Unique Student Identifier

From 1 January 2015 if you are undertaking nationally recognised training delivered by a registered training organisation you will need to have a Unique Student Identifier (USI). This applies whether you are doing a full qualification or a single Unit of Competence.

If you have a USI, you must provide it to Austrain Academy for verification with the Student Identifiers Registrar. Austrain Academy cannot issue a Statement of Attainment or Testamur and Record of Results without a verified USI. You must have activated your USI account.

CLICK HERE TO CREATE YOUR USI

or

LOGIN TO YOUR ACCOUNT TO SHARE YOUR USI OR UPDATE YOUR DETAILS

We will use the number you provide as well as the name and date of birth and number from one of the forms of identification in Section 2 of the enrolment form. This identification information must be the same as when the USI was created.

You will need to access your USI account and provide permission for Austrain Academy to view your training records / transcript if you wish to apply for Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL). You may also give Austrain Academy permission to view and update your account details.

If you do not already have a Unique Student Identifier (USI) and you want Austrain Academy to apply for a USI to the Student Identifiers Registrar on your behalf, Austrain Academy will provide to the Registrar the following items of personal information about you:

• your name, including first or given name(s), middle name(s) and surname or family name as they appear in an identification document;
• your date of birth, as it appears, if shown, in the chosen document of identity;
• your city or town of birth;
• your country of birth;
• your gender; and
• your contact details

When we apply for a USI on your behalf the Registrar will verify your identity through the Document Verification Service (DVS) managed by the Attorney-General's Department. This service is built into the USI online application process and verifies documents such as a Medicare card, birth certificate, driver licence, Australian passport, citizenship document, certificate of registration by descent, ImmiCard or Australian entry visa.

If you do not have a document suitable for the DVS and we are authorised to do so by the Registrar we may be able to verify your identity by other means. If you do not have any of the identity documents mentioned above, and we are not authorised by the Registrar to verify your identity by other means, we cannot apply for a USI on your behalf and you should contact the Student Identifiers Registrar.

In accordance with section 11 of the Student Identifiers Act 2014 (SI Act), we will securely destroy personal information which we collect from you solely for the purpose of applying for a USI on your behalf as soon as practicable after the USI application has been made or the information is no longer needed for that purpose, unless we are required by or under any law to retain it.

The personal information about you that we provide to the Registrar, including your identity information, is protected by the Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act). The collection, use and disclosure of your USI are protected by the SI Act.

If you ask Austrain Academy to make an application for a student identifier on your behalf, Austrain Academy will have to declare that Austrain Academy has complied with certain terms and conditions to be able to access the online student identifier portal and submit this application, including a declaration that Austrain Academy has given you the following privacy notice:

You are advised and agree that you understand and consent that the personal information you provide to us in connection with your application for a USI:

• is collected by the Registrar for the purposes of:
  • applying for, verifying and giving a USI;
  • resolving problems with a USI; and
  • creating authenticated vocational education and training (VET) transcripts;
• may be disclosed to:
  • Commonwealth and State / Territory government departments and agencies and statutory bodies performing functions relating to VET for:
    • the purposes of administering and auditing Vocational Education and Training (VET), VET providers and VET programs;
    • education related policy and research purposes; and
    • to assist in determining eligibility for training subsidies;
  • VET Regulators to enable them to perform their VET regulatory functions;
  • VET Admission Bodies for the purposes of administering VET and VET programs;
  • current and former Registered Training Organisations to enable them to deliver VET courses to the individual, meet their reporting obligations under the VET standards and government contracts and assist in determining eligibility for training subsidies;
  • schools for the purposes of delivering VET courses to the individual and reporting on these courses;
  • the National Centre for Vocational Education Research for the purpose of creating authenticated VET transcripts, resolving problems with USIs and for the collection, preparation and auditing of national VET statistics;
  • researchers for education and training related research purposes;
  • any other person or agency that may be authorised or required by law to access the information;
  • any entity contractually engaged by the Student Identifiers Registrar to assist in the performance of his or her functions in the administration of the USI system; and
• will not otherwise be disclosed without your consent unless authorised or required by or under law

USI Transcript Service Activation

The Transcript Service has been activated on the 22 May 2017.

From that date, USI account holders will be able to generate an online transcript which collates all training details reported to the national VET collections that are linked to their USI since January 2015.

Once activated, an RTO who has permission set by a student within their USI account will also be able to view and download their student’s USI Transcript.

More information on how students can give their RTOs permission from within their USI account, available here. Remember, this is optional for students and you can remove or modify permissions at any time.

Student Quick Guide Series

• How to view and download my USI Transcript?
• How do I give permission to my Training Organisation to view my USI Transcript?

Student - 'How to' video

• How to view and download my USI Transcript?

Privacy Policies & Complaints

You can find further information on how the Registrar collects, uses and discloses the personal information about you in the Registrar’s Privacy Policy www.usi.gov.au/Pages/privacy-policy.aspx or by contacting the Registrar on 13 38 73. The Registrar’s Privacy Policy contains information about how you may access and seek correction of the personal information held about you and how you may make a complaint about a breach of privacy by the Registrar in connection with the USI and how such complaints will be dealt with.

You may also make a complaint to the Information Commissioner about an interference with privacy pursuant to the Privacy Act, which includes the following:

• misuse or interference of or unauthorised collection, use, access, modification or disclosure of USIs; and
• a failure by us to destroy personal information collected by you only for the purpose of applying for a USI on your behalf.

For information about how Austrain Academy collects, uses, discloses and stores your personal information generally, including how you can make a complaint about a breach of privacy, please refer to Austrain Academy’s Privacy Policy and Student Record Policy which can be found in our Student Handbook.