Academic Advice and Issuance Certification Policy

1. Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to ensure Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) certification documentation is compliant with legislative and regulatory requirements and issued in a timely manner.

The integrity of Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) qualifications is protected by:

• legislation that provides for the accreditation of qualifications and authorisation of organisations to issue qualifications by accrediting authorities
• quality assurance arrangements for qualifications and authorised issuing organisations
• nationally consistent use of certification documentation
• nationally consistent and correct use of AQF qualification titles.

This policy should be read in conjunction with the Standards for RTOs 2015 and Academic Advice and Issuance of Certification Procedure.

2. Scope

Where this policy refers to CIT, it includes CIT Solutions.

This policy applies to all certification documentation issued by CIT to students and to all staff involved in the issuing processes.

Reference to Australian Apprentices includes apprentices and trainees.

Reference to Australian Apprenticeships includes apprenticeships and traineeships.

The issuing of senior secondary certification is the responsibility of the ACT Board of Senior Secondary Studies and is excluded from this policy.

3. Principles

CIT students will be provided with academic advice on course progress and completions.

All AQF qualifications and statements of attainment issued will comply with all requirements and regulations of:

• The Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF)
• The Standards for RTOs 2015
• AQF Issuance Policy
• Tertiary Education Quality Standards Agency (TEQSA)
• ACT State Training Authority (Skills Canberra), for issuing certification documentation to ACT Australian Apprentices, and ensuring documents issued to eligible ACT Australian Apprentices include the wording, ‘Achieved through Australian Apprenticeship arrangements’
• other State and Territory Training Authorities or entities where appropriate.

CIT will:

• only issue certification documentation to a student it has assessed as meeting the requirements of a nationally accredited unit of competency (when requested) or course of study (on completion)
• ensure required integrity, security and controls are in place to support the production of certification documentation, and protect CIT from fraudulent activity
• ensure certification documentation is issued in a timely manner, and within 30 calendar days of the student being assessed as meeting the requirements of any nationally accredited training product, provided there is no ‘hold’ on the student account and employer sign-off has been received for Australian Apprentices
• not permit a third party or subcontracted organisation to issue certification documentation on CIT’s behalf
• only issue posthumous awards on the recommendation of the College Director
• consider requests to issue awards and certification with an approved third-party logo, where it does not detract from CIT being the issuing RTO for the award, or contravene regulatory and legislative requirements for issuing certification
• revoke any AQF qualification, which was later found to have been incorrectly issued by CIT or fraudulently achieved by the student
• ensure a student has the right to a review of any decision not to issue an award (refer: Student and Community Members Complaint Policy).

3.1 Academic advice

3.1.1 Unofficial academic advice

Students may use CIT Self-service at any time to view an unofficial transcript.

Student Management System (SMS) reports produced on non-secure paper, such as Unofficial Transcripts and Compliance Reports, are marked indicating this status. Unofficial Transcripts from the SMS may be provided by CIT College administrative staff to students or the students are to be referred to CIT Self-service.

Where a compliance report, letter of reference or similar correspondence from CIT staff is considered appropriate, any comments on the status of academic progress must be substantiated by the CIT staff member with a report from SMS, generated at the time of the enquiry. Due diligence will be applied to reviewing the SMS report before giving the student advice on academic progress.

3.1.2 Official academic advice

CIT staff should direct students to request all official advice via an email to CIT Infoline.

Official academic advice is issued only by CIT Awards and Programs team.

Students may request official academic advice, derived from a Student Management System (SMS) report, at any time via an email to CIT Infoline. All certification documents will be signed by the Chief Executive Officer or Executive Director, Education Futures and Students.

Students automatically receive official academic certification on the completion of a course of study.

Any report provided with official academic advice will be one produced by the CIT Awards and Programs team on secure paper, such as a Record of Result or Statement of Attainment.

3.2 Certification documentation: testamurs/qualifications, records of results and statements of attainment

Certification documentation from the SMS can only be approved and produced by the Awards and Programs team.

Certification documentation for AQF and nationally accredited qualifications on CIT’s scope of registration will be issued digitally through the secure platform, My eQuals. Hard copies will be issued in the first instance, on request, at no cost. Subsequent hard copies of certification documentation may attract fees.

Certification documentation for Higher Education qualifications will be issued digitally through the secure platform My eQuals and in hard copy.

Hard copy CIT certificates are produced on pre-printed corporate paper including:

• a distinct pattern and a foil hologram to ensure security
• the digital signature of the Chief Executive Officer
• a unique serial number, which is generated by the SMS at the time of production and recorded in the SMS for subsequent verification.

No certification documentation will be issued without the student’s Unique Student Identifier (USI)recorded in the CIT SMS, unless a USI exemption is in place.

3.3 Replacement certification documentation

A hard copy of an award will be replaced if the original document has been lost, destroyed or damaged, or if the recipient provides evidence of having legally changed name.

Replacement certification documentation will be provided through My eQuals where possible.

It may not be possible to replace some non-AQF certification documentation.

CIT reserves the right to refuse to issue a replacement document, or to request additional supporting evidence to support a request for replacement certification.

3.4 Posthumous Awards and Official Academic Advice

The standard testamur format will apply to posthumous awards.

Replacement awards and/or academic advice relating to the academic record of a deceased student may be issued:

• at the request of the deceased student’s Executor, or, where no will exists, at the request of an immediate family member
• to a member of the deceased student’s family, nominated in writing by the Executor or two immediate family members, in line with standard practice for all replacement awards.

3.5 Student record on hold

Where a student's record has a hold preventing the release of academic advice, the hold may be overridden by the Academic Registrar in consultation with relevant stakeholders.

3.6 Responsibilities

3.6.1 Chief Executive Officer

The Chief Executive Officer is responsible for signing all CIT testamurs except where the Executive Director Education Futures and Students is required to sign the testamur.

3.6.2 Executive Director Education Futures and Students

The Executive Director Education Futures and Students is responsible for:

• CIT adhering with all legislative and regulatory requirements related to issuing awards and certification
• signing a CIT testamur in the absence of the Chief Executive Officer
• providing the CIT Board an annual overview of certification documents issued during the previous academic year.

3.6.3 Academic Registrar

The Academic Registrar is responsible for approving an override of a hold on a student record after consulting with relevant stakeholders.

3.6.4 Manager Awards and Programs

The Manager Awards and Programs is responsible for:

• applying due diligence to reviewing student information on the SMS, prior to giving advice
• communicating with the relevant Head of Department where there is conflicting information relating to a student enquiry and course information on the SMS
• issuing the following official certifications and official academic advice on behalf of CIT:
  • testamur
  • statements of attainment
  • non-accredited awards
  • competency cards
  • specialisation statements
  • trade competency statements
  • other advice for licensing purposes
• managing the batch compliance process from SMS.

3.6.5 College Directors

The College Director ensures:

• compliance with this policy and associated procedure
• reporting the issuing of non-AQF certification (non-accredited and non-assessed) to the Executive Director Education Futures and Students when requested.

3.6.6 Heads of Department

Heads of Departments are responsible for:

• ensuring course details are correct in the SMS and CIT web site (refer: Marketing and Course Information Policy)
• communicating with the Awards and Programs team to resolve compliance issues
• ensuring results are entered into SMS in a timely manner (refer: Resulting Policy)
• the issuing of non-AQF certification (non-accredited and non-assessed) such as, certificates of participation.

3.6.7 College administrative staff

College administrative staff are responsible for responding to requests for unofficial academic advice:

• applying due diligence to reviewing student information on the SMS, prior to giving unofficial academic advice
• referring students to the Student Self-service to obtain information on academic progression and/or completion
• referring students in a timely manner to the Awards and Programs team, where the student’s request cannot be addressed at the college level.

4. Documentation

4.1 Related legislation/regulation

• Australian Qualifications Framework
• Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA)
• Standards for Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) 2015
• Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold Standards) 2015

4.2 Related policy and procedures

• Australian Apprentices Policy
• Credit Transfer policy
• Records Management Policy

4.3 Related documents

Nil.

5. Definitions

All terminology used in this policy is consistent with definitions in the CIT Definitions of Terms. The following definitions are provided in the context of this policy.

6. Policy Contact Officer

Executive Director, Education Futures and Students.

Contact CIT Student Services on (02) 6207 3188 or email infoline@cit.edu.au for further information.

7. Procedures

This policy is implemented through the associated procedures. Authority to make changes to the procedures is with the policy owner.