In a statement released this morning, the university said the “fully accredited” course has been specifically designed to allow advisers to study without “having to pause their careers”.
“While we welcome the federal government changes and think they will be good for the industry, we also appreciate how difficult it is – especially for people currently working in the field – to drop everything and return to study,” said Western Sydney University associate professor Sharon Taylor.
“We’ve considered this in developing our curriculum and structure of our graduate diploma course.”
According to Ms Taylor, students enrolled in their course will have the option to take on “challenge exams”, which “allows people with existing knowledge and experience to fast-track their path to the full qualifications now required”.
“This process involves individuals using their industry and existing knowledge to undertake Challenge assessments on a quarterly basis, without having to complete a full unit of coursework,” she said.
This system would allow some students to graduate from the course within a single year, the statement said.
The statement did not clarify with whom the course is accredited. ifa has reached out for further comment.
The new educational standards are law and are unlikely to change.
Each of us now needs to work out how to meet the standards efficiently and effectively.
WSU should be congratulated for being quick off the mark with an on-line course to help us do this.
Challenge assessments are a terrific idea that will take a lot of the angst out of this exercise, allowing advisers with more experience and expertise to complete more efficiently.
Yes, the detailed FASEA requirements will not be known for a few more months; but the core content is predictable and easy to adapt for surprises. There will be no compliance issues. The WSU curriculum will be fine.
Text books are an obvious necessity. Realistically all future editions will closely reflect the FASEA standards making the study/exam preparation process even more efficient. $156 is cheap when time is charged at hundreds of dollars an hour. Its a great return on investment.
WSU has track record working in distance education, particularly with part-time students. I am sure they know what they are doing and will deliver a quality on-line course.
I am delighted we can book in for an Challenge Assessment every few months, study on our own in our own space at our own pace, use Ms Taylor’s book (or any book), get a pass, tick off those FASEA boxes and get back to work helping our clients.
I hope other course providers rise to the challenge, pump out quality competitor courses and lower those prices.
Sorry Sharon, but University Education is a waste of time. By the time you’ll finish it the Government will come up with FASEA and make it out of date. For those who think there is some value and want to learn I’m already writing a Bachelor of Advisory Science degree for the University of Rocknest Island, hey we’re even exporting it to Tasmania now. You see your degree is already out of fashion and old school. By 2023 my degree will be the latest thing. Plus my compulsory set book is cheaper at $158.99 and is available in Chinese, given the only people who enroll in University these days are Overseas students. Goodluck with the money making…oops I mean’t to say learning experience.
Some Vice Chancellors are paid $1M pa salary – of course they have to engage in this unsavory feeding frenzy caused by Industry Bodies.
Has Western Sydney University started a race to the bottom? The shortest programme to meet the bare minimum standard. Remember those weekend RG146 courses ….
Would it be compulsory to still buy her compulsory set text book…”Financial Planning in Australia” at $156 a pop? $156 times 22,000 financial planners that’s potentially $3.4 million in sales. Please could anyone tell me that certain board members on FASEA do not have a conflict of interest whether real or perceived. Not one representative from the private sector/ recognised training organisations.
Why complain about challenge exams? People crying bloody murder because they are ‘experienced’ enough they shouldn’t need to study then when they get offered the option to confirm their knowledge via a quarterly exam rather than the more time intensive study its a bad idea?
Make up your minds people. This will make it much easier for those who actually know what they are doing but don’t have the piece of paper yet.
Hey big brave guy, oh, sorry, ‘Anonymous’ . . . how do you think doctors and teachers of our precious children would respond if, after, oh I don’t know, say 20 years of their career, were told to drop everything and go back to uni for dozens of hours at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars? Just because a small handful of their peers had committed fraud . . . Hmmm? What does your pseudo-smart mouth have to say about that? More technical education to ensure people don’t steal. Yeah, makes as much sense as the term ‘efficient government’! There’s money being changed hands here at the highest levels – sickening.
How will it be easier ? At what cost ? Its an uncredited cousre because FASEA dont know what they are doing yet , Wake up people , Time to see you local member !!!
Western Sydney University charges $12,000 for their Graduate Certificate of Financial Planning which can be done in 6 months full time or 12 months part time and its an online course !
This is just the basic course, the Graduate Diploma of Financial Planning is the next step and I cant find the course fee for that on their website.
I can only assume there will be a written guarantee issued by Western Sydney Uni at the commencement of the course that all education standards and requirements for FASEA will be met if the course is completed successfully and if it doesn’t meet the requirements,a full refund of fees will be issued to the student ?
You did better than me in finding course fees for their Grad Cert. I couldn’t even find the course. Is it possible that their Information & Marketing Degrees are outdated and they don’t know how to design a website. Maybe FASEA should make it compulsory for them to re-enroll given their degrees are likely more than 10 years out of date and most likely didn’t cover 2018 webdesign principles.
[b]This problem is happening in other industries too[/b]. It is over-reach from the Universities.
Uni of Sydney [u]alone[/u] made [b]$500 million[/b] from international students in the previous financial year. The hungry multi-billion dollar tertiary education beast is upon us!
I know someone with a Masters in Teaching (Primary School) and they have to complete a Diploma to teach in pre-schools specifically. (Because the difference between Kindy and Year 1, and pre-kindy is so big that a Masters won’t do!). Another $5,000 (subsidized) or $12,000 (non-subsidized) to the tertiary sector.
So the WTF(!) is not just for us, it’s happening in other industries too.
Talk about clipping the ticket!!!
if their degree does not meet the full FASEA requirements , can we assume they will refund 60% of the first years tuition fees ???
IFA has “reached out for further comment”??? How about some fact checking?? How on earth can anyone claim to offer a course that meets unknown guidelines??
YES!! Indeed . . . WTF!!!??? It gets stranger-er and strange-errrrrr!
If you check the release on the WSU website it says it is FASEA accredited
Have a look around, they are all doing this already. Universities and nationally accredited learning facilities charging extreme amounts for courses that are not even in all reality legitimate.
One must wonder if they know something we all don’t or maybe they are going to offer a cash back deal if these courses also turn out to be a waste of money and time????
Considering the requirements are still out for consultation and not finalised, any institution guaranteeing to meet the requirements is false advertising
Those ‘challenge exams’ sound pretty dodgy. I’m all for streamlined options for existing financial planners. But if you are awarded a grad dip, then there is an expectation that the student has gained a deep level of knowledge from immersing ones-self in a subject, reading research and contemplating issues. To skip through subjects the way described in this article just doesn’t seem right to me. If there are to be short-cut pathways for financial planners (which I fully support) the title of the qualifications should appropriately describe the level of work undertaken. Otherwise, it is false labeling in my opinion. I wonder if the university waives the fees for those subjects where the students passes the challenge exams? I doubt it.
Highlights the absurdity of FASEA’s definition of a degree. Now there is a solution where you pay money to a “tax payer” funded institution just so we can tick a box to meet FASEA requirements. Perhaps just paying a direct tax/levy on a challenge exam at the local Drivers License office might be better? Or, how about if you pass the exam in 2024 or whatever, then you’re not required to do any further education. Far more efficient.
I’d rather pay and enroll in a course and actual learn something than pay expensive enrollment fees and then take a short cut via a challenge exam for some rehashed basic elementary course.