Christopher Robinson Chief Commissioner & Chief Executive Officer Melbourne ACPET National Conference 2015

Purpose of national VET regulation Ensure learners get quality training and assessment Ensure employers get skilled workers Protect Australia’s international reputation for high quality education training 1

ASQA’s regulatory activities Processed almost 27,000 applications Conducted audits to check compliance Refused: o Some 15% of new RTO applications o Almost 6% of existing RTO re-registrations Issued almost 500 notices to cancel/suspend registration Made 220 decisions to cancel/suspend a provider’s registration 2

ASQA’s Strategic Reviews Four national strategic reviews of training have been released o White card for building and construction o Aged and community care training o Marketing practices of RTOs o Early childhood care and education Finalising two more national strategic reviews o security industry training o equestrian training 3

Conclusions from regulatory work Many RTOs struggle with assessment Short courses Some poor marketing practices e.g. VET FEE-HELP 4

ASQA’s regulatory impact Number of RTOs in Australia has fallen from 4,947 in July 2011 to 4,573 in December 2014 after decades of increasing numbers. Around 1,000 (or 20%) of the RTOs that existed in July 2011 are no longer operating Reasons: o direct regulatory action by ASQA o an indirect effect of ASQA regulatory action o reasons other than ASQA’s regulation 5

ASQA’s regulatory impact Refusal rates are dropping as more poor providers leave VET 6 % applications refused Initial application Re-registration application

ASQA’s regulatory impact Decisions to cancel/suspend RTO registrations are now levelling off 7 Proportion of RTOs (%) Notices issued to cancel/suspend registration Decisions to cancel/suspend registration

ASQA’s regulatory impact Too many RTOs are still not compliant with all the Standards But levels of compliance are improving, especially since the new Standards commenced in 2015 Most RTOs become fully compliant after 20 days rectification, and that proportion has also risen strongly With new Standards Fully compliant when audited (%) Fully compliant after rectification (%)

National VET Regulatory Reform More rigorous/faster action on poor quality providers Earned autonomy Boosted education/information to RTOs Examined regulatory practices/reduced red tape Automatic updates of equivalent training packages Fees not increasing Looking at system risk/harms to quality, not just risk of each RTO 9