2025 Standards for RTOs - Skills Education’s Standards Hub 2.8

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Quality Area 2 - VET student support

VET students are treated fairly and properly informed, supported and protected.

Division 5 - Feedback, complaints and appeals

Requirements

Standard 2.8

Outcome Standard

(1) Effective appeal processes are available to VET students where decisions of the NVR registered training organisation or a third party adversely affect the student.

Performance Indicators

(2) An NVR registered training organisation demonstrates:

(a) it operates an appeals management system that:

(i) allows VET students to appeal decisions of the organisation, any third parties, and any person employed or contracted by the organisation, where those decisions adversely affect the student;

(ii) ensures all parties to the appeal are afforded procedural fairness;

(iii) specifies reasonable timeframes for actioning appeals; and

(iv) provides avenues for review by an independent party if requested by the appellant (at no or low cost to the appellant);

(b) information about how to appeal an adverse decision through the appeals management system is publicly available and easily accessible by VET students;

(c) outcomes of appeals are documented by the organisation and communicated to the appellant; and

(d) the outcomes of appeals are used by the organisation to inform continuous improvement.

Risks

Not informing students of their rights to appeal a decision.
Failing to inform students of all avenues for seeking independent review.
Failing to recognise appeals as opportunities to improve training and assessment services.
Not identifying trends from the appeals received or failing to act where causal links are identified.