When reviewing ADF courses for RPL purposes, some consistencies were uncovered, resulting in a greater understanding and streamlined process.
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The ADF is supported by the Defence registered training organisation (RTO), and meets the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) requirements. ASQA is the national regulator for Vocational Education and Training (VET).
The ADF have produced training and skills guides whichexplain the skills acquired during military service in civilian language. These Training Skills Guides provide an excellent resource for transitioning members and for Higher Education providers. The ADF’s military skill recognition page also provides useful video presentations of different life scenarios for transiting Defence personnel.
ACU assessed the Initial Employment Training (IET) Army courses and Army promotion courses delivered by the ADF to create several pre-approved packages based on rank, creating articulation agreements for each one.
While each higher education provider will need to conduct their own review of the ranks to comply with their unique course rules, ACU’s Student Veteran Services - Recognition of Prior Learning page provides a useful resource for comparison. This document covers standing for noncommissioned officers, Lance Corporal through to Warrant Officer, and received training (content, duration, learning outcomes and the work experience) may then be mapped to Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) Level 3-4 and possibly AQF Level 5.
ACU created 4 packages, based upon rank and IET course, and the university’s Course Rules. At the time this was done for RMC (Army) and ADFA only, though there is also the Royal Australian Navy College (Navy) and the Ground Academic Officers Training School (Air Force) to be considered.
Anyone who is Private Proficient, or the equivalent in the RAN and RAAF, can access Package 1, and this example is provided below:
As officers usually have completed a degree via the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) or the Royal Military College, a focus was put on the Master of Business Administration (MBA) package for this group, which allows 40 credit points towards an MBA if they have completed Stream 1 and their rank is Lieutenant or above, or Stream 2 if their rank is Captain or above:
