Bills Digest no. 61 2007–08
Higher Education Support Amendment (VET FEE-HELP
Assistance) Bill 2008
WARNING:
This Digest was prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as
introduced and does not canvass subsequent amendments. This Digest
does not have any official legal status. Other sources should be
consulted to determine the subsequent official status of the
Bill.
CONTENTS
Passage history
Purpose
Background
Main provisions
Contact officer & copyright details
Passage history
Higher Education Support Amendment
(VET FEE-HELP Assistance) Bill 2008
Date
introduced: 14
February 2008
House: House of Representatives
Portfolio: Education, Employment and Workplace
Relations
Commencement:
Royal
Assent
Links: The
relevant links to the Bill, Explanatory Memorandum and
second reading speech can be accessed via BillsNet, which is at
http://www.aph.gov.au/bills/.
When Bills have been passed they can be found at ComLaw, which is
at http://www.comlaw.gov.au/.
The Bill amends the VET FEE-HELP
provisions introduced in 2007 into the Higher Education Support
Act 2003. The amendments effectively refine the programme s
guidelines to ensure that it is operating as intended.
Income contingent loans for students that had been available in
the higher education sector for some time were extended to the
Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector under the Higher
Education Support Amendment (Extending Fee-Help for VET Diploma,
Advanced Diploma, Graduate Diploma and Graduate Certificate
Courses) Act 2007.
VET FEE-HELP, as the loans are known, have been introduced in a
limited way. They are only available for full-fee Diploma, Advanced
Diploma, Graduate Diploma and Graduate Certificate courses. They
are also only available where arrangements have been put in place
between an approved VET provider and a higher education provider to
credit the qualification towards a higher education award.
At a time when there has been little growth in government VET
funding, VET FEE-HELP offers the potential to raise the levels of
private revenue available to the VET sector. For this reason
governments, business and public and private VET providers have all
supported the initiative. [1]
The provisions of the Bill are primarily technical in nature. In
general they involve refining the administrative Guidelines for the
programme. Only a brief overview is provided here as they are well
described in the Explanatory Memorandum.
Item 1 ensures that credit transfer
arrangements are in place between VET units/courses to higher
education awards.
Item 2 requires compliance with any guidelines
by VET providers relating to the charging of tuition fees.
Item 3 inserts a qualification into subclause
28(1) that excludes cases where there are VET restricted access
arrangements (i.e. where there are arrangements between the VET
provider and an employer/industry body and some or all enrolments
in the course are limited) from the requirement under this
subclause for providers to provide a schedule of tuition fees.
Item 4 then inserts new subclauses 28(2A) and (2B)
placing specific requirements on the provision of tuition fee
schedules in cases where there are restricted access arrangements.
Items 5 and 6 involve
consequential changes from the insertion of special requirements
for restricted access arrangements.
Item 7 adds a student entitlement clause
relating to the student meeting any other requirements set out in
the guidelines.
Item 8 repeals existing subclause 45(1) and
replaces it with a new version to ensure that in order to qualify
for VET FEE-HELP a course should meet all the requirements of the
guidelines in relation to credit transfer and that it is not one
excluded by the Minister.
Items 9 and 10 insert the new
definitions of VET credit transfer arrangement and VET restricted
access arrangement , respectively.
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Carol Kempner
19 February 2008
Bills Digest Service
Parliamentary Library
© Commonwealth of Australia
This work is copyright. Except to the extent of uses permitted
by the Copyright Act 1968, no person may reproduce or transmit any
part of this work by any process without the prior written consent
of the Parliamentary Librarian. This requirement does not apply to
members of the Parliament of Australia acting in the course of
their official duties.
This work has been prepared to support the work of the Australian
Parliament using information available at the time of production.
The views expressed do not reflect an official position of the
Parliamentary Library, nor do they constitute professional legal
opinion.
Feedback is welcome and may be provided to: web.library@aph.gov.au. Any
concerns or complaints should be directed to the Parliamentary
Librarian. Parliamentary Library staff are available to discuss the
contents of publications with Senators and Members and their staff.
To access this service, clients may contact the author or the
Library’s Central Entry Point for referral.
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