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Release of Migration Agents Capstone Assessment
The Migration Agents Capstone Assessment has been released:
https://www.collaw.edu.au/migration
The Migration Agents Capstone Assessment (the Capstone Assessment) is an independent competency-based assessment, offered by The College of Law Limited. The Capstone Assessment has been designed to assess candidate’s skills to meet the Occupational Competency Standards for Registered Migration Agents (RMAs).
The first intake is to take place in late July / early August.
The price is $2750.
Relevant legislation regarding the Capstone (Explanatory Statement):
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2017L01708/Explanatory%20Statement/Text
Comments
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Monday, 25 March 2019I appeared In February intake for capstone after completing my one year Graduate diploma and failed. The College of law is just making money.The structure of the exam was really terrible.Especially the third part.We all know in all professions person learn from Experience.
in this profession their is CPD, which is mandatory for all newly registered agent then what is the meaning of this exam. It means they do not trust on the universities curriculum which have provided graduate diploma .
There should not have any capstone.
Thanks All -
Monday, 25 March 2019
The whole idea of Capstone is irrelevant and we are asking for the abolition of the capstone exams, because capstone exams isn’t serving in the interest of intended Migration agents nor Would students passing make any difference to how Migration agents can deliver a better services to their clients.
Capstone exams are nothing other than explanations of students wanting to become Migration agents. -
Monday, 25 March 2019
I have issues with the Capstone test but am raising this question since the reasons for the failure have not been disclosed at this time.
My reason for posting this is the level of English in the comments indicate there are weaknesses in the language that may have affected the results.
Law requires correct English to be used.
This is from the Capstone Manual and I am asking the question:
Do you think the test is being used to eliminate people who would not meet the language skills of ILETS 7,7,7,7 Academic.
Is this a backdoor approach to imposing an IELTS test on those wishing to become Migration Agents.
2.3 Assumed knowledge
When a candidate enrolls in the Migration Agents Capstone Assessment, it is assumed that they possess a minimum level of knowledge that is taught in the Graduate Diploma in (Australian) Migration Law and Practice. If you do not have these skills and/or knowledge, it is suggested that you defer completion of the Capstone Assessment until these skills and knowledge are achieved.
Furthermore, it is also assumed that candidates are competent in spoken and written English. Therefore, the College strongly advises any candidate to defer completion of the Capstone Assessment, if they do not have the following level of English: -
Wednesday, 27 March 2019
IELTS is a requirement for Migration agents. I don't think that Capstone should fail anyone because their English is up to their standards.
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Wednesday, 27 March 2019
Anonymous:
What I am referring to is the Capstone Test Manual specifically states the level of English recommended to take the test and clearly advises applicants to consider deferring the test if they have not met the suggested English levels or do not have the required level of knowledge.
The knowledge would be from the Graduate Diploma and self assessment for this would be difficult
HOWEVER:
Assessment of the English requirement is simple because taking an IELTS/PTE?TOEFL test would identify the level of English.
This requirement for English is clear.
Universities always state for tests/exams that all answers are expected to be in correct English. This is consistent in all Australian Universities and colleges.
If the English is not correct when answering the questions this will and would have an effect on the result. It was made clear in the requirements in the manual.
It may not be the main reason. I am just putting it out there after reading the posts here where many significant grammatical and spelling errors are part of the comments. -
Friday, 29 March 2019
The time given for writing submissions and file notes in capstone exam is not enough for anyone to write professionally. Migration agents usually deal with non English speaking clients who don’t judge them on their grammar mistakes. As long as they know their job, it is fine. As far as writing submissions, people usually learn writing professionally with time. It should not be the ground for failing someone.
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Monday, 25 March 2019
According to my understanding, when the tertiary qualification for entry into the migration advice profession was changed from a Graduate Certificate to a Graduate Diploma in Australian Migration Law and Practice, MARA requested the universities to map the course learning outcomes to meet the MARA Occupational Competency Standards (OCS). Thus, there has been a great deal of planning and preparation in the development and implementation of the new program, and only 6 universities are approved to offer the Graduate Diploma courses accredited by the OMARA.
The new program also includes the practice component that is designed to allow students to work in an actual practice (under supervision of a registered migration agent) or to complete a unit that provides several simulated client experiences. Moreover, the course includes learning outcomes that are linked to ethical practice and standards.
Thus, completing a Graduate Diploma from one of the six recognized universities demonstrates an individual’s ability to provide professional advice on Australian migration matters in accordance with the OCS.
In view of this, I do not understand why a stand-alone Capstone assessment (de-linked from the Graduate Diploma or any of the universities offering it) is required. It appears to me that the MARA does not trust University’s delivery of program or their assessment criteria. Because if they did, they would not ask for another assessment to demonstrate the skills already covered in the learning outcome of the Universities’ program.
And if they do not believe that the new program is comprehensive enough, why was the program changed in line with the MARA Occupational Competency Standards (OCS) and ‘practice component’ in the first place? -
Monday, 25 March 2019
If the future RMAs must take it for the purpose of regulating the industry or strengthen the profession, then those who have the registered as RMAs must do it or do the equivalent level of capstone test as CPD to meet the purposes of introducing the capstone test.
Improving and regulating one industry must start with existing and future professionals at the same time. It is not fair and ethical to just focus on the upcoming part, the current part also must hold accountable
OMARA is a typical governmental (relevant) authority, to which the Australia core values (fairness, caring, democracy, uni-standards and lawfulness) must be reflected and realized. -
Wednesday, 27 March 2019
For many of us who have been in the industry for a long time, we have already undertaken such a test, it was called MAPKE.
This was an extremely difficult exam with very high failure rate (statistics were not published but rumours were that 75% failed). We did not have Legend as the Regulations and Act were still all paper based.
Any material taken into the exam could not be taken out. As such, if you took your volumes of expensive Regulations in with you, you would not get them back. Because of this, many of us only took notes in and had to rely on memory.
The questions could be on any visa Subclass, Citizenship, Regulations, Act or Policy. -
Wednesday, 27 March 2019
Raul could you please send a link so that we can check and see the structure of exam .
or the exact name of EXAM. -
Wednesday, 27 March 2019
Raul I tried searching about this exam, couldn't find anything.
Could you explain bit more about this exam in comparison to current Capstone in terms of cost, eligibility or prerequisites -
Wednesday, 27 March 2019
Can you please tell us that What was the cost of that exam?
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Wednesday, 27 March 2019
Th MAPKE Exam entry requirement was a long time ago and ended in 2006 or 2007 when it was replaced by minimum qualification requirements. I can't remember the exact cost, but it was quite high at the time. As with the current Capstone, they did not release earlier test papers to enable study or gain an understanding of what to expect.
Those of us who were Registered in the MAPKE test era, understand the stress you are currently facing with the Capstone exam. -
Thursday, 28 March 2019
Well we can understand your concern but the cost of MAPKEE was $800 and there was no formal study required to enrol in this test. Comparatively capstone exam cost is $2750 and we already done a formal studies which is graduation diploma in migration law. The passing rate for MAPKEE used to be 60% based on MCQs only whereas it’s 65% each in capstone (written assessment, oral assessment and Part C). Therefore we can’t compare MAPKEE with capstone. Till date MARA even couldn’t justify the cost of $2750. We are still waiting to hear from MARA or other Authorities.
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Monday, 25 March 2019
Re Capstone Exam,
15 Minutes to prepare for a Client interview, Really …
I feel I completed the Grad Diploma with the skills required to research the criteria and legislation regarding a broad range of visa and citizenship requirements, the course was structured well and covered a broad spectrum of migration law. Thank you, Victoria University, professional and informative learning.
There was always going to be a period of further development learning and unfortunately the capstone exam has failed to recognise or take that reality into consideration. -
Tuesday, 26 March 2019
Hi
I will be finishing my Grad Diploma in few months. Can anybody provide what kind of questions was it and what were the challenges you faced? I agree with you all instead of this exam, they could introduce an internship program for three to six months with a senior migration agent, which will help us in getting the practical skills. For this test, do you think we need to remember any regulations and clause or will it be like a open book exam. -
Tuesday, 26 March 2019
According to my understanding, when the tertiary qualification for entry into the migration advice profession was changed from a Graduate Certificate to a Graduate Diploma in Australian Migration Law and Practice, MARA requested the universities to map the course learning outcomes to meet the MARA Occupational Competency Standards (OCS). Thus, there has been a great deal of planning and preparation in the development and implementation of the new program, and only 6 universities are approved to offer the Graduate Diploma courses accredited by the OMARA.
The new program also includes the practice component that is designed to allow students to work in an actual practice (under supervision of a registered migration agent) or to complete a unit that provides several simulated client experiences. Moreover, the course includes learning outcomes that are linked to ethical practice and standards.
Thus, completing a Graduate Diploma from one of the six recognised universities demonstrates an individual’s ability to provide professional advice on Australian migration matters in accordance with the OCS.
In view of this, I do not understand why a stand-alone Capstone assessment (de-linked from the Graduate Diploma or any of the universities offering it) is required. It appears to me that the MARA does not trust University’s delivery of program or their assessment criteria. Because if they did, they would not ask for another assessment to demonstrate the skills already covered in the learning outcome of the Universities’ program.
And if they do not believe that the new program is comprehensive enough, why was the program changed in line with the MARA Occupational Competency Standards (OCS) and ‘practice component’ in the first place? -
Tuesday, 26 March 2019
Somethings not right here.
I got Distinctions as my university results and yet was unable to pass this exam. Either the universities need to change their exams and prepare us for the Capstone exam or College of Law needs to give more fair exams, they should work together, but for that to happen, College of Law needs to believe in transparency and fairness and actually share their exam papers and other information which they refuse to do. I cannot even see my answers, only the assessors comments. What if they were marked not correctly, and I need to appeal?
As already mentioned, the exam was very long for the time we were allocated. In the end, I ended up rushing the exam. We do not have any experience in the field, we are taught how to look up law, policies, visa options etc. but we have not yet had the chance to work on our speed and know everything off by heart.
In the oral exam, we were to cover almost all visa options for the scenarios given, the scenario was vague that could lead to any visa option. We were taught in uni to confirm every advice you give, as the rules change very often, however, the assessor was rude and frowned when I told the assessor "let me confirm the advice I've given is correct as of today", the response was; "so you want the client to wait for you now *sigh*", there were other instances also, which I won't go into. We had 15 mins at start to do all the research of the given scenario and last 15 mins to write file note which (for 50 mins interview) I did not think was long enough.
Everyone who gave the exam were all graduated students who demonstrated their knowledge in the uni exams, and only 5% of them passed this exam. I guess the more people fail, the more money they'll make, it seems that's their business strategy at the moment, as they'll be increasing their income every exam. -
Tuesday, 26 March 2019
There is now a secret facebook group for Capstone discussions.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/MigrationCapstone/
Immigration blog
There us no Fair Go for everyone on this.
If new graduated students who has studied 1 year instead of 6 month need to sit for the test, it should be mandatory for all agents as well.
It is not fair system to exploit all new applicants with stupid Capstone test, while some Agents are benefiting from it m, specifically who their practices push the OMARA to introduce the exam,
make it fair for every one, abolish the Capstone or make it mandatory for every Agent.
I am one of around 300 student affected with this unfair practice, the system is totally failed us, and no one is giving any answer.