POLICY

Universal Student Identifier Policy

All students completing nationally recognised and accredited training must have a Unique Student Identifier (USI). This includes students doing Vocational Education Training (VET) when they are still at school (VET for secondary students). Students who do not have a USI cannot receive their qualification or statement of attainment until a USI has been provided to Strategix and verified.

The USI provides students access to an online record of the training they have done since 1 January 2015. The portal allows students to produce a comprehensive transcript of their training. This can be used when applying for a job, seeking a credit transfer or demonstrating pre-requisites when undertaking further training.

This procedure outlines how staff are to use the USI Organisational Portal and/or aXcelerate to create/verify a USI, update student details on the portal, or view/verify USI Transcripts. Students wishing to create their own USI must refer to https://www.usi.gov.au/help-centre/students.

A USI is for life, a student must not have more than one USI. Where a student already holds a USI, Strategix must not create a new one, in this case a student must be referred to the USI portal to retrieve their USI. If a second USI is created it will be cancelled by the USI registrar and Strategix will not be able to report results against it.

PROCEDURE

USI Organisational Portal Procedure

The USI Organisation Portal is to be used to:

• Conduct a search for an Existing USI

• View/Verify USI Transcript

• Update a Students Personal Details

Note: A personal MyGovID account is required to access the USI Organisation Portal, if an account holder.

aXcelerate is to be used to:

• Create USI’s

• Record USI’s

• Verify USI’s

Existing USI Search

1. The “Existing USI Search” tool is used to search and retrieve an existing USI for a student without having to match all personal and contact details exactly as they appear in the student’s USI account.

2. To search for a student’s USI:

3. Select the “Existing USI Search” tool to proceed to the search page.

4. Confirm permission has been received from the student to locate their USI by clicking the box, once ticked the search Details and Criteria will appear. Note an email or text will be sent to the student once the search results provide a USI.

5. Enter the mandatory field details (Family Name, Date of Birth and Gender) as shown on the student’s aXcelerate profile, this must match the Students ID.

6. Enter the “Optional Criteria” details and select “Search”, it is best to search with one of the optional criteria’s at a time, this has a higher chance of receiving a result. Only search multiple details if more than one USI record is found.

7. If the Search provides the USI for the student, this needs to be entered and verified in aXcelerate.

8. If there is no match, a ‘No USI Record Found’ message will be displayed. This result could be due to the following:

   1. The searched could have been done with the wrong information

   2. The student may have entered incorrect details into the portal (E.g. “Siew-Ing Lee” could be “Siew Ing Lee” or “Siew Lee”)

When there is no record, continue to search in various combinations of the names. If there are not obvious variation of the name, work with the student to confirm their details or to obtain the USI.

If the search displays the USI after a search with a variation of the name (the name being different from what’s in aXcelerate and on the students ID), the student must update their name on the USI portal profile to match their ID. Do not update the name in aXcelerate to match the USI portal.

View/Verify Student Transcript

Transcripts include any nationally recognised vocational education and training (VET) which the individual has undertaken since 1 January 2015 and which has been reported by the training provider.

To view a student's transcript the student must set the permission from their USI account, refer to the this link on how students can provide Strategix with access.

Once permission has been given the administrative assistant must:

1. Log into the USI portal

2. Select “View Transcript”

3. Enter the students USI and Click “View Transcript”

4. If the student has Competencies reported, a list of units will be displayed under the heading/s of the Training Provider/s which delivered the units.

Updating a Students Personal Details

The “Find USI” function is used to update personal details in a student’s USI account. In order for Strategix to find a student's USI account the student must set the permission from their USI account to for Strategix to view/edit their records.

Only one personal detail fields can be changed at a time. If updating the case (uppercase or lowercase) of the student's name, identification is not required. Current identification is required to update:

• First/Given Name

• Family/Last Name

• One Name

• Date of Birth

This link shows how students can provide Strategix with access.

Once permission has been approved, the administrative assistant must:

1. Log into the USI portal

2. Select “Find USI”

3. Enter the USI or as many details as possible to help find the correct USI account and click “Search”

4. If access was given, click “Update” next to the field to be updated. Update the required field with the details (as per the ID) and click “Next”

5. Follow the Directions as prompted for type of change

Create USI

To create a USI, in aXcelerate:

1. Access the students profile hover over “Actions” and select “ Update Students USI Creation Data”

2. Select the “Document Type” and choose the type of ID obtained from the student

3. Complete the fields relevant for the type of ID being used to create the USI

4. Tick and agree to “declare that Strategix Training Group Pty Ltd has been given permission from Student to generate a USI on their behalf” and Click “Submit”

5. Hover over “Courses” and select “USI Management”, this will take you to the “USI Management - Create USI” section in aXcelerate

6. In the “Search Names”, type the name of the Student

7. The students name will show, click “Create USI”. This will create a USI for the student and record it in aXcelerate against their profile and will automatically be verified

8. If the following message is displayed “Response from USI Service: Failed to create USI record, multiple existing records were found. (2005)”. The student will already have a USI and needs to contact the USI registrar to obtain their current USI.

Record USI

When a USI is provided by a student, it is recorded against their aXcelerate profile, to record the USI:

1. Go to the students profile and click the “Update” tab

2. Scroll down to the “VET Related Details” and click “Show VET Related fields”

3. Scroll down further and record the USI in the “Unique Student Identifier” field click update

4. If the error message “Invalid USI” is displayed, the USI may be incorrect or has been entered incorrectly.

Verify USI

1. Go to the students profile

2. Below the students name in the “Important Information” section is the students USI field, Click “Verify”

3. A notification will display the outcome of the verification request, if successful disregard the next steps

4. If verification request is unsuccessful, depending on the reason the students details in aXcelerate may need updating to match the ID, the student may need to be contacted to update their USI Details on their USI profile or the USI Organisation Portal can be used to obtain the correct USI.

Note: When attempting to verify a USI, do not update aXcelerate to match the USI Portal if it does not match what is on the students ID, in this case the student needs to contact the USI registrar and provide them with their correct details.