4. Applying to become an approved provider

4.1 - General requirements

To become an approved course provider, you must:

be committed to delivery of high-quality vocational education and training and achieving best outcomes for students
act efficiently, honestly and fairly in all dealings with students, stakeholders and the Commonwealth, including the National VET Regulator
have a record of satisfactory conduct in relation to the provision of previous vocational education and training for which the Commonwealth, a state or territory provided funding.

To apply to be an approved provider, you must:

apply in the approved form [part 7]
submit your application [part 9 ]
pay the application fee [part 6]
show that you meet the course provider requirements (see below)
give any other information that the department requests.

4.2 - Course provider requirements

The Secretary (or delegate) must be satisfied that you meet the course provider requirements to approve you as a VSL course provider. To meet the course provider requirements, you must also meet the provider suitability requirements. You need to understand the requirements before commencing an application and that you must continue to meet them for the duration of your approval.

To be eligible to apply you must meet all the following course provider requirements. You must:

be a body corporate that is not a trustee of a trust
be established under the law of the Commonwealth, a state or a territory
carry on business in Australia and have your central management and control in Australia
be a registered training organisation
meet the provider suitability requirements and
be a fit and proper person.

Sections 15–20 of the Rules provide more detail about the fit and proper person requirements.

Your application will be assessed based upon information given in the Application Form and evidence provided to demonstrate that you meet these requirements.

4.3 - Central management and control

Central management and control refers to the control and direction of your operation. This may involve:

setting investment and operational policy
appointing company officers and agents and granting them power to carry on the company’s business
overseeing and controlling those appointed to carry out the day-to-day business of the organisation
making decisions in matters of finance, including determining how profits are used (for guidance and further information, please visit the Australian Taxation Office (TD 2017/26 | Legal database)

You will need to provide confirmation that:

you have your central management and control in Australia and
the person(s) who make(s) the high-level decisions that sets your general policies and determine the direction of your operations and the type of transactions you will enter, is also based in Australia.

For guidance in relation to identifying where a company’s central management and control is located, you may wish to read a Practical Compliance Guideline developed by the Australian Taxation Office at PCG 2018/9 | Legal database (ato.gov.au).

You may provide the following documents to demonstrate you have your central management and control in Australia:

minutes and/or other documents showing that high-level decisions are made in Australia
evidence that you declare and pay dividends in Australia.

4.4 - Listed course providers

Due to the different risk profiles of listed course providers (generally government owned) and non-listed providers (privately-owned training organisations) the Commonwealth exempts listed course providers from providing certain information required from an applicant.

Refer s27 of the Act: a listed course provider is an RTO that is a Table A or Table B provider (HESA), a TAFE established under state or territory legislation or a training organisation owned by the Commonwealth, or state or territory, or body specified in the Rules.

4.5 - Approved external dispute resolution scheme

A body applying to become a VSL approved course provider must be a member of an approved external dispute resolution scheme. However, all VSL approved course providers are taken to be members of the approved external dispute resolution scheme operated by the VET Student Loans Ombudsman (VSLO). Further information can be found at section 42BA of the Act and the VSL (External Dispute Resolution Scheme) Specification 2017. This enables you to satisfy the course provider requirement of the Act, if approved.

4.6 - Tuition assurance

Approved course providers, other than Table A providers or providers of a kind prescribed by the Rules, must be a party to a tuition assurance arrangement. Tuition assurance protects students in the event a course provided by an approved course provider is not delivered to completion.

The Tuition Protection Service (TPS) [part 50] helps international and domestic students if their education provider closes, stops offering their course, fails to start their course or discontinues units of study they are enrolled in. It is primarily funded by a levy paid by the education providers of the students it is designed to assist. [part 50]

4.7 - Eligibility Quiz

If you want to apply to become an approved provider, you should complete the VET Student Loans provider eligibility quiz to find out if you’re eligible. At the end of the quiz, you can click Submit notice to apply and the department will contact you.

You must lodge your application on the HELP Information Technology System (HITS). Once you have lodged your application in HITS, please notify the department at VSLprogramintegrity@dewr.gov.au to advise your application has been submitted. There is no closing date for an application to be submitted. However, if we receive your application on or after 2 October it may not be finalised until early the following year.

We will only consider complete applications. You must pay the application fee before we can assess your application.

Make sure you complete all components of the application pack.

Legislation: Act s 25, Act 42BA, Act 25(2)(h), Act Part 5A, Rules s 22-35.