In accordance with subsection 9(2)(b) of the Education Services for Overseas Students Act (the ESOS Act), provisional providers must pay their first annual Fund contribution in order to become registered on CRICOS.

In accordance with section 13 of the ESOS Act, the Fund Manager may request information that is relevant to determining the annual Fund contribution of a provisional provider.  The Fund Manager will not be able to issue a contribution invoice until this information is provided.  Please note, the Fund Manager will also need to know what tuition assurance arrangements you have in place before your contribution can be determined.

Upon receipt of the requested information, the Fund Manager will determine your contribution in accordance with the Contributions Criteria and issue a contribution invoice in accordance with section 63 of the ESOS Act. This invoice will state the amount of the provisional provider’s first contribution.

The Ministerially appointed Contributions Review Panel (CRP) has determined the criteria for contributions to the Fund for the period 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2010. For more information see the 2010 Contributions Criteria.

It is suggested that providers familiarise themselves with the ESOS legislative framework (the ESOS Act, Regulations and the National code) in order to get a full understanding of the requirements. Detailed copies are available online at http://aei.gov.au/AEI/ESOS/default.htm.