The Unique Student Identifier (USI) scheme, enabled by the Student Identifiers Act 2014, allows students to access a single online record of their VET achievements. The scheme also allows for reliable confirmation of these achievements by employers and other RTOs. The online system provides each student with a USI.
The USI scheme will provide a national online authenticated record of student’s training attainment and will serve as a building block for a range of vocational education and training reforms. Over time, the ability of students to access and share their training records will make enrolment processes more efficient for training providers and students. Training providers will have access to an online information source to manage student transfers between training providers, and the assessment of credit transfer and prerequisites.
FiT will only issue a qualification or statement of attainment to a student after the student has provided a verified USI or FiT applies for a USI on behalf of the student. To avoid any delays in issuing certification documentation FiT will ensure that student’s USIs are applied for or verified USI at the time of enrolment.
FiT will protect the security of all information related to USIs. Security measures are in place to protect both digital and hard-copy records from loss, damage or unauthorised access. FiT stores paper-based records in locked cabinets. Digital records are backed up on a Cloud system. All AQF certification documentation issued by FiT is kept for 30 years. Where a qualification or statement of attainment is recorded in the USI scheme, FiT does not retain additional records to demonstrate this because the required records will exist within the USI scheme.
When reporting data about the training, each record of nationally recognised training that is provided to the national centre for vocational education research (NCVER) national VET provider collection will have a USI attached. This USI will be able to be used to draw down on this data collection in real-time. This means that, in the future, students will be able to draw down a record of their VET achievements from one place. They can view this online or they can use the data to develop a transcript that they can attach to a job application, for example.
The USI will be increasingly useful for FiT when as the data builds, FiT (with the student’s permission) will be able to draw down information about that student’s previous VET attainments throughout Australia. This will assist with assessing student’s admission to courses, for credit transfer and in some circumstances, their eligibility for funding.
More information is available from the Department of Industry’s website where a comprehensive video outlines the USI scheme for FiT staff.