VET News

Weekly Feature from the Knowledge Hub: Governance

Governance is a broad term that relates to the processes for making and implementing decisions. It encompasses the rules, policies, procedures, systems and processes whereby authority within an organisation is maintained.

In a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) environment, governance needs to be applied within the following operational parameters:

• Compliance
• Funding/Finances
• Quality
• Reporting
• Risk
• Stakeholder interactions

This means RTOs are obligated to adhere to certain responsibilities and to achieve specific outcomes as part of their management processes.

Standard Seven of the Standards for RTOs 2015 mandates that RTOs should have “effective governance and administration arrangements in place”. The Clauses in Standard Seven specifically relate to:

• Ensuring that an RTO has executive managers in place with sufficient authority to run the business so it complies at all times with the Standards
• Having all executive officers meet the Fit and Proper Person Requirements 2011 (outlined in Schedule 3 of the Standards)
• The RTO’s level of financial viability and risk
• Managing and protecting fees ‘pre-paid’ by learners
• Holding public liability insurance that covers the scope of operations throughout the RTO’s registration period
• The RTO providing accurate and current information about its performance and governance

Clause 8.4 of the Standards requires RTOs to submit to the regulator, an annual declaration on its compliance with the Standards. Providing an annual declaration confirms that an RTO has been systematically monitoring its operations throughout the year to ensure any identified issues are addressed and corrected.

An RTO should have appropriate policies and procedures in place so that it can demonstrate and achieve effective governance.

 Visit the Governance page found in our Knowledge Hub to access Products, Publications and Links, VelgCasts as well as Templates and Samples relating to Governance

Date posted Mar 1, 2018