gavcol

Hi,

Here is my current situation:

- Working in australia 18 months on 457 visa for IT company
- Bachelor of science degree in finance (Irish University)
- Graduate Diploma in IT (Irish University)
- 7.5 years experience
- Company is sponsoring ENS PR

Because I have not been with the company 2 years yet I will need to do the ACS skills assessment. Also, because I do not have a Degree in IT (only 1 year full time Graduate Diploma) I believe I will need to do the RPL.

I cant seem to get a straight answer on whether or not my Graduate Diploma in IT will mean that I only need 6 years experience for the RPL. If they do not recognize the Diploma do I need 8 years experience?

I rang the ACS and they said that they could not tell me this until my application is being processed. The pointed me towards NOOSR who can be used to recognize qualifications outside of Australia. I rang these as well to see if my qualification could be recognized. They said I would need to submit my qualification to them to be assessed, which could take up to 3 months. This will be too long if I want to do the RPL as well and also reach the deadline for my application.

The main thing that has me confused is this extract from the ACS website

• Applicants who apply for RPL and do not hold a recognised academic tertiary qualification will have deducted from their total work experience a period of relevant IT professional experience deemed necessary to have reached the level of qualification allocated. For example, if an applicant is allocated a qualification level equivalent to a 2-year diploma, they will have two years deducted from the total of their recognized work experience, and therefore eight years in total will be needed. (April 2003)

Do you think I will be covered with my Diploma and 6 years or will they not recognize the Diploma and look for 8 years experience?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
G

George Lombard

Hi G,

Not sure that you would need to do an RPL at all, it really depends on the nature, structure and content of your Diploma. If the Diploma doesn't work then the RPL would involve proving six years of employment as the finance degree is a "recognised academic tertiary qualification".

Cheers,

George Lombard

gavcol

Hi George... thanks for the response!

When you say "recognised academic tertiary qualification" is there anything I need to do to get my degree (from an Irish University) actually recognized here in Australia before I submit my RPL? Or will the ACS figure that out when they do my assessment?

I am going to try and call the ACS one more time to see if I can get any more clarification.

Also, I will see if I actually need to do the RPL with my grad diploma in IT. Failing any decent clarification I might actually get in touch with you as I notice that you have some experience in this area.

Thanks!
G

RobertC

I think that this is one of the cases where you should employ the services of an agent that specialises in ACS applications, you can do this without having to use an agent for the entire application process.

I was quoted £400 for this service by an agent earlier this year but my case was a straight forward group B and I have 8+ years experience and very detailed references so I did it alone with no problems.

Good luck to you though.

JAJ

ACS has the right to assess overseas qualifications (not just those in IT) against Australian benchmarks.

ptlabs

As Jeremy says, the ACS will assess the equivalency of your non-Australian academic qualification and apply their guidelines accordingly.

Chances are your qualification should be recognised by the ACS, but whether you need an RPL or not will depend on the actual content of your Graduate Diploma.

Regards
Peter

George Lombard

Hi Peter,

Thought you were on holidays. Yes I'm interested to see what ACS tells Gav about the qualification if anything.

Cheers,

George Lombard

ptlabs

Hi George

Where did you hear that from? ;-)

Regards
Peter