RECOGNITION OF PRIOR LEARNING (RPL) FACT SHEET
What is RPL under the VET FEE-HELP Assistance Scheme?
RPL is the acknowledgement of a person's skills and knowledge acquired through previous
training, work or life experience, which may be used to grant status or credit in a VET unit of
study.
It does not include the granting of status or credit for existing qualifications or units of
competency completed or previously formally recognised at the same or another RTO.
Can VET Providers charge a fee for RPL?
Yes, VET providers can charge a fee for RPL, but this fee must be on the basis that the RPL is
or forms a part of a VET unit of study. This means that students are able to defer the cost of
RPL through VET FEE-HELP assistance.
Incidental or administration fees cannot be charged for RPL.
Best practice for the management of RPL involves the determination of a separate RPL VET
unit of study.
Do I have to include RPL VET units of study on my schedule of VET
tuition fees?
Yes, RPL units of study must be included on your schedule of VET tuition fees. All VET units
of study that a VET provider provides or proposes to provide must be included on the VET
provider’s schedule of VET tuition fees. An RPL Vet unit of study must be identifiable from
the unit of study name.
What EFTSL value should be reported for an RPL VET unit of study?
Equivalent Full Time Student Load (EFTSL) measures the study load, for a year, of a student
undertaking a course of study on a full-time basis.
The EFTSL value (Element 339) for a VET unit of study (Element 354) should be consistent for
all students enrolled in the same VET course of study (Element 533) in the same reporting
period year.
Since RPL generally consists of assessment only and will vary between students, there is no
requirement to determine an EFTSL value for an RPL VET unit of study. VET providers may
determine a nominal EFTSL value of ‘0000000001’ (‘0’ for publication purposes on schedules
of fees) for RPL VET units of study.
What information needs to be reported in relation to RPL VET units of
study?
Reporting requirements for enrolments in RPL VET units of study are the same as the
requirements for enrolments in any other VET unit of study. The RPL unit of study must be
reported in the VET Student Load Liability (VLL) File and fees charged should be consistent
with the amount published on the schedule of fees.
Reporting requirements are published on the HEIMSHELP website.
Identification of an RPL Vet unit of study
Element 577 - Recognition of Prior Learning indicator must be reported with a value of 1
(unit consists wholly of RPL) or 2 (unit has a component of RPL) for RPL VET units of study.
This indicator defines the unit of study as an RPL unit of study. All enrolments reported
against the same RPL VET unit of study must be reported with an RPL Indicator of 1 or 2.
Element 354 – Unit of study code must uniquely identify an RPL VET unit of study. All
enrolments reported against the same unit of study code must have consistent values for
EFTSL and the RPL indicator.
Note: VET providers who have published an RPL fee against a VET unit of
study in the schedule of fees, rather than determining a separate RPL VET
unit of study, will need to report the two charges against separate unit of
study codes. For data reporting purposes, the unit of study code should be
modified for students who were charged the RPL fee (for example, prefixed
or suffixed with ‘R’). This will ensure that all enrolments reported against
the same unit of study will have consistent values for EFTSL and the RPL
Indicator.
Completion of an RPL VET unit of study
Element 355 - Unit of study completions status on the VET Unit of Study Completion (VCU)
File includes a value of ‘5’ to denote the completion of an RPL Vet unit of study.
Alternatively, a value of 1 to 4 may be reported where appropriate.
Reporting of credit transfer and/or RPL for a VET course of study
Information on credit transfer and RPL provided to a student towards the total requirements
of the course should be reported under the credit transfer data Elements 560 to 566.
There is currently no requirement to separately report the total amount of EFTSL granted as
RPL from the total amount of EFTSL granted as credit transfer. Element 560 – Credit-used
should include the sum total of EFTSL granted as RPL and/or credit transfer.
Further information on RPL
If you have any queries or concerns about the reporting requirements for RPL, please
contact [email protected].
A diagram of the reporting requirements for RPL can be found on the HEIMSHELP website.
Note the pink flow chart relates to cases where students are charged a fee for RPL, and the
blue flow chart relates to cases where the provision of RPL is rolled into the standard
delivery of training and there is no separate charge for RPL.