Approved courses of study for ABSTUDY, ABSTUDY Pensioner Education Supplement (PES) and Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) 010-07010200

Provider

Description

Universities and other Higher Education

The National Course Approvals sub-site contains links to all universities in Australia and other higher education providers including:

• all University and higher education provider codes
• links to provider websites where semester and term dates are located
• specific course information on each provider's page
• details of approved or unapproved courses, and
• course with unusual characteristics

Most universities are self-accrediting and can approve their own courses. Most other higher education providers are accredited by the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) and must submit their courses for accreditation. In addition to being self-accredited or with TEQSA, all courses must also meet the policy guidelines for Services Australia student payments.

Some universities and higher education providers are also TAFEs and/or Registered Training Organisations (RTOs, also known as private providers). Make sure to select the correct provider code for these combined providers, so the correct scholarship payment and level of study is applied.

TAFE/VET

See the Resources page of Assessing study load requirements for a list of how many hours are considered full-time for TAFE courses in each state. The full-time load varies from state to state.

The National Course Approvals sub-site lists:

• all TAFE provider and education provider codes
• details of approved and unapproved courses, and
• courses with unusual characteristics

It does not list all approved TAFE courses as there are too many to list individually.

Approval requirements

Approval can be given for a TAFE course:

• leading to accredited award (other than a TAFE Statement of Attainment)
• listed under their scope of registration on the National Register of VET in Australia, and
• starts with:
• Certificate I
• Certificate II
• Certificate III
• Certificate IV

Approval for courses leading to a TAFE Statement of Attainment

For approval, all units of the course must be accredited.

Non-approved courses

Non-Award or Statement of Attendance are non-approved courses for student payments.

Secondary and primary schools

Not all secondary and primary schools are listed on the National Course Approvals sub-site because of the large number of schools.

To find a secondary or primary school institution code you need to access the CODES screen in Customer First and undertake a search in the Educational Institutions Summary (EIS) screen.

In Process Direct, search codes in left of the Education Institution ID in the EDS field.

If the school is listed, it is approved. If it is not listed, create a referral to a Course Assessment and Liaison Officer. See Referrals to Course Assessment and Liaison Officers (CALOs).

Secondary and primary schooling is state based in Australia and may differ considerably. Check the National Course Approvals sub-site for local education & training structures in Australia.

If a student is studying an alternative secondary or primary education not at the secondary or primary school premises, create a referral to a Course Assessment and Liaison Officer. See Referrals to Course Assessment and Liaison Officers (CALOs).

Private providers

Private providers are listed in the National Tertiary Institution Directory in the A-Z Index at top of each page of the National Course Approvals sub-site.

Most private providers are Registered Training Organisations and must maintain their registration on the official National Register on VET in Australia, Training.gov.au.

Both the provider and course must be listed to ensure it is approved and being delivered in such a way to enable the student to qualify for a student payment.

Create a CALO referral where the student is attending their course, if unable to find:

• the provider on the listing, or
• the course on the private provider page

See Referrals to Course Assessment and Liaison Officers (CALOs).

Course

Description

Masters

ABSTUDY customers are able to undertake any Masters Course offered by an approved higher education provider, in accordance with the ABSTUDY eligibility criteria for Masters and Doctorate award.

Diploma level

To be an approved course of study for YA student, Austudy and PES:

• Vocational Educational Training (VET) courses at diploma level or higher must be:
• a course approved for the VET Student Loan (VSL), and
• provided by an approved VSL provider
• Higher education diploma courses must be:
• undertaken with an approved/authorised provider offering the Higher Education Loan Program (HELP)

AIC, Indigenous special courses and the ABSTUDY Lawful Custody award are excluded from the VSL and HELP requirement.

Course no longer approved after 1 January 2018, but commenced prior

If the customer started a Diploma course before 1 January 2018, that is no longer approved under the above requirements and they receive a payment, the payment will continue until:

• the end of the course, or
• there is a break in the customers entitlement including a break in study

Courses only approved for certain payment types

• Courses which are not offered on a full-time basis may be approved for students eligible for a study load concession or under the ABSTUDY Part-time Award but will not be approved for full-time students
• Doctoral courses are not approved for any payment type other than ABSTUDY or ABSTUDY PES
• Study at primary school level is approved only for ABSTUDY Schooling A (School Term Allowance and School Fees Allowance), for ABSTUDY Schooling B Award in certain cases, or the Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) Scheme

Some courses that, are not otherwise approved, may still be approved for ABSTUDY and ABSTUDY PES. This type of course is known as an Indigenous special course. Some courses that are not otherwise approved may still be approved for AIC.

Indigenous special course

Indigenous special courses (ISC) are developed with a course content for Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. An ISC may be approved for ABSTUDY purposes if it meets the following requirements:

• The course is not identified as excluded for ABSTUDY purposes, and:
• it has a vocational education focus, or
• is a preparatory/pathway course for entry to higher education studies, and
• is either:
• a course accredited by an education provider or relevant State/Territory authority
• a course accredited by the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA), or
• a study program approved by a correctional services authority for a student in lawful custody, and
• the course is available to either:
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students only; or
• all students

Approval of an ISC is undertaken by the ABSTUDY Level 3 Helpdesk, in conjunction with the Course Assessment Liaison Officers (CALO). All new requests for ISC approval must first be referred to the CALO.

Vocational Education Focus for the purposes of ABSTUDY

Courses that have a vocational education focus are:

• all Vocational Education and Training (VET) courses, as they provide skills that are essential to enter the workforce for the first time, change careers, upgrade skills or move into further education. VET course levels are:
• Cert 1, 2, 3 and 4
• Diploma
• Advanced Diploma Vocational Graduate Certificate or Diploma
• Bachelor level courses, as bachelor degrees can be a pathway course for entry into higher studies.

Indigenous special courses of study where there is an equivalent mainstream course

An Indigenous course is approved if there is a mainstream course approved for student payments and there is:

• a tailored Indigenous version of the same course at the same provider and
• it is not an excluded course for ABSTUDY purposes

For example, Canberra Institute of Technology offers a Certificate IV in Alcohol and Other Drugs but has 2 separate versions one for all students and one specifically created for indigenous student.

Excluded course for ABSTUDY purposes

The following courses are not approved for ABSTUDY. The exception is Lawful Custody Award and for Indigenous special courses where indicated:

• courses conducted through a non-registered education provider
• non-accredited higher education or TAFE-equivalent courses conducted by private providers
• Australian Government funded programs such as:
• mainstream Labour Market Programs, or
• courses undertaken as a mandatory activity under the Community Development Program (CDP), or
• courses conducted through Government departments/agencies available only to their employees. For example, Services Australia runs courses available only to employees
• courses which are not available to all members of the Australian community unless the course is considered an Indigenous special course courses comprised wholly or substantially of 'away-from-base' activities

Courses consisting substantially of away-from-base activities

These courses have away-from-base activities which exceed 80 per cent of the total course content (measured in hours). They are excluded courses:

• The total of away-from-base activities over the entire duration of the course is used to calculate the percentage
• This means part of a course may have away-from-base activities exceeding 80 per cent. As long as the percentage of away-from-base activities for the entire course doesn't exceed 80 per cent it can be approved for ABSTUDY purposes

The National Course Approvals Sub-site in Operational Blueprint should be checked when determining if a course is excluded. If a course is determined as an excluded course, please email the details of the course to the Course Assessment and Liaison Officer (CALO) team to ensure the course is updated.

Identifying excluded courses

If a Service Officer believes that a course may be excluded for ABSTUDY, escalate the query to the CALOs for further investigation. If a previously approved course:

• is found to be excluded, the course is treated as excluded from the date of the decision and no earlier
• becomes excluded while the customer is receiving payment, the customer will continue to receive their payment until the end of the course or until there is a break in their entitlement

Who

Action

Services Australia staff

If seeking assistance from a CALO, see Referrals to Course Assessment and Liaison Officers (CALOs).

If the CALO has to request course details from an external provider, they must allow the provider 14 days to respond. Student claims should be streamed to allow for this 14 day turn around. The CALO will try to obtain the course details as soon as possible to assist claim timeliness.

In the interim, if a student contacts Services Australia about the progress of their claim, document the record and advise them:

'Your course has not yet been assessed as meeting eligibility requirements for a student payment. The provider has been asked to provide information to Services Australia to determine if the course meets these requirements. We will be able to progress your claim once we have received this information.'

Education providers

Where an education provider seeks assistance from a CALO Services Australia staff should follow processes to make a query on the education provider's behalf. See Referrals to Course Assessment and Liaison Officers (CALOs). CALOs provide a service to education providers and Service Officers to determine if a provider and course meets the eligibility requirements for payments administered by Services Australia.

The CALO:

• investigates the course details and provides advice to the staff member initiating the enquiry
• assesses and lists courses by approved private providers

If unable to find a provider in the A-Z directory in the National Course Approvals sub-site, and/or the course is not yet listed with that provider, create a referral to a CALO. See Referrals to Course Assessment and Liaison Officers (CALOs).