What you need to know
The content and outcomes of courses accredited by the VRQA need to be monitored and evaluated. This helps keep the course relevant and current, and allows ongoing improvements to be made.
You can apply to make minor amendments to an accredited course at any time. Significant changes require the course to be re-accredited.
Whoever owns the course copyright is responsible for communicating approved amendments to licence holders and anyone with permission to deliver the course.
Make sure you know when the course accreditation expires, as you will need to apply to renew before that date.
In exceptional circumstances, we may grant a short-term renewal for a maximum of 12 months.
Amending an accredited course
Minor changes
To amend an accredited course, send us a completed application form:
If the change is minor and does not affect the course outcome, it will generally be approved as an amendment.
Examples of minor changes include:
- adding or deleting units from an elective list
- updating units within a course to a later equivalent version, including core and elective units, and any pre-requisite units
- minor updates to enterprise units of competency that do not change the outcome of the unit, and which do not require a code or title change, such as:
- replacing pre-requisite units of competency with updated equivalent units
- editing or deleting enhancements to units of competency
- changes to a range statement or evidence guide — for example, additions to resources due to changes in technology
- changes to copyright ownership
- typographical errors
- updates as a consequence of legislative changes in an industry, such as occupational health and safety or licensing requirements which need to be incorporated.
We will invoice you for an application fee and assess your application once the fee has been paid.
For current fees, see:
Significant changes
Any significant changes will require a course to be re-accredited.
To apply for re-accreditation, send us a completed course concept proposal:
Examples of significant changes include:
- adding or removing pre-requisite units of competency from the core units within an accredited course
- changing a core unit so that the outcome of the unit changes (it is only a minor change to replace a core unit with an updated, equivalent unit)
- adding or deleting one or more units of competency from a core unit
- adding a new stream to a qualification
- changing the title of an accredited course
- changing the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) level of an accredited course, or changing from a 'course in…' to an AQF qualification
- changing Victorian units of competency, resulting in a change of outcome and requiring a change to the code or title
- adding elements or performance criteria, resulting in a change of outcome
- removing elements or performance criteria, resulting in a change of outcome
- changes to assessment advice in the evidence guide, which mandates a particular approach to assessment
- changes that impact on resources for delivery or assessment
- changes to a unit of competency, in addition to those above, that result in the unit no longer being deemed equivalent to the superseded unit.
Expiry and renewal (re-accreditation)
Most accredited courses expire after 5 years.
If a course is due to expire, you will need to renew its accreditation, unless the course has been replaced by a training package qualification.
To apply for re-accreditation, send us a completed course concept proposal:
Short-term renewal
Application for a short-term renewal will only be accepted by the course copyright owner as specified in the contact details listed on
training.gov.au
To apply for a short-term renewal, send us a completed application form:
You must provide appropriate rationale to support the application. Exceptional circumstances may include:
- if the outcomes of the accredited course are to be incorporated into a national training package scheduled for endorsement shortly after accreditation expires
- if the accredited course leads to a legislative, regulatory, or licensed outcome, and it is specified that the course must be completed to achieve this outcome, but the relevant legislation is under review and expected to be finalised shortly after the accreditation expires
- if the VRQA determines the rationale provided is appropriate.
It is not considered appropriate rationale if the owner of the course copyright has delayed starting the re-accreditation process.
Requests for short-term renewal cannot be made if the accreditation period has expired. We will usually only consider one short-term renewal request per accredited course.
We will invoice you for an application fee and will assess your application once the fee has been paid.
For current fees, see: