Unique Student Identifier (USI)

Unique Student Identifiers (USIs) are used to better track the enrolment and completion of Vocational Education and Training (VET) courses by learners. An online record is available through the USI website.

History of the USI

Unique Student Identifiers (USIs) have been introduced in Australia in 2015. It started as an initiative by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) in April 2012, primarily aimed at the VET sector, followed by a public consultation process in 2013. It is now supported through Commonwealth legislation with the Student identifiers Act 2014.

The original goal of USIs was to allow students to easily view their VET training enrolments and achievements.

Unique Student Identifier (USI) logo

How USIs are created and collected

USIs are collected by the Registered Training Organisation (RTO) delivering the training as part of the enrolment process. RTOs report VET activity through AVETMISS reports on a monthly basis (depending on State) or annually (National report).

RTOs are required to collect and verify USIs during the enrolment process.

USIs can be created for free online using the Government USI portal. As the name suggests, USIs are unique and only need to be created once. Once created, the identifier is assigned to the individual and all subsequent training can be signed up for with the same USI. USIs don't change or expire and are designed to be yours for life. As such, you have to prove your identity when creating the USI using one fo the following documents:

  • Australian Passport
  • Non-Australian Passport (with Australian Visa)
  • Australian Birth Certificate
  • Australian Driver's Licence
  • Medicare Card
  • Certificate of Registration by Descent
  • Centrelink Concession Cards
  • Citizenship Certificate
  • ImmiCard

According to the USI website, USIs should take less than 5 minutes to create. The process is split into 3 pages:

  • Personal Details
  • Contact Details
  • Security (Password & security questions for account retrieval)

USIs are exactly 10 characters long and are made up of numbers and capital letters. For example, a USI could be W93JFI5LDO.