A Unique Student Identifier (USI) is a reference number that is individually yours. You need to advise your registered training organisation of your USI for any nationally recognised training you undertake. Creating a USI is free and it generates an online account that you can access anytime and anywhere.

We value your feedback on your experience with the USI or the Unique Student Identifier’s Office. If you have a suggestion, would like to make a complaint or give us a compliment, we’d like to hear from you. We appreciate you giving us the first opportunity to resolve any complaint so that we can clearly understand and deal with the issues at hand. Your feedback helps us improve our service. You can provide feedback and complaints anonymously.

Give us your feedback in writing by email or letter

It’s fast and easy to submit your feedback online here.

Or send an email to USIcompliance@education.gov.au

If you’d prefer to send us a letter, address it to the attention of the Compliance Officer, USI Office, Department of Education and Training, GPO Box 9880, Canberra ACT 2601.

How the USI Office manages feedback

When we receive your feedback, the USI Office will:

• recognise, promote and protect your right to complain about your dealings with the USI Office
• treat all feedback seriously and keep correspondence and assessment confidential in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles
• recognise the need to be impartial when evaluating complaints
• handle complaints with the understanding that you should not be disadvantaged by the complaint process
• ensure that feedback is addressed in courteous manner with a standard response time of 28 business days
• keep you informed of the progress and final resolution of the complaint if we have your contact details
• provide advice on the next steps if you are not satisfied with the USI Office’s resolution of your feedback
• review all feedback to ensure and demonstrate our ongoing commitment to improved service delivery.

Accessibility

USI Office phone support hours are 9am to 5pm Australian Eastern Time Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays, with a call back option for Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory to 5pm their local time.

People with hearing or speech disability can use the National Relay Service (NRS) to access the Department of Education and Training phone numbers. Call 1300 555 727 (speak and listen) or go to the NRS  website for other options.

A Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS National) is available by calling 131 450 (cost of a local call) for people who have difficulty in speaking or understanding English.

Ask TIS National to call the USI Office on 1300 857 536. TIS National provides interpreting in more than 160 languages and dialects.

Some basic USI information is available in other languages and may help if English is a second language.

Accountability and reporting

Our employees are trained and aware of our service standards and the procedures in place for handling your feedback.

The USI Registrar receives regular reports on our dealings and progress towards resolution for any complaints, and is ultimately responsible for ensuring that complaints are appropriately handled.

Complaints about training

If you would like to make a complaint about the training, behaviour or administrative practices of a Registered Training Organisation, contact the National Training Complaints Hotline.

Phone: 13 38 73 (please select option 4), 9am to 5pm Australian Eastern Time Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays. There is a call back option for Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory to 5pm their local time.

Further information is available from https://www.education.gov.au/NTCH.

Supporting guidelines

In conjunction with the USI Office Service Charter which sets out the standards of service that you can expect, we handle your feedback in alignment with the principles in the following guidelines:

The Student Identifiers Privacy Policy explains how we treat information received from you, which also incorporates the Privacy Act 1988
Commonwealth Ombudsman Better Practice Guide to Complaint Handling
The Australian Public Service (APS) Values and Code of Conduct

Review of handling feedback and complaints

The USI Office is committed to delivering quality service to its customers. As a part of this commitment, we ensure there are regular reviews of our standards and feedback and complaint management procedures.

Fraud allegations

Allegations of fraud made in the use or administration of the USI, or any allegations of unlawful conduct by staff of this department (or its contractors) in relation to the USI can be made by email to the Fraud Control Officer at usicompliance@education.gov.au or by letter addressed to: The Compliance Officer, USI Office, Department of Education and Training, GPO Box 9880, Canberra ACT 2601