Monitoring and evaluating accredited courses ensures relevance, currency, and ongoing improvement.
Most accredited courses expire after 5 years. You must apply for reaccreditation before that date.
In exceptional circumstances, we may grant a short-term renewal for a maximum of 12 months.
You can apply to make amendments to an accredited course at any time.
Course reaccreditation
To apply for course reaccreditation, you complete the course accreditation process.
This starts with a declaration form.
We recommend applying for course reaccreditation at least 6 months before the expiry date. This will ensure the course remains valid while we process the application.
Amending an accredited course
To amend an accredited course, send us a completed application form.
Minor changes
Minor changes that don’t impact the course outcome will generally be approved.
Examples of minor changes include:
- adding or deleting units from an elective list
- updating units to a later equivalent version, including core and elective units and any prerequisite units
- minor updates to units of competency that do not change the outcome of the unit and do not require a code or title change, such as:
- replacing prerequisite 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 due to legislative changes in an industry, such as occupational health and safety or licensing requirements.
Significant changes
Any significant changes may require a new course accreditation.
Examples of significant changes include:
- adding or removing prerequisite units of competency from the core units within an accredited course
- changing a core unit where it affects the outcome of the 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 to an AQF qualification
- changing Victorian units of competency, resulting in a change of outcome that needs a change to the code or title
- adding or 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 the resources for delivery or change a unit of competency so that it’s no longer equivalent to the superseded unit.
Short-term renewal
To apply for a short-term renewal there must be exceptional circumstances and you need to send us a completed application form.
You must explain the exceptional circumstances in your application.
These may include:
- outcomes of the accredited course are being incorporated into a national training package scheduled for endorsement shortly after accreditation expires
- completion of the accredited course to meets a legislative, regulatory, or licensed outcome. However, the relevant legislation is under review, and approval will only occur shortly after the accreditation expires.
Delaying the reaccreditation process is not considered an exceptional circumstance.
You cannot request a short-term renewal if accreditation has expired. We will usually only consider one short-term renewal request per accredited course.
Submitting your forms
Forms for reaccreditation, amendment, or renewal must be:
- received from the course copyright owner specified on training.gov.au
- complete in all sections
- signed by a CEO or an Executive Director.
Email your application and attachments as a zip file to vrqa.accred@education.vic.gov.au. Use the subject line ‘Attention: Course reaccreditation/amendment/renewal form [code and title of current accredited course]’.
After you submit your form, we will check to make sure it is complete and contact you if we need more information.
A non-refundable fee applies to all applications.
We will email you an invoice to acknowledge that we have received your complete application.
View our fees.
Once you pay the fee, we will assess your application form against the AQTF 2021 Standards for Accredited Courses.
You can email us if you have questions about submitting your form at vrqa.accred@education.vic.gov.au.
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