2023 Ministerial Notice
The Ministerial Notice for the 2023 Higher Education data collections reporting requirements was released to Vice Chancellors and CEOs on 20 December 2022.
The Ministerial Notice makes changes to the Higher Education data collections to remove the HECS-HELP upfront discount from 1 January 2023, and support providers in meeting legislative obligations to collect Unique Student Identifiers (USIs). The Notice also incorporates updates to explanatory texts to increase clarity.
The details of these changes are included in the 2023 Higher Education Data Collections Change Control Document – 20 December 2022. All documentation related to the Notice is available on the department’s TCSI Support website. Providers can review the reporting requirements for 2023 via the following links:
An update will be distributed for this Ministerial Notice in 2023 to support the introduction of the Start-up Year Loan program and the Microcredentials Pilot.
We would like to take the opportunity to thank providers for their partnership in meeting their reporting requirements this year and look forward to working with you in 2023 to support higher education students across Australia.
2022 Loan fee Exemption
TCSI validations were updated on 16 December to block submission of unit enrolments that do not align with the loan fee exemption extension.
Providers should consult the latest legislation and guidelines if they encounter real time validation 10847 with error description: ‘Loan Fee (E529) is incorrect for the reported Unit of Study Census Date (E489)’.
Early in 2023, TCSI Support will perform a data fix to update the Loan Fee (E529) on existing records that require a loan fee exemption. Providers do not need to make changes to existing unit enrolments unless an update is needed before the data fix is completed.
TCSI Support will release a web alert before the data fix is applied. Please check your subscription preferences to ensure you are receiving all your TCSI communications.
Removal of HECS-HELP upfront discount
The removal of the HECS-HELP upfront discount enables simpler reporting of Commonwealth Supported Places with a census on or after 1 January 2023.
For contribution-liable students, providers will be required to report one of the following Student status codes for records with a census date on or after 1 January 2023:
- '204' for students who pay the full student contribution amount upfront for all unit enrolments on a census date.
Or
- '201’ for all unit enrolments on the census date, if the student defers all or part of the student contribution
Real time validations will be designed to reject unit enrolments and AOU packets where Amount charged (E384) minus Amount paid up front (E381) does not equal HELP loan amount (E558). The introduction of the fatal Real time validations will remove the need for Scheduled validations and the associate workload for providers. The details of these validations can be found in the 16 December 2022 - Production release notes.
2022 Higher Education Staff verification was due to be completed on 16 December
We would like to thank all providers who met the verification deadline. Verification is important because it is the final opportunity to confirm to the department and TEQSA that your organisation’s Staff data reporting for the 2022 collection is complete and accurate.
For providers who were unable to sign off on their verification reports on 16 December, please be advised that your staff verification is now overdue and needs to be progressed and signed off as soon as possible.
Please contact TCSI support should you require any assistance. TCSI Support will be unable to provide assistance from 24 December 2022 to 3 January 2023 as the department will observe a shutdown during this period.
