FEES AND REFUNDS

• Students must consult the Course Fees, Charges and Refunds Form to ascertain the costs for their particular course.
• AT&SI accepts all payments via Cash, Business Cheque, EFTPOS, Credit Card (VISA or MasterCard), Purchase Order (for ABN holders ONLY) or Direct Debit.
• Fees are payable in advance for each course. A student is not considered enrolled in the course and therefore not eligible for the issue of their award, until the required fee is paid.
• Students responsible for paying their training course fees should contact AT&SI if they will be unable to finalise payment at least five (5) working days before their course commencement.
• AT&SI reserves the right to cancel an enrolment if payment has not been received five (5) working days before the commencement of the course.
• The existence of AT&SI’s option to cancel an enrolment because of non‐payment does not in any way reduce the student’s obligation to pay a cancellation fee or the course price in the event of them cancelling their enrolment or failing to attend their scheduled training.
• AT&SI reserves the right to cancel a course due to low student enrolment. All efforts will be made to reschedule students to alternative courses. Any student affected by this stipulation and unable to attend the rescheduled course date will be entitled to a full refund of their course fees.
• All monies/payments received are placed in a separate account and are not accessed until the course commences.
• All course cancellations must be received in writing for the student to receive any form of refund.
• A Qualification or Statement of Attainment will be issued within 21 days of the completion of the qualification/course. A charge will be payable for the re‐issue of these documents as per the Course Fees, Charges and Refunds Form.
• All invoices must be paid within 7 days.
• No refunds will be issued on any distance education materials.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF STUDENTS

Students are encouraged not to offend or threaten any other person, nor do anything to place any other person in danger. Students are also encouraged not to harass, victimise or embarrass other people. Students must also follow directions of workplace health and safety practices, the policies of AT&SI and adhere to directions given by staff members or training facilitators.

RIGHTS OF STUDENTS

• Students have a right to be free from any form of discrimination and/or harassment.
• Students have a right to have their learning needs recognised and addressed by the training facilitator, and have a competent training facilitator who can assist them to achieve the expected course outcome.
• Students are entitled to be re-assessed if competency is not achieved on the first attempt.
• Students have a right to have their privacy and confidentiality respected. AT&SI will not release student information to any third party, unless we have obtained prior approval from the student. Students have access to their file upon request.
• A prompt refund of course fees is available where applicable.
• Students are able to access a fair system to help with appeals, complaints and grievances.
• Students have the right to speak to their training facilitator about any of the above issues, or write to the RTO Manager.

DISIPLINE

Students are reminded that any non compliance with AT&SI’s policies or training staff directives will result in disciplinary action being taken. This could include counselling or exclusion from their course.

COURSE INFORMATION

For information about a specific course, AT&SI has course brochures available. Each brochure lists the course content, cost and prerequisites. Evidence must be provided to undertake studies requiring prerequisites. Evidence can be provided through industry experience or previous studies.

ACCESS AND EQUITY

AT&SI encourage every adult member of the community to attend our courses. AT&SI, in particular, encourages indigenous people, people with disabilities, and those who live in remote areas. AT&SI has strategies in place to ensure we provide an accessible and equitable service to our clients.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

AT&SI is committed to enabling all students to have an equal opportunity to develop skills, advance their careers and balance work and personal commitments. A discrimination free work environment is the responsibility of all our staff.

STUDENT VERIFICATION

All course assessments are to be completed only by the enrolled student. AT&SI conduct a student validation process to ensure the student who enrolled in the course is the actual student who completed all assessment items. If it is discovered that a false declaration has been made, the student will be contacted and informed that they have not yet been deemed competent and will be required to meet with AT&SI personnel to undergo further investigation into the verification of the assessment process. A refund is not available to students who make false declarations on their training materials.

COMPLAINTS RESOLUTION

AT&SI has a list of steps students should take they have a grievance. If the student, as a course participant, or their employer have a grievance against administration or with assessment or training, they are encouraged to solve it with the RTO Manager. AT&SI has procedures in place to deal with these issues. If students are unable to come to a resolution, they are encouraged to contact the appropriate registering training body. In Queensland, this is the Department of Education and Training.

LEGISLATION

From a State perspective, AT&SI must observe the relevant safety laws where it operates. This includes the following Occupational Health and Safety Legislation:

• The Workplace Health and Safety Act 2011(Queensland)
• The Workplace Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Queensland)

From a Federal perspective, AT&SI observes the following specific Acts to ensure the safety, well-being and privacy of staff and students:

• Workplace Relations Act 1996
• Anti-discrimination Act 1991
• Equal Opportunity Act 1995
• Racial Vilification Act 1996
• Privacy Act 1988
• Disability Discrimination Act 1992

RECOGNITION OF OTHER RTO QUALIFICATIONS AND ATTAINMENTS

Recognition of Prior Learning is a way of recognising qualifications students have achieved through previous informal and formal learning or through work or life experiences. Students can present a variety of different forms of evidence to prove that they are competent in the areas needed for the qualification or program they are undertaking. This evidence could include samples of work, references from people they have worked with, evidence of attendance at other training courses, etc. For more detailed information about RPL, please contact AT&SI.

ASSESSMENT OUTCOMES

For all nationally recognised training, course participants are assessed as either ‘Competent’ or ‘Not Yet Competent’. Failure to achieve a competent result will require students to be re-assessed. Qualifications/Statements of Attainment are issued within 21 days of course completion. If students dispute an assessment outcome, they have the right of appeal. Contact AT&SI for the appropriate form.

LANGUAGE, LITERACY AND NUMERACY POLICY

Specific training packages require students to have a basic level of English language, literacy and numeracy skills. All training material is presented in English. If students feel they may have difficulties achieving the course outcomes, they are encouraged to contact AT&SI’s office so AT&SI staff can discuss how they can provide support to ensure successful achievement of the student’s training.

AT&SI is committed to providing assistance to people seeking to undertake training with AT&SI, who may have special literacy and numeracy requirements. AT&SI will provide individual assistance where possible to trainees who have literacy and numeracy skill needs, and will also provide referrals to specialist literacy and numeracy assistance agencies where appropriate.

If you have any questions about these policies and procedures, please contact AT&SI on 1300 130 636.