The key reasons for having AQF qualifications are to ensure national recognition and consistency as well as common understanding across Australia of what defines each qualification.
Qualifications that are included in the AQF have been developed using the AQF guidelines, ensuring standards are maintained in describing educational outcomes and in allocating titles to the qualifications. For instance, across Australia, all qualifications described as a Diploma meet the AQF guidelines and include the characteristics and distinguishing features of that qualification; similarly all qualifications described as a Bachelor Degree meet the AQF guidelines and include the characteristics and distinguishing features of that qualification.
AQF qualifications:
- facilitate access to employment through relating learning with work and to lifelong learning opportunities
- are part of a single national framework of qualifications
- are easily understood and compared within Australia by students, employers and education and training providers
- can be used to access further learning
- may be benchmarked against qualifications from other countries.