What is a Registered Training Organisation (RTO)
What is an RTO?
A Registered Training Organisation or RTO is a provider of Vocational Education and Training authorised to issue nationally recognised qualifications. There are 2 main types of RTO’s: Private and Public RTO’s.
Public RTO’s, formally known as TAFE’s are government funded institutes established to provide low cost training and assessments. Private RTO’s are not funded by the government but can deliver similar programs. Scope Training is a Private RTO. The qualification, whether issued from a public or private RTO is regarded to hold equal weight.
What are the requirements to be an RTO?
Registered Training Organisations are regulated by the government to ensure quality training and assessment. This includes an initial demonstration of compliance as well as regular compliance audits and reporting requirements.
Most RTO’s fall under the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) regulatory body, whilst some smaller RTO’s operating solely in Victoria and/or Western Australia may choose to be regulated under a local accreditation council. More information can be sought directly from the ASQA website.
What are the impacts to the student of an RTO?
As a student undertaking nationally recognised study within an RTO there are some differences when compared to non-accredited training. The main difference is that the RTO must assess the student against nationally determined competencies, this may remove some of the flexibility of training and assessment, but ensures that the student is demonstrating the competencies required to achieve the qualification.
As a student you may also be required to supply some information (normally upon enrolment) such as personal details, date of birth, previous studies completed etc. This is a requirement for all Registered Training Organisations as this information is required for national reporting. The information is kept confidential and the reports don’t link the student name, but generate important demographic statistics for the industry.
Registered Training Organisation’s have a requirement to reproduce evidence at audit showing the grounds which they issued a qualification, in some cases this may create a requirement for the RTO to retain your assessment or make a copy. This information is held and treated with confidentiality.
