Care Your Way

What is the Higher Level Skills program?

The Higher Level Skills program aims to assist individuals to gain the higher-level skills required to secure employment or career advancement in a priority industry, or to transition to university to further their studies.

Are you eligible to participate?                                                                                                      This program is open to any Queensland resident aged 15 years or over, who is no longer at school and is an Australian or New Zealand citizen, or Australian permanent resident (including humanitarian entrants), or a temporary resident with the necessary visa and work permits on the pathway to permanent residency. Prospective students must not have or be enrolled in a certificate IV or higher-level qualification, not including qualifications completed at school and foundations skills training.

How can you participate in the program?
You can only access the Higher Level Skills program subsidy once, so it is important that you take the time to carefully consider your training options and compare different providers and their fees before committing to a course of study.
The Queensland Skills Gateway displays the courses available under the Higher Level Skills program and provides information about what they cover, the careers they can lead to and the training providers approved to deliver them — visit
www.training.qld.gov.au/skillsgateway.

For some subsidised courses under the program,the industry and training package requires you to be an existing worker in the industry to be eligible to
enrol. These restrictions and/or exemptions are detailed in the Queensland Training Subsidies List. For helpful information on choosing a training provider, read the training consumer tips on the Department of Education and Training’s (DET’s) Training website. As a condition of your enrolment, you will be required to complete a student training and employment survey within three months of finishing or discontinuing your training.

What level of subsidy is available?
The subsidy represents the level of government contribution for a qualification, and varies between qualifications based on a number of factors.
The investment priority or importance of the training influences the size of the government subsidy. Training in vocational areas that align with critical
industry skills needs and government priorities will receive a higher government subsidy. A higher subsidy will also be paid to support participation by disadvantaged learners  (concessional students).

More information on concessional student status is detailed in the Higher Level Skills program policy at www.training.qld.gov.au/higherlevelskills.

Do I need to contribute to the cost of training?
Given the increased benefits that you can gain from higher-level training, you are required to contribute to the cost of your training through a co-contribution
fee, payable to the training provider. The fee amount varies depending upon the course
you undertake and the training provider you choose.
The fee may be paid on your behalf by an employer or another third party but cannot be paid or waived by the training provider or any organisation related
to the training provider unless approved by DET.

Acknowledgement to Department of Education and Training for the above information