Purpose

The purpose of this policy and procedure is to outline Future Education Group (FEG)’s  approach to ensuring it only issues qualifications, statements of attainment and records of results to students who have completed all requirements of the program they are enrolled in.

It outlines the systems in place to ensure certification is issued correctly and only after students have fully demonstrated competence against the required units or modules.

This complies with many of the components of Standard 3 of the Standards as well as Schedules 4 & 5.

Definitions

AQF means Australian Qualifications Framework which can be accessed at http://www.aqf.edu.au/

AQF Qualifications Issuance Policy means the national policy outlined in the AQF and available at https://www.aqf.edu.au/sites/aqf/files/aqf_issuance_jan2013.pdf

ASQA means Australian Skills Quality Authority which is the national VET regulator and the RTO’s registering body

Certification document means a Testamur, Statement of Attainment or Record of Results.

Course means any nationally recognised qualification, unit of competency, skill set or short course in which a student is enrolled with the RTO.

Record of Results is a record of all the units and modules completed and their results that lead to an AQF qualification or VET Accredited Course being issued and is issued alongside an AQF qualification or Statement of Attainment. Students who complete part of the requirements of an AQF qualification are entitled to receive a record of results.

SRTOs means the Standards for RTOs 2015 – refer definition of ‘Standards’

Standards means the Standards for Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) 2015 of the VET Quality Framework which can be accessed from www.asqa.gov.au

Statement of Attainment confirms that one or more nationally recognised units or modules has been achieved by an individual but is only used where there has been partial completion of a qualification or VET accredited course.

Testamur is an official certification document that confirms that an AQF qualification has been awarded to an individual. This may be called an ‘award’, ‘qualification’ ‘parchment’, or ‘certificate’.

Unique Student Identifier means a unique number assigned to an individual by the Registrar, in accordance with the Student Identifiers Act 2014.

Policy

1. Certification issuance

In accordance with the Standards, FEG issues AQF certification documentation to students who have been assessed as meeting the requirements of a unit, module, qualification or course as specified in the relevant Training Package or VET Accredited Course.

All AQF certification documents issued by FEG will meet the requirements of Schedule 5 of the Standards, as well as the requirements of the National AQF Qualifications Issuance Policy.

Certification documents will be issued within 30 days of the student being assessed as meeting the requirements of the Course, providing that all course/tuition fees have been paid.

2. Authenticity

To ensure authenticity of our certification documents and to ensure they cannot be fraudulently reproduced, our certification documents:

• Include an individual certificate number on them that can be authenticated against our database.
• Include our embossed/ branded sticker seal/watermark which is difficult to re-produce.

Members of the public are welcome to contact our office to confirm the details of any qualification, statement of attainment or record of results issued by FEG. The person making the enquiry must provide the details of the document including student name, qualification or unit details, issue date and document number.

This information is published in the Student Handbook and FEG’s website to ensure members of the public have the information they need to authenticate our certification documents.

3. Record keeping

FEG:

• Retains a register of AQF qualifications it is authorised to issue and of all AQF qualifications issued, in its student management system.
• Retains records of AQF certification documentation issued for a period of 30 years, on its student management system.
• Reports the AQF Qualifications issued to ASQA on a regular basis as required by ASQA.

4. Unique Student Identifiers (USIs)

FEG:

• Will not issue AQF certification documentation to an individual without being in receipt of a verified USI for that individual, unless an exemption applies under the Student Identifiers Act 2014.
• Unique Student identifiers will not be included on a Statement of Attainment or a Testamur.

5. Reissuing

Current and past students can request a copy of their certification documents at any time. There may be an additional cost for re-issuance, as detailed in the Fees and Refunds Policy & Procedures