# Vendor certifications accepted by ACS



## ankit.a (Oct 8, 2013)

Hi,

Guys, please help me as this is urgent.

I've 11 years of experience in Software Development and I applied for ACS assessment on 17th March 2014. I selected 261313 - Software engineer occupation.

Yesterday, I got an email from an ACS executive, mentioning that my education (BE Degree in Computer Science) is not recognized and hence I'll have to take the RPL route. But even if I take the RPL route, I'll still not get the points for qualification and hence I'll fall short of the required 60 points. Here is my expected points for now:

1) Age: 35 - Points = 25
2) Education: No tertiary education as my B.E. degree is not recognized by ACS - Points = 0
3) IELTS: I've not yet appeared. Consider I score 7 band in each section - Points = 10
4) Experience: 11 years, but 8 years of experience will be deducted as I don't have formal tertiary education to consider myself skilled. So only 3 years experience will be considered - Points = 5
Total points = 40 - even if I can score i bands each in IELTS, I'll still end up with 50 points - 

Hence, I'm planning to take some vendor certificate that suits my skillset, so that I can get 10 more points for it.

I would like to take some certification in Java (like OCJP or even OCM), but I don't see it in the "Summary Criteria.pdf" file on the ACS website. When I applied for the assessement (around 2 months back), I saw that OCM was there in the list, but now I'm not able to find that document / webpage.

So here are a few queries I have:
1) Can any one of you please provide me a list of vendor certifications accepted by ACS, or give me a link where I can find this list?
2) As I found on the ACS website, if I do vendor certification, I'll not need to do RPL. Just wanted to confirm that my understand is right.
3) If I do vendor certification now, will my past experience of 11 years be considered, or will ACS consider experience only after you complete the vendor certification?
4) In case I decide to go via RPL route, ACS will deduct my 8 years of experience. But I see that to consider the applicans skilled, even for graduates and all, ACS deducts some experience (I hear 2 to 4 years of experience is deducted). So in this case, since 8 years of experience is deducted as I don't have tertiary education, will they deduct more years from the remaining experience of 3 years?
5) ACS have told me that I should file RPL within next 30 days. If I don't do so, they will process my application as per the documents that I've submitted. Is it possible for me to tell them to hold on for longer so that I can prepare and apply for some vendor certification which gives me a better chance to score more points, or will they not agree to it?
6) Lastly, what is a better option in your opinion, should I go for vendor certificate, or should I go for RPL?

Appreciate your help!

Thanks,
Ankit arora


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## sunnyboi (Jul 10, 2013)

B.E, as in, Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science is not recognized by ACS???? That's impossible! Probably the assessor has mistaken your degree of something lower. I hope you have sent across all documents properly. Do not go the RPL route with your qualification and work experience! If necessary, tell him that you would like to speak to his senior/supervisor if possible.


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## ankit.a (Oct 8, 2013)

sunnyboi said:


> B.E, as in, Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science is not recognized by ACS???? That's impossible! Probably the assessor has mistaken your degree of something lower. I hope you have sent across all documents properly. Do not go the RPL route with your qualification and work experience! If necessary, tell him that you would like to speak to his senior/supervisor if possible.


Hi sunnyboi,

Thanks for the reply.

I know it is surprising, but there are actually a few grey shades in my qualification. As in, the institute that provided the degree was not recognized by AICTE (which recognizes the universities / colleges to award degrees) or UGC (which recognizes open universities).

Though, I've a couple of friends in Australia who migrated in 2004 (around 10 years back). They have also done the same BE Degree as mine. However, they had gone by applying for student visa at that time. Also, at that time, they got admission in Bachelors degree, and they were awarded exemption in almost half of the subjects / courses, based on what they had studied in the BE Degree that we did. And once they had their Bachelors degree from Australia, they did the Masters. Before applying for ACS assessment, i had talked to them and they were of the view that our degree will be recognized by ACS, as the subjects that were taught are equivalent and in line to recognized institutes. Even, the ICT content was more than 75% as required by ACS. So I really don't know what went wrong.

Also, when I got the reply from ACS, I did reply back to their email asking what exactly is the issue. Also, I asked them, in case the ICT content is less, why they can not consider it as ICT Minor instead of ICT Major. But they replied back as follows:

===============

The ICT major and minor involved are when the qualifications are accepted and can be assessed.

Here the qualification is not recognized entirely. It will be an RPL that requires 8 years experience.

===============

Please suggest what can I do next.

Thanks,
Ankit Arora


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## AncientGlory (Aug 23, 2012)

ankit.a said:


> So here are a few queries I have:
> 1) Can any one of you please provide me a list of vendor certifications accepted by ACS, or give me a link where I can find this list?
> 2) As I found on the ACS website, if I do vendor certification, I'll not need to do RPL. Just wanted to confirm that my understand is right.
> 3) If I do vendor certification now, will my past experience of 11 years be considered, or will ACS consider experience only after you complete the vendor certification?
> ...


1. https://www.acs.org.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/7324/Summary-of-Criteria-2014.pdf

2. Yes. you are right.

3. I think all your experience would be considered. They will deduct some experience toward you being skilled.

4. No.

5. Well, you could always talk to them and discuss your options. 

6. If you have enough points your should go in RPL path. It seems that at the moment ACS only accepts Microsoft and Cisco certifications. Also you need to have professional level certifications. This means at least 4 exams for Cisco and maybe 4-5 for Microsoft. This will take some time in my opinion.


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## ankit.a (Oct 8, 2013)

AncientGlory said:


> 1. https://www.acs.org.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/7324/Summary-of-Criteria-2014.pdf
> 
> 2. Yes. you are right.
> 
> ...


Hi AncientGlory,

Thanks for the reply.

Is the vendor certification list that you provided, the exhaustive one. Actually, I remember seeing OCM as one of the accepted vendor certifications before I applied for the assessment. But now I don't see it.

Please suggest.

Thanks,
Ankit Arora


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## ankit.a (Oct 8, 2013)

*Should I tell assessor that my friends were granted visa after doing the same degree?*

Hello All,

As I've mentioned earlier, a few of my friends are settled in Australia, and they also did BE Degree from my college only, same batch. The only difference was that they had applied for student visa. And they had to do Bachelor Degree again, but they were given exemptions in almost half of the courses / credits, based on what they had learnt in our BE Degree. This means that ACS considered the BE Degree in their case. But to me they are saying that since it is not recognized, they will not consider.

Please suggest whether it is okay for me to tell the assessor that a few of my friends who did the same degree are well settled in Australia. I ask this because I don't want my friends to be in soup, they should not have any problems because of this. At the same time, I don't want the assessor to feel offended if I ask this.

Please suggest, this is urgent and important!

Thanks,
Ankit Arora


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## AncientGlory (Aug 23, 2012)

ankit.a said:


> Hi AncientGlory,
> 
> Thanks for the reply.
> 
> ...


I think they have changed the list. This is the new one.


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## AncientGlory (Aug 23, 2012)

ankit.a said:


> Hello All,
> 
> As I've mentioned earlier, a few of my friends are settled in Australia, and they also did BE Degree from my college only, same batch. The only difference was that they had applied for student visa. And they had to do Bachelor Degree again, but they were given exemptions in almost half of the courses / credits, based on what they had learnt in our BE Degree. This means that ACS considered the BE Degree in their case. But to me they are saying that since it is not recognized, they will not consider.
> 
> ...


If they did a bachelors degree here in Australia, then ACS must have considered that one? Nothing will hapen to your friends if you inqure about this. However, I don't think it will have any effect on the decision.


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## sunnyboi (Jul 10, 2013)

Non-recognized universities can be a problem almost everywhere. So, RPL route it is and AncientGlory has provided almost all details. Good luck with your certification!


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## sam4u (Nov 12, 2014)

ankit.a said:


> Hi sunnyboi,
> 
> Thanks for the reply.
> 
> ...


Hi Ankit,

can you share your experience after your assessments, cos mine is exact same.

Thanks
Sam


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