• What type of courses can I do at TAFE?
• What are prevocational courses?
• How can I use a TAFE course to upgrade into university?
• Where can I find out more?

What type of courses can I do at TAFE?
Courses at TAFE are Vocational, which aim to teach you skills that prepare you to enter the workforce. Assessment is competency based, with students being assessed as competent or not yet competent. There are two types of courses that you can enrol in at TAFE:

• Diploma Courses: these take from one and a half to two years to complete. They may be used to upgrade into University courses
• Certificate Courses: usually take from six months to a year to complete.

What are prevocational courses?
These are certificate courses, which normally take six months to complete and are usually equivalent to the first year TAFE component of a trade such as a carpentry or hairdressing. Employers often recruit apprentices from these prevocational courses, after the student has completed work experience, which is part of the course. There is no guarantee that you will obtain an apprenticeship.

How can I use a TAFE course to upgrade into university?
Diploma courses can be used to upgrade into university courses if your OP was not good enough to get into the course directly from school. At the end of one-year full time of a Diploma at TAFE, a student may receive a Rank equivalent to an OP 9. This may be higher (up to the equivalent of OP 5) if students successfully complete the STAT test. You must be careful in selecting the Diploma course you study if you want to upgrade after a year.

Some Diploma courses start with Certificate level subjects in the first year. If this happens, you will not get as high a Rank at the end of the first year. Check with the TAFE College to make sure that you will not be studying Certificate level subjects if you want to upgrade at the end of a year.

In addition, at the end of the year, full time students are considered to have the equivalent of a SA in English. It is also possible to complete a TAFE Diploma and get up to a year off some university courses of the same type. This applies to all TAFE Diploma courses whether you study Certificate level subjects in first year or not. For example, if you complete a Diploma in Information Technology, you may get exemptions in QUT’s Information Technology degree that will allow you to start in the second year of the degree.

Completing a TAFE Diploma is sometimes a better option than repeating Year 12. Upgrading is complex and it is strongly recommended that students who are considering doing this should speak to the Admissions Officer at their prospective University.

Where can I find out more?

• Check out the TAFE website. This has links to the websites of all Queensland TAFEs http://www.tafe.qld.gov.au/
• Go to the TAFE Open Days
• Ring TAFE and ask them to send you out some information
• See the Guidance Officer