ASQA defuses fee fracas

THE new national VET regulator has "recalibrated" its charges for regulating colleges and courses, delaying its plans to operate on a full cost recovery basis for three years, after private providers warned that the fees originally proposed could have sent some of them to the wall.

When the Council of Australian Governments agreed to establish a national regulator last year, it insisted that the new agency must recover all its costs through fees. But the proposed schedule of charges, unveiled just before Easter, left private providers fuming over potential registration fee hikes that could have cost them an extra $48,000.

While large colleges with international students would have borne the brunt of the increases, with fees depending on the number of campuses and the range of courses offered, the schedule would have seen costs rise for providers registered in every state and territory except NSW.

But after consultations in April and May, DEEWR decreased many of the fees and introduced hourly charges – in place of one-off fees of up to $3000 – for additional monitoring and investigation.

While it compensated by introducing annual $600 registration fees, these have been delayed until 2014 and some other fees won’t apply until 2013. A spokesperson for the Australian Skills Quality Authority said this “transitioning” to full cost recovery would help RTOs adapt to the new approach.

She said the new fees reflected not only the size of the colleges being regulated, but also the amount of regulation warranted. “Providers assessed as low risk will experience minimal regulatory activity, hence fewer audit charges,” she said.

“This model of regulation avoids spreading the cost of regulating high risk providers across the whole VET sector.”

ASQA’s acting chief commissioner Chris Robinson said the changes appeared to have been well received, with fees now rarely mentioned by providers. However Western Australia has complained about new requirements that ban ASQA-regulated providers from including state or territory registering body logos on testamurs and statements.

WA Training Minister Peter Collier said this condition hadn’t been thought through. “It would be absurd if there were some situation whereby qualifications weren’t recognised because the TAC [WA Training Accreditation Council] symbol was on a particular certificate,” he said.

Mr Robinson said despite differences with WA and Victoria, national regulation had strong support from most states and territories as well as employer and provider groups. He said it was only the tenth time in Australian history that the states had referred powers to the Commonwealth.

He said national regulation marked a big step forward in two decades of work to “get rid of the rail gauge approach in VET” through moves such as training packages and mutual recognition of qualifications.

“There have been a lot of national elements in place, but it has compounded things by having eight different approaches to regulation. Although we haven’t quite got to one yet, we’re well on the way.”

Mr Robinson said staff felt they were breaking new ground. “There’s a feeling that more things will be possible under this new approach. The role we can play in proposing improvements to the system – the potential for that is far greater.”

The Australian Council for Private Education and Training said ASQA’s establishment was a significant tertiary sector reform which should fundamental improving the sector’s regulation and make life easier for students, institutions and governments.