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AQP — Australian Qualification Pathways
AQP is Genutive's skills recognition guidance service. We work out which Australian qualification your work history and prior study line up with, what evidence an assessor will expect from you, and which registered partner carries out the assessment.
“Skills recognition paperwork is confusing. Tell us what you have actually done and we will tell you plainly what is realistic.”
Australian Qualification Pathways (AQP) is Genutive's skills recognition service. It starts from a simple premise: if you can already do the work, you should not have to sit through a course teaching you what you do every day. Skills recognition is the formal process of having competence you already hold assessed against a nationally recognised Australian qualification — and AQP is how we get your case ready for it.
The mechanism is recognition, not tuition. Instead of studying towards a qualification from the beginning, you assemble evidence of what you have already done — at work, in previous study, or through qualifications earned elsewhere — and a registered training organisation assesses that evidence against the units of an Australian qualification. Where the evidence covers a unit, it is recognised. Where it does not, you are told exactly which gap remains and how it can be closed, so nothing is repeated unnecessarily.
Paid employment, contracting, family business or self-employment. Payslips, contracts, position descriptions, rosters, invoices, project records, photographs of completed work and supervisor references all count as evidence.
Short courses, in-house training, safety tickets, licences, and study you started but did not complete. Partial study is not wasted — completed units can often be credited rather than repeated.
Degrees, diplomas, trade certificates and apprenticeships earned overseas or interstate. These are mapped against the Australian Qualifications Framework to establish the closest comparable level.
Assessed and issued by a registered training organisation under the Australian Qualifications Framework — the same qualification, awarded on assessed evidence of what you can already do rather than through full-time study.
Your experience documented in the structure an assessor expects, mapped unit by unit. Useful well beyond the assessment itself, including in job applications and employer conversations.
If your evidence supports assessment now, you will know. If a gap remains, you will know precisely what it is and what would close it, before you spend money on anything.
Assessment decisions and certification are made by registered training organisations against published criteria, not by Genutive. We prepare and coordinate your file, explain what assessors look for, and tell you honestly when the evidence is not there yet. We do not guarantee an assessment outcome, and nothing on this page is legal or migration advice — anything that turns on your visa is referred to a licensed migration agent.
Most people arrive with a goal rather than a question about the process. These are the goals we hear most often.
Developers, chefs, carpenters, project managers and support workers often hold the competencies of a qualification without the certificate. AQP checks whether your evidence can be assessed against that qualification instead of repeating study you have already done.
Many Australian employers screen on nationally recognised qualifications. Formal recognition gives your experience a name hiring managers recognise, which often matters most at the shortlisting stage.
Employer-sponsored pathways generally expect skills and qualifications relevant to the nominated occupation. A recognised Australian qualification can sit alongside your employment history in that conversation.
Skilled occupations are assessed by a nominated assessing authority, each with its own criteria. Recognised qualifications and well-documented work experience are part of the evidence those authorities consider.
Aged care and disability support workers, childcare educators, hospitality supervisors and construction workers frequently do qualification-level work every day. AQP turns that daily work into a documented evidence file.
Transferable skills are easy to undersell in an application. Mapping them against a recognised qualification makes them concrete and reduces how much you need to start over.
Client contracts, invoices, tax records, project documentation, staff rosters and business registrations are all legitimate evidence. Self-employment is not a barrier when it is documented well.
For most people the barrier is not capability — it is that their capability is not written down in a form Australian employers, training organisations and assessing authorities can act on. That is a documentation gap, and it is the one AQP addresses.
You have done the work for years, but there is no Australian certificate that says so. Applications get filtered out before anyone reads about the experience, because the screening question asks for a qualification.
How AQP addresses it: Your experience is mapped against the units of a specific qualification and assessed as evidence. The outcome names your competence in terms the Australian system already recognises.
Skills earned overseas are routinely discounted because employers cannot easily judge an unfamiliar qualification or an unfamiliar employer's reference.
How AQP addresses it: An overseas qualification is compared against the Australian Qualifications Framework so its level is expressed in local terms, and your work history is documented against local unit requirements. Where practical local experience is genuinely missing, we say so and can point you to an Industry-Ready Program that builds it.
Supervisory roles, licensing, tendering and further study often require a formal qualification you never needed when you started, so competent people stall at a ceiling that has nothing to do with their ability.
How AQP addresses it: Recognition of what you already do can produce the qualification a promotion, licence application or higher-level course asks for, without stepping back into full-time study.
Enrolling in a full course to obtain a certificate for work you already perform costs time and money most working adults cannot spare, and teaches you very little you did not already know.
How AQP addresses it: Recognition assesses what you can already do and identifies only the genuine gaps. Any remaining study is targeted at those specific units rather than the whole qualification.
AQP improves how your skills are evidenced and understood. It does not create employment, and it does not decide migration outcomes — employers make hiring decisions, and skilled migration is determined by the relevant assessing authority and the Department of Home Affairs. Where your question is visa-determinative, we refer you to a licensed migration agent rather than answering it ourselves.
Five stages, from the first conversation to a decision you can act on. You always know which stage you are at.
We go through your work history, prior study and what you want the qualification for. If AQP is not the right route for you, this is where we say so.
We match your experience to a specific Australian qualification and the competency units behind it, so you know exactly what is being assessed.
You receive a checklist built for your occupation — references, duty statements, payslips, project files, licences — and upload it through your student account.
Your file goes to the registered partner that issues the qualification. The assessor may ask for a conversation or further evidence before deciding.
You receive the assessor's decision. Where it is positive, we help you use it — resume, employer conversations, or a referral to a licensed Migration Agent if your goal is visa-related.
AQP is open to anyone whose skills were built at work rather than in a classroom.
Professionals with overseas experience who need their skills described in Australian terms.
Students who worked substantially before or during study and want that experience recognised alongside their course.
People already working in Australia who want their current role formally recognised.
Residents who need a recognised qualification for promotion, licensing or an employer requirement.
Long-serving workers who never completed formal training in the trade they have practised for years.
Eight industry groups, covering the occupations we can map most reliably. If yours is not listed, ask — coverage depends on the partner network.
Software development, cyber security, cloud and infrastructure, networking
Carpentry, plumbing, electrical, civil construction, site supervision
Commercial cookery, kitchen management, hospitality supervision
Leadership and management, project management, retail and operations management
Disability support, aged care, individual support, early childhood education
Engineering trades, fabrication, mechanical and technical occupations
Light and heavy vehicle mechanics, auto electrical, body repair
Warehousing operations, supply chain, logistics and transport management
AQP stands for Australian Qualification Pathways. It is Genutive's guidance service for skills recognition: we map the skills and qualifications you already hold to a qualification on the Australian Qualifications Framework, prepare the evidence an assessor needs, and coordinate the assessment with a registered partner.
Enrolling means being taught the qualification from the start. Recognition means being assessed against it using what you can already do. The qualification issued is the same nationally recognised one either way — the difference is that recognition avoids re-teaching competencies you have already built at work, and any study that remains is targeted only at the units your evidence does not cover.
No. Genutive is not a registered training organisation and does not issue qualifications or skills assessment outcomes. Qualifications are issued by registered training organisations and skills assessments are decided by the relevant assessing authority. Genutive works with those partners — we do the mapping, evidence preparation and coordination. We do not own or control their licensed services and we cannot influence their decisions.
Yes. Skills recognition exists precisely to assess competencies gained through employment, self-employment, informal training or professional development. What matters is whether your evidence demonstrates every competency the qualification requires.
No. A large share of the people we work with have deep industry experience and no tertiary qualification. Formal study is one source of evidence, not a prerequisite.
Often not. Completed units, short courses, licences, safety tickets and in-house training all carry evidentiary weight, and units you have already passed can frequently be credited rather than repeated. Bring whatever records you still have to the consultation — transcripts, statements of attainment, even course outlines — and we will tell you what is usable.
It is mapped against the Australian Qualifications Framework to establish the closest comparable level, then read together with your work history. An overseas qualification on its own is not automatically equivalent to an Australian one, but it is rarely irrelevant — it usually reduces how much additional evidence the assessment needs.
Yes, where it is documented. Experience from India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Philippines, the UAE, Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa, the UK, New Zealand, Canada and elsewhere is regularly assessed. References and duty statements in English, or with certified translations, make a material difference.
Pricing is based on consultation. Cost depends on the qualification, the partner carrying out the assessment and how much evidence preparation your file needs, so we quote after the initial consultation rather than publishing a price list. You will know the full cost before you commit.
It varies with the qualification, how complete your evidence is and the assessor's queue. The single biggest cause of delay is incomplete evidence, which is why we front-load the checklist stage.
That is normal, especially for older or overseas roles. Statutory declarations, supervisor references, project documentation, portfolios and business records are often accepted alternatives. We will tell you which gaps are workable and which are not.
No, and anyone who promises otherwise is not being straight with you. Hiring decisions belong to employers. A recognised qualification improves how your experience reads to an Australian employer; it does not guarantee employment.
No. Visa and residency outcomes are decided by the Department of Home Affairs against criteria that change over time. A qualification may form part of the evidence in a broader application. Anything visa-determinative is referred to a licensed Migration Agent — Genutive does not provide migration advice.
No. Each assessing authority applies its own criteria and makes its own decision. AQP prepares you for that process; it does not replace or bind it.
It can support the conversation. Sponsorship depends on the employer's needs, the nominated occupation and immigration requirements — none of which Genutive controls. A recognised qualification strengthens how your profile reads to a prospective sponsor.
It can be, if you already have substantial relevant work experience. Suitability depends on the qualification and on your visa conditions, which is worth confirming with a licensed Migration Agent before you proceed.
Many graduates do, to formally recognise industry experience gained before or after arriving in Australia. Whether it suits you depends on your work history and the qualification being assessed.
Your student account is created immediately and then goes into verification and approval. You will see a pending state until our team approves access, usually within a couple of business days. Once approved you can complete your profile, upload evidence and track your file.
Yes. Identity documents and evidence are stored against your account, shared only with the assessing partner handling your file, and used only for that assessment. Our Privacy Policy sets out retention periods and your access rights.