The Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) was established as the national vocational education and training (VET) regulator under the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Act 2011 (NVR Act), and forms part of the Education, Skills and Employment portfolio.

In March 2020, the Rapid Review of the Australian Skills Quality Authority’s Regulatory Practices and Processes (Rapid Review) was reported to the Department of Education, Skills and Employment. The purpose of the review was to evaluate the effectiveness of ASQA’s internal regulatory practices and processes. The Rapid Review made 24 short, medium and longer-term recommendations to improve ASQA’s regulatory practices and processes. All of the recommendations were accepted by the Australian Government.

The audit objective was to examine the effectiveness of ASQA’s planning and implementation of reform to the regulation of the VET sector.

Main conclusions:

• ASQA is not yet fully effective in planning and implementing the reform to the regulation of the VET sector.
• ASQA’s strategic planning and governance arrangements for the reform have been developing, but do not yet effectively support the implementation of the reform.
• ASQA has effectively engaged with the VET sector about its transition to the proposed regulatory approach.