Monday, May 22, 2017

Australian USI Transcript Service: Is it any use?

Karen Andrews, the Australian Assistant Minister for Vocational Education and Skills, has announced a national Electronic USI  Transcript Service for VET students. This will allow students to obtain an electronic copy of what they did from 2015, onwards. However, the purpose and status of the service is unclear.

The USI website says "The online transcript will have many uses ...", but does not say what all those uses are. It says "This transcript will be a useful backup for when the original documentation is lost ...", but also says "... it does not replace the qualifications or documentation issued by training organisations ...". These statements are contradictory: to be a backup the new service must be able to replace the documentation previously issued.

I suggest the Government needs to decide if the USI Transcript Service can be relied on, or not. If the information in the government's database can't be relied on, then there seems to be little point in having the system. If it can be relied on, then it should be used in place of paper based certificates, which are easily forged.

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