may be used. Enrolment Forms must include a specific Privacy Notice and Student Declaration.

​USI
All students must now have USI’s and exemptions for one day courses are no longer applicable. Details regarding USI Exemptions can be found on the USI Website

Information regarding USI Collection and the requirement to sign a Privacy statement should be clearly communicated to students prior to enrolment. Our 2018 Student Handbook has been updated to include this information.

The only students who are exempt from providing an USI are;

• International students undertaking their entire VET course outside Australia (also known as offshore training).
• Students who have completed their VET training prior to 1 January 2015 but have not yet been issued with a qualification or statement of attainment in respect of that training.
• Students who have applied for and obtained an individual exemption in writing from the Student Identifiers Registrar because they have a genuine personal objection to being assigned a USI.

 
USIs must be collected at enrolment and you cannot issue a Statement of Attainment or Certificate to a student who has not supplied a USI. Further, missing USIs will mean you will not be able to lodge your 2018 data which will put you in breach of the ASQA Data Provision Requirements.

Exemption for RTOs not to report USIs
Exemptions will only be awarded if there is a National Security Issue around data reporting or if you are a not–for-profit community organsiations/charity providing emergency or safety related services to volunteers. You must contact ASQA to ascertain your eligibility entitlement (this includes all RTOs who were previously approved although there is a transition period for applications until 30 June 2018).

Quality Indicator Surveys
It is now mandatory that you report if a student has been given a Quality Indicator Survey . Your SMS  may have an in-house system of issuing these surveys and may, therefore, automatically update this field – check with your SMS Provider,

Activity Start Date
Start date for online training is the day students access materials not the day they are given to them.
Start date for Clustered Training is the the first date activity started in the specific subjects included in the cluster.
Start date for Credit Transfer is  when the credit transfer is administratively processed by the training organisation.

Completion Dates
Completion Dates are now reported for your program completions (rather than just a year). This may also be the Issue date of a certificate and may automatically be updated by the SMS – check with your SMS Provider.
​Email addresses
You can now collect and report a second email address for all students.
Highest School Level completed
Is now the highest level successfully achieved.

Outcome Codes
​Changes to Outcome codes are as summarised in the table supplied by NCVER

So these are the changes we felt would have the most impact on your RTO,we hope you found them useful. A good publication for full details of all changes is: AVETMISS 8.0 for VET providers: what's changing from release 7.0 by NCVER.

RTO has developed a 2018 Policy Update Kit which includes the relevant changes for RTOs. Changes are highlighted for easy identification and can easily be uploaded to your existing policy documents no matter what their source. 
Note: if you have previously purchased an RTO2Go.com Policy Manual,these documents  are free; if you have not already received them, please contact us. ​

2018 Policy Update Kit