Gather CRICOS information

The Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS) is a register of Australian education institutions that recruit, enrol and teach overseas students. Registration on CRICOS allows providers to offer courses to overseas students studying in Australia on student visas. CRICOS lists all Australian education providers approved to offer courses to these overseas students, and details the courses offered by these providers.

Student management systems are just one contributor in CRICOS compliance obligations. In particular the use of CourseSales.com would fall under the broad audit focus category of “the ongoing appropriateness of management systems, delivery strategies and other resources” read more here. However there are many ways that CourseSales.com contributes to the smooth running of engaging with overseas students.

The majority of CRICOS functionality is included in the standard license of CourseSales.com, You also have the option to purchase the advanced attendance reporting plugin that has a per month cost.

Student Information Management

Standard: Enrolments for overseas students carry additional requirements for gathering and keeping of records, including overseas health cover information, VISA documentation, IELTS (or equivalent) scores etc. Custom fields may be added to contacts to capture files or documents to be stored against a contact record or the enrolment, additionally fields such as “State/Territory of issue” for an Australian driver’s licence can also be created.

Tracking Student Attendance and Progress

Standard: Paper based attendance checks - using a Registration List of students, printed and updated manually by the trainer, data can be transferred to a spreadsheet. This is suitable for a small number of students or a large number of students where expertise and familiar existing systems and tools allow management of CRICOS attendance obligations.

Plugin: Student attendance on the course is managed using our tablet/phone kiosk - this enables the student to log in using their booking reference number, and automatically updates CourseSales.com based on the student ‘check-in’. A comment can be left for specific reasons for late arrivals etc, on a per student basis. Control to the login ‘window’ is controlled by the trainer or admin. Attendance can then be reported on.

Agents and Commissions

Standard: Agents logins and validating these within Wordpress plugin during enrolment. A portal can be set up just for one agent (alternatively including your courses on their site) or configured so the agents books courses via your own website. Emails and attachments such as invoices can be sent to these agents, they can have different pricing (commissions) and different payment methods and terms and conditions.

Student Communication and Forms

Standard: It is important that communication with student’s is recorded and tracked. You can create any template emails or PDFs that you require, using our powerful mail merge system. Some of the templates you may wish to create are:

Agent Representation Agreement
Attendance Warning
International Agent Agreement
Notice of Intention to Report for Unsatisfactory Attendance
Student Letter of Release
Host Family Homestay Contract
Notification to Cease Enrolment due to Non Payment of Fees

Warning - Unsatisfactory Course Progress

Additionally you may wish to create the following forms to gather information from your students:

Complaints and Appeals Form
CRICOS Agent Questionnaire Form
Enrolment Form - Australian
Enrolment Form - International
Finance Appeals Form
Host Family Homestay Application Form
Withdrawal and Refund Application Form

Be sure to add fields on the Organisation Form for CRICOS qualification code and CRICOS provider code to included on correspondence.

How does CourseSales.com help address the 8 areas of common non-compliance for CRICOS providers?

The preferred configuration set up will depend on your organisation, there are many special circumstances and provisions in the relevant Acts to allow unique configurations for your particular situation and business model in mind. At each workflow process step it is recommended that custom guidance is developed to ensure the relevant staff member understands his/her obligations. Over time by gathering feedback (from students, staff, trainers and auditors) then reviewing and updating the configuration you will build a robust configuration that will add value to the business, allowing the way that you operate to become a unique selling point.

Keep in mind that neither CourseSales.com, nor any student management system, ensures compliance. It facilitates the provision of evidence and guidance so the correct procedures can be conducted by staff. Additionally not every configuration will work for every organisation, it is your responsibility to check that the configuration works for your organisation’s situation and business model.

Standard (% non-compliance in 2014)	Recommended configuration in CourseSales.com to address compliance
Standard 1.1 (25 %)	Marketing information and practices: Registered providers ensure that marketing of their education and training services is professional, accurate and maintains the integrity and reputation of the industry. Automate the creation of a letter of release to show the student has the provider’s permission to transfer prior to completion of six months of his or her principal course Create a process step that a staff member must conduct to take reasonable steps to check whether a student is enrolled with another provider before completing the enrolment. For example asking the student if he or she is currently enrolled with another provider, checking a student’s visa and using PRISMS. Store a copy of a valid enrolment offer from the new provider in the student’s file where a student has applied for a letter of release. Set up an ‘enrol’ process step that has the correct number of days ie 6 months, indicating not to enrol a student prior to the student completing six months of his or her principal course (except in certain circumstances). Standard 1.1: The registered provider must ensure the marketing of its education and training services is undertaken in a professional manner and maintains the integrity and reputation of the industry and registered providers. Marketing material stored in CourseSales.com can be quickly and easily edited to ensure the integral reputation of the industry and your organisation as a CRICOS registered provider. Automate the creation of a letter of release to show the student has the provider’s permission to transfer prior to completion of six months of his or her principal course
Standard 1.2 (23 %)	Using the Company name and Reference ID fields of the organisation within CourseSales.com you can ensure that your registered provider’s name and CRICOS provider code is clearly identified on all email and PDFs used to market your courses and are sent to students offering enrollment or informing students of courses. Using venue records in emails and PDFs ensure that the correct location of the relevant campus at which courses will be provided or a provider making false comparisons with other providers. By keeping information in one place, the relevant item within CourseSales.com, you can ensure that the information is accurately reflected everywhere that it is used, and easily updated.
Standard 2.1 (35 %)	Student engagement before enrolment: Registered providers recruit students in an ethical and responsible manner and provide information that enables students to make informed decisions about studying with the registered provider in Australia. Registered providers ensure students’ qualifications, experience and English language proficiency are appropriate for the course for which enrolment is sought. Create Course Descriptions that are thorough and complete Upload and link files to the relevant courses so that students can download these and be completely informed about the course details Include in a multi-page form requirements for acceptance into a course, including the minimum level of English language proficiency, educational qualifications or work experience required and whether course credit may be applicable, create the necessary fields to gather this information, forwarding it automatically to those who are best to confirm these qualifications meet expectations. Create a process step called ‘application validated’ with the necessary guidance. Using existing and custom fields include in emails or PDF letters of offer the course content and duration, qualification offered if applicable, modes of study and assessment methods Create venue descriptions that include campus locations and a general description of facilities, equipment, and learning and library resources available to students Either use the ‘reseller license’ fields, branch fields (depending on your business requirements) or custom fields to indicate any arrangements with another registered provider, person or business to provide the course or part of the course Use the terms content (on a per course master basis) to indicate course-related fees including advice on the potential for fees to change during the student’s course and applicable refund policies also information about the grounds on which the student’s enrolment may be deferred, suspended or cancelled Create an information booklet, upload as a file and attach to initial emails relevant information on living in Australia, including: indicative costs of living accommodation options; and where relevant, schooling obligations and options for school-aged dependants of intending students, including that school fees may be incurred.
Standard 3.1 (27 %)	Formalisation of enrolment: Written agreements between registered providers and students set out the services to be provided, fees payable and information in relation to refunds of course money.
Standard 3.2 (22 %)	Formalisation of enrolment: Written agreements between registered providers and students set out the services to be provided, fees payable and information in relation to refunds of course money. Create a mail merge PDF that can be applied on all courses that are relevant to fulfill your obligations to include in the written agreement: amounts that may or may not be repaid to the student (including any course money collected by education agents on behalf of the registered provider); processes for claiming a refund; a plain English explanation of what happens in the event of a course not being delivered; and a statement that “This agreement, and the availability of complaints and appeals processes, does not remove the right of the student to take action under Australia’s consumer protection laws”.
Standard 6.1 (20 %)	Student support services: Registered providers support students to adjust to study and life in Australia, to achieve their learning goals and to achieve satisfactory academic progress towards meeting the learning outcomes of the course. As this is focused on the provision of services to the student there are few ways a student management system could help you meet those obligations!
Standard 14.1 (35 %)	National Code, Part D: Staff capability, educational resources and premises: The staff of registered providers are suitably qualified or experienced in relation to the functions they perform for students. The educational resources of registered providers support the delivery of courses to students. The premises of registered providers, including the floor space available for each student, support students to achieve their course outcomes. As this is focused on the provision of services to the student there are few ways a student management system could help you meet those obligations! You could collect information specific to trainers via CourseSales.com, effectively setting up an induction course and managing staff’s suitability for particular teaching roles. Along side a documented quality management system this could help manage staff capability.
Standard 14.2 (40 %)	The registered provider must have adequate education resources, including facilities, equipment, learning and library resources and premises as required by the quality assurance framework applying to the course. Where the course provided by the registered provider is not subject to an appropriate quality assurance framework, the registered provider must ensure it has adequate education resources, including facilities, equipment, learning and library resources, and premises, including ownership or tenancy arrangements for the premises, as are needed to deliver the registered course to the students enrolled with the registered provider. As this is focused on the provision of services and resources to the student there are few ways a student management system could help you meet those obligations!

Useful links

Become a CRICOS provider
PRISMS Provider User Guide
National standards for ELICOS providers and courses (for those providers offering English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students)

Websites

Access

To access PRISMS you must first * REGISTER using a unique email address that only you have access to.
To Request Additional Access you may download the appropriate Request Form from the Change My Details page.

Legislation

DIBP Enquiries

What is PRISMS

PRISMS is used to generate electronic Confirmations of Enrolment (CoEs) for student visa purposes and to provide reports to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) on student compliance with the conditions of their visas.

CRICOS providers are issued with access to PRISMS following the approval of their registration.
CRICOS providers use PRISMS to notify DIAC of each student’s enrolment details so that a study visa can be issued. It is also a mechanism for informing DIAC of any student’s breach of the terms of their visa.
Log into PRISMS here: https://prisms.education.gov.au

CourseSales.com can integrate with PRISMS, we offer two levels of integration, both are in addition to the standard licenses, contact us for prices:

One-way communication that ‘pushes’ information when requested to the PRISMS, requires manual intervention for some actions, is not real-time. The less frequent, complicated actions are manual. Suitable for 100+ students.
Two-way, advanced integration. Is mostly automated, happens in the background. For those organisations with 1000+ students.