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Minimum standards and guidelines

Providers must comply with the Standards from 1 July 2022 if they are:

  • registered on the Commonwealth Department of Education's Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS)
  • approved as student exchange organisations (SEOs). 

This is detailed in the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA) guidelines.

VRQA regulates compliance through reviews, reapprovals and complaints investigations.

What do international education providers have to do?

Providers must update their child safe strategies, policies, and practices and tailor them to the international education environment.

SEOs and most CRICOS schools have 24/7 responsibility for the accommodation, support and general welfare of students.

They must create and maintain a child safe culture, and:

  • follow the VRQA guidelines
  • have clear policies and procedures, supported by suitable governance and operational arrangements, that address each Standard
  • ensure agreements with third-party service providers, to deliver all or part of the student's education, accommodation or care, require them to comply with the Standards.

Ready to get started?

CRICOS schools and SEOs that are also registered schools should follow the child safe advice for schools. They must ensure their CRICOS and SEOs operations are incorporated into the school’s compliance with the Standards.

Further guidance for non-school SEOs and CRICOS providers is in development. Until this is available non-school international education providers can use the resources available from the Commission for Children and Young People (CCYP):

Reviewed 24 June 2022

Child Safe Standards

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