TCSI June Newsletter 2025

Unique Student Identifier (USI) verification will not automatically trigger for historic Vocational Education and Training (VET) records.

Student records that were created prior to 1 January 2021 and were migrated to TCSI with a USI, have not had their USI triggered for verification in TCSI. TCSI does not trigger USI verification for student records that were created prior to 1 January 2021 to prevent the triggering of notifications on inactive student records that did not require USI verification in the legacy solution and often cannot be resolved by providers. Please note, this only impacts VET students that had a USI reported in the legacy solution and were migrated to TCSI.

If a student in this scenario returns to study, providers will need to trigger USI verification manually. To trigger USI verification for these students, providers should:

1. Delete the USI from the student record in TCSI
2. Re-report the USI against the student record
3. Confirm if the USI has verified by checking the Provider Notifications report in TCSI Analytics the next day.
4. Providers can also request a TCSI data extract to check whether a USI has been triggered for verification.

If the student’s USI is unverified, we recommend contacting the impacted student and advising them that you have been unable to verify their USI as their name details do not match between the USI Office (USIO) and your system.

For successful verification of a USI, the following details must match between the USIO and what is reported in your student management system to TCSI:

• USI
• first/given name
• last/family name
• date of birth

To help with the verification process providers can ask the student to:

• Give them a printout of their USI
• Email their USI or
• Give the provider permission to view their USI details.

Students can do this by logging into the Student Portal. More information about giving access to providers can be found on the USI website.

If you believe the USI is not triggering for verification, please contact TCSI Support.

Triggering USI verification for all other scenarios

Providers are reminded that the bulk USI verification process has been discontinued since February 2025 as advised in the TCSI February 2025 Newsletter. The USI verification process has been updated to match the Tax File Number (TFN) verification process, which now allows providers to trigger a 12-week period of USI verification attempts by:

• Updating the student’s personal information in TCSI, or
• Sending a PATCH API call to TCSI for the student record via your student management system.

Please note this method will not re-trigger USI verification for those students created prior to 1 January 2021 as per the above scenario.

TCSI Support would like to remind providers that staff PRODA access can be set for a maximum of 12 months from the date it is delegated or extended.

It is recommended that staff set regular reminders and check their PRODA access expiry dates to ensure they do not lose access to their organisation in PRODA or required TCSI Attributes.

To extend membership for a staff member at your organisation, a director or staff member with delegable roles will need to navigate to the Organisation Details screen in PRODA and:

1. Click “Members”
2. Select the relevant staff member
3. Set a new "End Date" (maximum 12 months duration)
4. Click “Save”
5. Confirm by clicking "Update end date".

To extend access to an individual staff member’s TCSI attributes, a director or staff member with delegable roles will need to navigate to the Organisation Details screen in PRODA and:

1. Click “Members”
2. Select the relevant staff member
3. Scroll down and click “Attribute Delegations”
4. Click the relevant attribute
5. Set a new effective-to date (maximum 12 months duration)
6. Click “Save”.

It is recommended that providers have more than one staff member with delegable roles. This will allow access to be extended without requiring the organisation's director. If all staff members lose their access, it can be recovered by the director registered in PRODA and the Australian Business Register.

More information can be found in the TCSI Support PRODA guide.

All providers are invited to attend upcoming webinars and drop-in sessions.

These sessions are an excellent opportunity to get up-to-date information and to ask any questions you might have about TCSI.

A list of upcoming TCSI webinars can be found below:

To attend the scheduled 2025 monthly TCSI webinars live, please register via the TCSI News Centre webpage.

Recordings of previous webinars can be found at the following locations:

• For Monthly provider webinars, please see the ‘Published Newsletters, Webinars and other media’ section of the News Centre webpage.

Provider reporting requirements to supply course prior credit information, also known as recognition of prior learning (RPL).

In the verification of 2024 student data, the department encountered multiple course completions where E339: EFTSL from unit enrolments and course prior credit were well short of the E350: Course of study load. This has raised concerns over the quality and completeness of course prior credit reporting. 

When to report course prior credits

Providers are required to report course prior credit whenever credit is applied to a course for a student.

Example of reporting course prior credits when a student transfers to a new course

As an example, a student has been reported in a course admission under ‘Course A’, they complete four unit enrolments, with a total value of ‘0.5’ E339: Equivalent Full–time student load.

The same student then transfers to ‘Course B’, which is within the same course of study, and a new course admission record is reported.

The provider has decided to count the 0.5 EFTSL completed under ‘Course A’ towards the completion of ‘Course B’. However, as TCSI does not automatically make a link between the old and new course admission records, even though they are in the same course of study, the only way to tell TCSI about this credit is by reporting a course prior credit packet against the new course admission record. 

Example of reporting course prior credits when a provider transitions from PIR to HEP

When a provider gains HESA approval, they need to report all continuing student records under the HEP header. In this scenario, the provider would report a new course admission record, and any units completed prior to transition to the HEP provider type, would be reported as a course prior credit.

For example, a student is enrolled in ‘Course C’ with a E534: Course of study commencement date of ‘2024-01-01’ and the student has completed eight unit enrolments with a total value of ‘1.0’ E339: EFTSL.

The provider gains HESA approval on ‘2024-12-31’, and the student is re-reported under the HEP header, and a new course admission record is reported for ‘Course C’ with a E534: Course of study commencement date of ‘2024-01-01’. 

The provider would then need to report a course prior credit packet against the new course admission record (HEP header) with the total EFTSL value of ‘1.0’ for the study completed under the PIR header. The provider will not need to re-report the unit enrolments already completed under the PIR header.

Information on reporting HDR students to TCSI.

Reporting annual Research Training Program (RTP) stipend scholarship amounts for transferring students 

The annual full-time equivalent RTP stipend rate is to be reported for each individual course admission record, even if the student has multiple course admissions in the same calendar year. As a student transferring between higher degrees by research (HDRs) would require multiple course admission records to be reported in the HDR RTP Scholarship reports, the annual full-time equivalent RTP stipend rate is to be reported for each course that the student has been admitted to.

Example:

• A student commences their HDR studies in ‘course A’ for the first 6 months of 2025 and is studying full-time. They are awarded a RTP stipend and receive $20,000 in their bank account in 2025 while studying ‘course A’.
  • The annual full-time equivalent RTP stipend rate awarded to the student for ‘course A’ is $40,000 in 2025. A RTP stipend rate of $40,000 is reported in E623: RTP stipend amount.
• The student then transfers to course ‘B’ for the second 6 months of 2025 and is still studying full time. They are awarded a RTP stipend and receive $20,000 in their bank account in 2025 while studying ‘course B’.
  • The annual full-time equivalent RTP stipend rate awarded to the student for ‘course B’ is $40,000 in 2025. A RTP stipend rate of $40,000 is reported in E623: RTP stipend amount.

Please note that for data prior to the 2025 reporting year, RTP stipend rate reported under E623: RTP stipend amount does not need to be the annual full-time equivalent amount. However, if there were 2 separate enrolments during that calendar year, each would require E623: RTP stipend amount to be reported.