ACS Skills Assessment Appeal

[Sarah Young]

Hi everyone, I recently applied for a skills assessment through ACS under ANZSCO Code 261111 (ICT Business Analyst). The result was;

"The following qualification does not meet the ACS suitability criteria: Your Bachelor of Arts in Graphic and Digital Design from University of Greenwich completed June
2015 has been assessed as comparable to an AQF Bachelor Degree with insufficient computing content and therefore does not meet the requirements of the ACS as stated in the policy manual."

They didn't assess all of my work experience due to insufficient evidence, but based on the ones they approved, I think they need letter-headed references for all of them, which I can get. (I had a really bad visa agent experience, so no advice had been given to do this, they didn't even tell me I needed to certify my documents!)

I'm really confused at the outcome, as my degree was Graphic and Digital Design, there was a ton of IT content, we had to learn how to use lots of software and most of our work was digital. Is this something I could successfully appeal? 

I have 4 years experience, so getting a Major in ICT content is ideal. Any advice would be appreciated!

[paulhand]

The key issue is that, according to ACS: "The ICT course content of the qualification must be at a professional ICT level with the predominant objective of the course being to educate students to be professionals in ICT." Your course was teaching "topics such as typography and graphic design, branding and advertising, fine art, photography, data visualisation and the moving image", so it appears to be a design course, not a professional IT course. Crude analogy would be trying to claim ITC content because you used Microsoft Office to write your papers and prepare presentations.

Was your "visa agent" a Registered Migration Agent?

[Sarah Young]

On 25/09/2019 at 16:30, paulhand said:

The key issue is that, according to ACS: "The ICT course content of the qualification must be at a professional ICT level with the predominant objective of the course being to educate students to be professionals in ICT." Your course was teaching "topics such as typography and graphic design, branding and advertising, fine art, photography, data visualisation and the moving image", so it appears to be a design course, not a professional IT course. Crude analogy would be trying to claim ITC content because you used Microsoft Office to write your papers and prepare presentations.

Was your "visa agent" a Registered Migration Agent?

Yea my agent was MARA registered.

I haven’t counted anything using Microsoft Word in my evidence, I understand anyone uses programmes like that. I am however trying to claim for the coursework where we had to learn Adobe Illustrator, InDesign and After Effects, as well as coding in HTML and CSS for the digital design course. 

[paulhand]

13 hours ago, Sarah Young said:

I haven’t counted anything using Microsoft Word in my evidence, I understand anyone uses programmes like that. I am however trying to claim for the coursework where we had to learn Adobe Illustrator, InDesign and After Effects, as well as coding in HTML and CSS for the digital design course. 

I understand that ... as I said: "crude analogy". However, learning Illustrator etc is not "professional ICT" as defined by ACS. These programmes are  necessary tools for other occupations, not the foundation of a professional ICT career.

[Sarah Young]

On 01/10/2019 at 09:29, paulhand said:

I understand that ... as I said: "crude analogy". However, learning Illustrator etc is not "professional ICT" as defined by ACS. These programmes are  necessary tools for other occupations, not the foundation of a professional ICT career.

Do you have the definition of "professional ICT"? This is where I'm getting confused, as Web Design is considered a "Professional ICT" role under ACS, so surely learning how to use the software to a professional standard to be able to do that job counts?

[paulhand]

As above: "The ICT course content of the qualification must be at a professional ICT level with the predominant objective of the course being to educate students to be professionals in ICT." 

Additionally (this is all in the ACS Guidelines):

"The objective of the course needs to be appropriate within a broad definition of ICT - a profession trusted by society for conceiving, designing, implementing, maintaining, managing and disposing of ICT infrastructure, products, processes and services within broad professional context. It is expected that a significant objective is to educate students to be ICT professionals."

"A standard 3-year Bachelor level qualification is deemed as having a major in computing if at least 33% of the qualification is ICT. Qualifications that are longer in duration are assessed to the equivalent of a 3- year AQF Level 7 (Bachelor) award."

"A Bachelor or higher qualification is assessed as a Minor when the ICT content is at least two thirds of the requirements for a major."

"All qualifications with ICT content less than the requirement for a Minor are assessed as Non-ICT qualifications."

 

Web Designer is not assessed by ACS but by VETASSESS; it is not the same as Web Developer, which is assessed by ACS. I assume that ACS considered there was insufficient ICT content, by their definition, in your course for it to be considered to have either a major or minor ICT content when assessed against the above criteria.

[Ausvisitor]

To use a "crude analogy" again, the ICT Analyst role is looking to see if you learned the skills to be able to write a product like "Adobe Illustrator" rather than learnt the skills to be able to use it.

I think unless your degree included things like:

1) Database theory

2) C / Python / Java programming

3) Project Planning (using MS Project or equivalent)

4) Software lifecycle theory (waterfall, SCRUM, Agile)

5) Interface design

6) Mobile App Development

then you will struggle to get it assessed as an equivalent ICT Major.

 

Web Designer (the career) is a separate ANZSCO code to ICT Analyst and has lesser ICT coding skills required - whether it is open for application or availbale in the region you want though I don't know.