How to apply for a Victorian Skills First Funding Contract

How to apply for a Victorian Skills First Funding Contract

What we know so far

The Victorian Department of Education and Training (The Department) has announced that it’s call for expressions of Interest for Skills First 2018-19 VET Funding Contracts will open at 2pm on Friday the 1st of September 2017, and will close on Thursday the 28th of September 2017.

It is understood that applying organisations will be able to apply for either a “Standard” or “Restricted” funding contract, which is consistent with the current 2017 Skills First VET Funding Contracts.

Successful applicants will be offered a 2 year contract, that will be valid throughout the 2018 and 2019 calendar years.

[emaillocker id=6291]The Department has advised that it is hoping to provide applying organisations of their outcome in November 2017.

A suite of information will be published on the The Department’s Skills Victoria Training System (SVTS) when the Call for EOI opens on 1/9/2017, including draft VET Funding Contracts and supporting information to assist providers with completing the application process.

Information sessions will be held in Melbourne, Geelong, Traralgon and Bendigo in the first week of September. Providers can register now via SVTS. Places will be limited to three attendees per training provider.

For more information on how to apply for a Skills First 2018 – 2019 Funding Contract please complete your details on the registration form at the end of this post to attend our FREE WEBINAR on “How to apply for a Skills First 2018 – 2019 Funding Contract“.

The Good News

There is some really good news in this years’ Skills First contract application process, in that the Victorian state government has listened to our feedback and calls for longer contract durations. As already mentioned, successful applicants will be offered a 2 year contract, that will be valid throughout the 2018 and 2019 calendar years. This is a great outcome and will offer quality training providers greater certainty and stability. This will also allow providers to invest in their business to deliver quality training.

It is also really pleasing to hear that the Department will allow training providers up until 16/10/2017 to provide the required financial information, including financials that have been audited by an ASIC Registered Auditor.

Get Your Financials Ready NOW!

The Department has advised that training provider applicants will need to submit their audited financial statements for the two most recently completed full financial years. These financial statements must be accompanied by independent audit reports completed by an ASIC registered auditor. Applicants are encouraged to prepare this documentation as soon as possible. If your organisation has not already started work on this, do not delay – now is the time to start work on this important task.

Learn Local Training Providers that are applying for a restricted contract must have audited financial statements, but will be pleased to hear that they are exempted from the requirement for the auditor to be an ASIC Registered Auditor. That is unless they are applying for a standard contract, in which case Learn Local Training Providers must utilise an ASIC Registered Auditor.

The requirement to submit audited financials is arguably the most challenging part of the application process, and the one sticking point that has seen countless applications rejected over previous years. Having financials audited by an ASIC Registered Auditor is no small task. If your organisation is looking for an ASIC Registered Auditor that is experienced in supporting training providers to apply for VET Funding Contracts, please get in touch and we will happily introduce you to one of our reputable contacts.

The To Do List

  • Register online at eduweb.vic.gov.au/svts/Events to attend the Department’s 2018 Provider Selection Process Information Sessions. These sessions are targeted towards training providers that are considering lodging an expression of interest for a Skills First 2018-19 VET Funding Contract
  • Continue to monitor SVTS daily for further updates and announcements throughout the application process
  • Register your details on the form below to attend our FREE LIVE WEBINAR on Monday 4th September where we will unpack the Skills First contract for you and discuss what is involved in the application process, or click on the following link if the form below isn’t working on your device: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6372504797326981891
  • Contact the team at Audit Express if you have any questions, or require support completing your application

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How to apply for a Victorian Skills First Funding Contract

The importance of supporting GLBTI students in your organisation

The current social & political climate

With all of this talk of Marriage Equality, the plebiscite and postal vote I thought I’d make a timely shoutout to all RTO & TAFE Managers, reminding you of the importance of supporting your Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual, Transgender and Intersex (GLBTI) students.

What does the current research tell us?

Reports from Beyond Blue suggest that the mental health of LGBTI people is among the poorest in Australia. Lesbian, gay and bisexual Australians are twice as likely to have a high/very high level of psychological distress as their heterosexual peers (18.2% v. 9.2%) This makes them particularly vulnerable to mental health problems. The younger the age group, the starker the differences: 55% of LGBT women aged between 16 and 24 compared with 18% in the nation as a whole and 40% of LGBT men aged 16-24 compared with 7%. For more detail take a look at the full report – https://www.beyondblue.org.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/bw0258-lgbti-mental-health-and-suicide-2013-2nd-edition.pdf?sfvrsn=2

Why is it important to support GLBTI students?

School, College or University is often the place where young #GLBTI students feel most safe. It should come as no surprise that this is often the safest place for a young GLBTI person to come out. Are your teachers and training coordinators ready and equipped to handle this kind of classroom situation?

The Star Observer Newspaper has reported that a TAFE student recently made a formal complaint about being bullied by a fellow student after she “came out” as transgender. See- http://www.starobserver.com.au/news/national-news/trans-tafe-student-lodges-harassment-complaint/161034

It would appear that in this instance the TAFE wasn’t equipped to support and provide a safe place for their student being bullied. I can’t help but wonder how many RTOs, TAFEs and Universities really would be willing, ready and able to step up and support a young transgender person throughout their educational experience and personal journey of transition.

I have been talking about the need for RTOs and TAFEs to have provision in their ‘complaints and appeals’, and ‘student support’ policies, procedures and business processes to ensure that they are providing a safe and inclusive environment for all learners – including GLBTI students for quite some time now. However simply updating your policies isn’t enough. If your organisation is committed to creating a supportive environment for all students, including GLBTI students the most valuable thing you can do is educate your teachers.

I am interested to know if you believe that your organisation is already equipped to deal with this type of complaint or support need? Perhaps you have faced similar types of issues in your organisation. I would love to hear about what approaches were taken and how you managed the experience for all students in the classroom environment.

What can my organisation do to support its GLBTI students?

I believe that there is a huge gap in the knowledge and understanding of the support needs of GLBTI students in education. Professional development is needed in all parts of our education system from early childhood, right through to higher education. Earlier this year my friend and colleague Rebeckah Loveday from SensWide Employment teamed up with the VET Development Centre to deliver a webinar titled: ‘Supporting learners of diverse gender, sexuality and orientation’. For more information click here.

UPDATE 05/09/2017: Over the past few weeks the VET Development Centre has had a large amount of interest in their webinar ‘Supporting learners of diverse gender, sexuality and orientation’ so much in fact that they have decided to host another webinar focussed on  ‘Supporting GLBTI Learners in Vocational Education’ this will be happening on Tuesday, 19 September, 2017 from 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM, click here to register >>> http://www.cvent.com/events/webinar-supporting-learners-of-diverse-gender-sexuality-and-orientation/custom-17-74e1ad1e252342e4add0808eb1896f75.aspx 

There is a lot of work to be done in across all divisions of the education sector to ensure that GLBTI learners are supported. As a Vocational Education & Training Sector consultant and former policy advisor, it is my experience and opinion that many Community Colleges, RTOs and TAFEs are currently leave themselves exposed by putting their head in the sand and by not being proactive in taking action.

Next time you are reviewing the professional development schedule in your organisation, why not take a step up and include a useful informative session for your teachers on ‘how to support GLBTI students’?

If you are wanting to discuss this topic further please feel free to get in touch with Matthew Dale at Audit Express by phoning 1300735541

VET Student Loans provider application process

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Federal Assistant Minister for Vocational Education and Skills, Karen Andrews has announced that the second formal application round for VET Student Loans will open on Wednesday the 30th August 2017.

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Minister Andrews has invited quality training providers to apply to become eligible to offer VET Student Loans under the Government’s new sustainable, student-focussed vocational education and training system.

The new VET Student Loans (VSL) program is significantly different to the historical VET Fee Help Scheme, which was plagued with issues. The new VSL program is strengthened and includes:

  • loan caps on courses
  • stronger course eligibility criteria that are aligned with the needs of industry
  • mandatory student engagement measures
  • a stronger focus on students successfully completing courses
  • tougher entry requirements for providers

The VET Student Loans provider application process now includes the payment of a mandatory and non-refundable $5,110 application fee. This fee will assist with the recovery of costs incurred by the Department associated with processing and assessing applications.

Training Providers that are interested in submitting an application are invited to register to attend an information session that will be held in Canberra on Tuesday the 5th of September 2017. This information session will provide applicants with more information on the application process, assessment criteria and suitability requirements needed to apply to become a VET Student Loan provider.

The application process will close on Tuesday the 26th of September 2017.

Click here for more information on the VET Student Loans provider application process, including how to register for the information session.

If you have any questions about how the VET Student Loans program works, or want to discuss your application get in touch with the team at Audit Express on 1300 73 55 41. [/emaillocker][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

How to apply for a Victorian Skills First Funding Contract

Community Colleges Conference a success

We are pleased to announce that the annual Community Colleges Australia (CCA) Conference held in Melbourne was a great success.

The team at Audit Express tilt their hat to their colleagues at CCA for delivering their best conference yet, which comprised an impressive list of speakers that travelled from across the globe to present their thoughts, ideas and concepts to the conference delegates. There was a noteworthy attendance at the conference by the Federal Assistant Minister Karen Andrews, Shadow Minister Doug Cameron and Victorian Minister Gail Tierney – it is understood that our Victorian Shadow Minister Stephanie Ryan sent her apologies and was unable to attend due to being on her HONEYMOON <3 Congratulations Stephanie!

Other outstanding speakers included ASQA, the VRQA and our very own CEO at Audit Express Kevin Ekendahl!

We highly recommend attending this conference in 2018 to show your support for the community education sector, which we understand will be held in Sydney.