Data Sources¶
RTOpacks is built on Australian government data — the same authoritative sources that regulators, funding bodies, and training authorities use themselves. No proprietary data. No third-party commercial feeds. Everything below is publicly licensed and independently verifiable.
What data we use and why¶
National Register of VET (training.gov.au)¶
Provider: Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) Updated: Weekly Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 What it contains: Every nationally recognised qualification, unit of competency, and skill set. Every registered RTO and their scope of registration. Why we use it: This is the authoritative source for all NRT content in Australia. RTOpacks does not modify this data — we organise, cross-reference, and surface it. Verify: training.gov.au
Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA)¶
Provider: Jobs and Skills Australia (Commonwealth) Updated: Quarterly (Occupation Shortage List), Monthly (vacancy data) Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 What it contains: Occupation shortage ratings, internet vacancy data, employment projections, yourcareer.gov.au career pathways Why we use it: Labour market intelligence — which occupations are in shortage, where the vacancies are, what the employment outlook is for each qualification area Verify: jobsandskills.gov.au
CRICOS (Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students)¶
Provider: Department of Education Updated: Monthly Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Australia What it contains: All CRICOS-registered providers and courses, locations, international student enrolment data Why we use it: Identifies which RTOs are registered to deliver to international students on student visas, and which qualifications are available under CRICOS registration Verify: cricos.education.gov.au
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)¶
Provider: Australian Bureau of Statistics Updated: Monthly (Labour Force Survey), Quarterly and Annual (other series) Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 What it contains: Labour Force Survey — employment, unemployment, participation rates by industry, occupation, state, and age. Wage Price Index, Average Weekly Earnings, Job Vacancies survey. TableBuilder exports — occupation-level employment and education data. Why we use it: The national employment picture behind each qualification — how many people work in related occupations, whether employment is growing or contracting, what the earnings outcomes look like Verify: abs.gov.au
NCVER — National Centre for Vocational Education Research¶
Provider: NCVER (independent national body) Updated: Quarterly (apprenticeship data), Annual (VOCSTATS series) Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 What it contains: Apprenticeship and traineeship commencements, completions, and in-training counts. VET enrolment and completion data by qualification, funding type, and student characteristics. Why we use it: Apprenticeship trends directly relevant to scope decisions and workforce planning. Historical enrolment data to understand market context Verify: ncver.edu.au
State training authority funding schedules¶
Providers: All 8 state and territory training authorities Updated: When published (typically annual, at start of funding year) What it contains: Government subsidy rates for qualifications in each jurisdiction — what the state will pay per student place, eligibility conditions, priority qualifications Why we use it: Funding intelligence — understanding what each state prioritises and what the subsidy rates are for qualifications on an RTO's scope Verify: Each state training authority website
Australian Business Register (ABR)¶
Provider: Australian Taxation Office Updated: Continuously (RTOpacks syncs daily) Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 What it contains: ABN status, entity type, GST registration status, business names for all registered entities Why we use it: Verifies the legal identity and active status of RTOs as registered business entities — enriches the RTO profile with ABR data Verify: abr.business.gov.au
TEQSA — Tertiary Quality and National Register (TQNR)¶
Provider: Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) Updated: Monthly Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Australia What it contains: All TEQSA-registered higher education providers (universities, colleges, institutes of higher education), accredited courses, and regulatory decisions Why we use it: Identifies providers operating under both ASQA and TEQSA simultaneously — dual-regulated institutions delivering both VET and higher education. Surfaces TEQSA registration status and renewal dates. Verify: teqsa.gov.au/national-register
VET Industry Calendar (compiled)¶
Provider: Compiled from multiple authoritative sources (see below) Updated: Monthly (automated) + quarterly (manual curation) What it contains: Regulatory deadlines (ASQA ADC, ARC, AVETMISS), data release dates (NCVER, ABS, JSA), state funding rounds, training package transition deadlines, industry conference dates Sources: ASQA, NCVER, Jobs and Skills Australia, ABS, TDA, VELG, ITECA, state training authorities, data.gov.au public holidays API Why we use it: A single place for RTOs to see what's coming up — regulatory obligations, data drops, industry events Note: Calendar event dates are verified against primary sources. Where dates are approximate (e.g. state funding rounds), this is noted in the event description.
What we do not use¶
- No student personal data of any kind
- No employer data
- No PRISMS operational data (international student enrolment records)
- No ASQA audit reports or confidential regulatory correspondence
- No data purchased from commercial providers
- No social media or web-scraped RTO content
Data residency¶
All data is stored on Cloudflare D1 databases located in the Oceania region (Australia and New Zealand). No RTOpacks data is stored in servers outside the Oceania region.
RTOpacks is operated by United Central Colleges of Australia Pty Ltd ABN 59 168 872 535 — Brisbane, Queensland
Corrections and currency¶
If you believe a data point in RTOpacks is incorrect, the most likely cause is a lag between the source updating and our next sync.
TGA data: Updated within 7 days of any change on training.gov.au CRICOS data: Updated within 31 days TEQSA data: Updated within 31 days JSA data: Updated within 7 days of each quarterly release ABS data: Updated within 3 days of each monthly release State funding: Updated within 14 days of any state authority publication
To report a data accuracy issue: compliance@rtopacks.com.au