Academic Qualifications

Qualifications Issuance

Graduates will receive a set of physical academic records at their graduation ceremony, or via mail if they graduate in absentia. From 2025, they will also be issued digital academic records via the My eQuals platform.

A student that is exiting a course prior to its completion will be issued with a statement of attainment in digital format via the My eQuals platform. A physical statement of attainment may be requested.

Any person that has been issued an academic record may request a replacement of that record. Read about replacement records here.

What are Academic Records?

Academic Records can be formal or informal. Formal academic records are legal documents that are awarded only when certain requirements have been met. Informal academic records may be issued or made available on request. These are generally ‘point-in-time’ documents that contain information for reference only, and that are not legal documents.

Formal records

Testamur: All graduates who have completed a program of learning that leads to the award of an AQF qualification are entitled to receive a testamur. A testamur is a legal document issued by the authority of AFTRS Council under the AFTRS’ Common Seal.
Academic Transcript: All graduates who have completed a program of learning that leads to the award of an AQF qualification are entitled to receive an Academic Transcript. The Academic Transcript is a record of a student’s subject outcomes, including individual subject grades, weighted average mark (WAM) and their grade point average (GPA).
Statement of Attainment: Students who complete part of the requirements of an AQF qualification in which they are enrolled are entitled to receive a record of results- AFTRS refers to this record as a Statement of Attainment.

Informal Records

Statement of Results: A statement of results is an unofficial record of your results that is accurate at the date of generation. All enrolled students can generate a statement of results through their Student Management System. A statement of results is not a legal document.
Graduation Letter: A confirmation of course completion prior to the conferral of an award. This letter may be requested by graduands who require evidence that they have met the requirements of their course in cases where the formal academic documents are not yet available.

Digital Academic Records

My eQuals is the official tertiary credentials platform of Australia and New Zealand. Governed and operated by participating Australian and New Zealand education providers, My eQuals is the solution that enables education providers to digitally certify and securely award official academic credentials to learners (students, former students and graduates).

Accessing your documents

When you graduate you will receive email instructions to create an account within the My eQuals system.
This email will come to your personal email account on your student record.
1. It is important to wait for this email before creating a My eQuals account.
2. If you already have an account, make sure that AFTRS has your correct contact details.
From your Learner portal, you will also be able to easily share those official records online with employers, education providers or anyone else you need to anywhere, anytime.

Certification and Security

My eQuals documents are both legally valid and tamper-evident.
The platform utilises cryptographic hardware and banking-level security to produce and certify digital records compliant with Australian and international legal and privacy standards.
My eQuals also uses electronic signatures compliant with EU Digital Signatures Directive 1999/93/EC and national enacting legislation.

Support

For access, registration, sharing or any other system support, visit the My eQuals website.
For matters related to physical academic records, the information on digital records, or an AFTRS course, contact the AFTRS Student Centre.

Student to Alumni - How does it work?

Who is eligible to receive an academic record? It depends on a which stage of your journey you’re up to!

A Student is anyone that is currently enrolled in an award course, even when they have completed all of their subjects.
A Graduand is a student that has completed their course, but not yet had their award conferred by the AFTRS Council.
A Graduate is a completed student who has had their award conferred by the AFTRS Council.

What about Alum? Who are they?

All variations of the word Alum have the same meaning as as Graduate- with variations dependent on their singular, plural or gendered use.

Alum is a non-gendered to graduate.
Alumna is a female-identifying graduate
Alumnus is a male-identifying graduate
Alumnae is a a group of female-identifying graduates
Alumni* is a group of male-identifying or non-gendered graduates

* Traditionally, Alumni is the plural to Alumnus (masculine), however, it’s usage has become commonplace across the education sector that it is often used to refer to a group of graduates irrespective of their gender.

Why is there a difference between completing subjects and completing a course?

As a formal action, ‘course completion’ must be approved by AFTRS accrediting authority. This occurs twice a year for all enrolled students who had completed all of their subjects and it commences the activities leading toward their graduation.

What is Conferral?

The act of bestowing an award (a qualification) onto an eligible person. Conferral must be undertaken by the AFTRS Council. This occurs twice a year for all students that have had their course completion approved.

Legal names and identification

All academic records are issued in a persons’ legal name– this is the name provided and validated at the time of course enrolment or the name formally updated on AFTRS systems through a change of name process. AFTRS cannot issue any documentation to a person under stage names or pseudonyms.