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Skills and qualifications

Find a course

Search the national training database for the course you want to study. The database has information on vocational education, including:

  • nationally recognised qualifications and courses
  • registered training organisations.

Visit myfuture for information on course entry requirements, including university level courses.

Help with your decision

For help choosing a course, visit:

Study time

How long it takes to finish a course will vary depending on your existing qualifications and experience, the course you choose and the way you study (e.g. full or part-time).

There is generally no set study time for vocational education and training courses (like certificates and diplomas). Students are awarded a qualification when they gain the required skills and knowledge.

As a broad guide, if you study full-time, it should take 4–18 months to complete certificate courses, and 1–2 years for diploma courses. Higher education courses, such as degrees, are usually delivered over a set time. A bachelor degree at university should take you 3–4 years to finish.

Recognition of prior learning

Recognition of prior learning (RPL) and credit transfers may count towards your study. RPL recognises skills gained outside formal education. Credit transfers and RPL may reduce your study time.

What job can I get?

The Job Guide tells you what qualifications you'll need to get the job you want.

Read more about jobs and employment.

What do the qualifications mean?

The Australian Qualifications Framework describes national qualification levels. This means expectations of graduates' skill levels are the same across the country.

The framework sets out what a student should be able to do once they finish their course. For example, Certificate I should give students basic skills for work, further learning, and living in the community. A diploma should give graduates advanced skills in an area of work or learning (e.g. business, information technology, hospitality).

There are 10 qualification levels you can study at tertiary level:

  1. Certificate I
  2. Certificate II
  3. Certificate III
  4. Certificate IV
  5. Diploma
  6. Advanced Diploma/Associate Degree
  7. Bachelor Degree
  8. Bachelor Honours Degree/Graduate and Vocational Graduate Certificate/Graduate and Vocational Graduate Diploma
  9. Masters Degree
  10. Doctoral Degree

In general, universities offer courses at levels 5–10 and training organisations offer courses from levels 1 to 6. Some Queensland schools also offer certificate courses as part of Years 10–12.

Complaints

Talk to your university or training organisation first if you are not happy with the standard of your training. If you want to take your complaint further, contact:

Lost qualifications

Apply to the Australian Skills Quality Authority if you completed a vocational education and training course and your qualifications have been lost or destroyed. The authority may be able to provide replacement documents if your training organisation has closed.

Licence
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia (CC BY 3.0)
Last updated
03 March 2013

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