The Wisenet Blog

The Australian Prime Minister announced the Australian Government will partner with state and territory governments to establish a new $1 billion JobTrainer Skills Training Fund.

This is clearly welcome news, but what does it actually mean for registered training organisations (RTOs) and their learners?

The fund will provide training places to help school leavers and job seekers access free or low-cost courses in areas of identified skills need, with the Federal Government providing $500 million with matched contributions from state and territory governments.  Let's hope everyone is on board!

To inform the identification of courses, the National Skills Commission (NSC) will create an indicative list of qualifications based on its own research, analysis and consultation with stakeholder organisations. This list will help inform discussions with state and territory government, with those discussions to determine the qualifications and short courses to be funded via the JobTrainer Fund.

For participating state and territories - and let's hope that's everyone - it is expected that training places will be available from September 2020. Information on training places delivered under the JobTrainer Fund will be made available through the National Careers Institute on the My Skills website.

Given the rapidly changing labour market and economy, this list will be live and will be updated and refined as required, based on both data and analysis from the NSC and states and territories, and intelligence on the ground.

The key takeaway is that RTO technology platforms that are agile and adaptable will be key to accessing the opportunities that JobTrainer offers.  Strap in - it's going to be a wild ride!

Here's a few things to think about when it comes to Job Trainer:

We are all on a bus ride to the other side of COVID-19 Town - wherever that is!

Every training provider we speak with wants to automate because it's the key to reducing costs, improving productivity, and managing compliance.  One of the most common requests we hear at Wisenet is:

How can we best integrate student data with accounts?  

Effective April 2016, Unfunded International Providers (UIPs) in New Zealand must report data to the Ministry of Education (MoE).

The MoE UIP data collection system is an improved means of collecting education data that reduces providers’ compliance costs by replacing manual collections. 

This mandatory electronic data collection provides the MoE with data on international students participating in education in New Zealand at Unfunded Private Training Establishments (PTEs). These data sets include:

• official name, date of birth, residency;
• provider and component enrolment;
• component and qualification completion.

Through the system, the Ministry performs ongoing checks to ensure the integrity of the data stored in the system. 

No more exports. No more manual submissions. No more fuss.

The MoE is right on the money here. The days of manual data collections, exports, imports, uploads, and errors are fading fast. The future is here, and it is instantaneous with live links and automation between consumers, business, and government. Ignore at your own peril!

But, why? What changes can PTEs expect from now on?

In a world where disruption rules, it looks like the education industry is about to have its Uber moment.  

It seems the world has spoken, and prestigious universities are responding by accelerating the democratisation of learning.

Here's the question: is MIT, one of the most prestigious universities in the USA, really willing to sacrifice millions in student fees by offering courses for free? Is this a race to the bottom, or the dawn of something new?

Thursday's successful launch of the NBN Co's Sky Muster Satellite means high speed internet access for 200,000 Australians living in remote and regional areas is a significant step closer!

Rockets and satellites are risky business - a launch failure (i.e. an explosion) would be an expensive and major setback for the NBN (despite a $50 million insurance policy price tag). Satellites take years to build; launch windows are expensive and rare. Fortunately, it was a text book launch and all systems are GO!

Trust is the new currency in our economy.  From airbnb to Uber; from Volkswagen to your registered training organisation, trust is a valuable commodity in this new economy. Betray your customers' trust at your peril.

If you've read our opinion piece on the Volkswagen emission scandal, you're going to want to read this. 

Here are three ways registered training organisations can build trust.

Training providers who genuinely engage in building trust with their customers are sure to see the rewards in positive word of mouth and high staff retention, and will enjoy good relations with regulators.

The recent Volkswagen emission scandal is an example of industrial-scale deception. Why does this matter to VET Fee-Help Providers in Australia, and how can businesses and registered training organisations ensure sustainability? Who are the real victims of scams?