Our Animal Studies courses are self-paced and offered via supported online learning. This means you can apply at any time throughout the year.  To enrol simply go to the bottom of the page and complete our online enrolment form or click here.

Certificate II and III in Animal Studies are Online Courses. For these courses, you do not need to attend lessons and you can carry out all of your studies from home. All the course material is available online, this can also be downloaded if you wish to print the study materials. You will also attend a practical work place where you will complete assessments and skills worksheets. All assessments are then completed and submitted online.

Our Certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing course is offered in either an online mode or on-campus mode.  If you are applying for the on-campus mode, you will be expected to attend classes at our Bentley Campus each week throughout the term.  If you are applying for the online mode, you do not need to attend classes.

All online eLearning students from both Animal Studies and Veterinary Nursing qualifications are invited to attend workshops throughout the year. These helpful training sessions provide practical experience and give you face to face access to our lecturers and tutors. Workshops are held at our Bentley campus in Perth, Western Australia. For more information visit our Workshops Page

We do not hold a formal Open Day, however we often attend careers expos and events organised by schools. Throughout the year we conduct information sessions which are offered by invitation. If you are interested in attending one of these sessions please contact us

The units are assessed using various methods. These include multiple choice quizzes, tests, written assignments and practical assignments such as video and photographic evidence.

Our Animal Studies courses are available online, so you can study from anywhere around Australia or overseas.  As long as you have access to a reliable internet connection via a PC or electronic device, you are proficient in speaking and writing in English and can secure a workplace for your practical training where your supervisor can also read English then you can complete our qualifications from any location.

We have a team of highly qualified lecturers who have worked in various areas of the animal industry (take a look at our ‘Meet Our Team’ page). Our lecturers are always on hand to answer any questions or provide further support, explanations or clarification of any of the course material. They will mentor and coach you through the course material when required.  You can contact our lecturers via phone, email or Skype.

We have students enrolled in our VET in Schools program around Australia, so it is likely your VET Co-ordinator may consider introducing our animal care program at your school.

If your school does not offer our courses as part of their VET in Schools program we advise that you speak with your careers adviser or VET co-ordinator.  We encourage you to direct them to this website and contact us via our website. We can send them our VET in Schools information pack and answer any of their questions in relation to your interest in studying Animal Care.

AVT offers high quality study material written, reviewed and delivered by Veterinarians, Animal Scientists and Veterinary Nurses with formal training qualifications. Our in-house training team have spent hundreds if not thousands of hours creating course resources for our units of competency across all courses.

The difference between registered training providers course content across all RTO’s including TAFE is often the units contained in the course and the quality of material. There are many units that can be included in a course and training providers nominate a selection of units they will offer to students.

Our courses are broad based and give an excellent introduction to working with animals across all species. They provide a fantastic is opportunity to learn about many different animals and most importantly allow you to apply what you learn in the classroom to the workplace.

To find out more about the units offered within each course visit the Course Content tab on our qualifications pages below.

• Certificate II in Animal Studies
• Certificate III in Animal Studies
• Certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing

The minimum age requirements for Certificate II in Animal Studies  are based on academic school year.  For the Certificate II in Animal Studies, this is Year 10 High School or equivalent.

None of our courses require up front payment, we offer flexible monthly payment plans with instalments for all students. Total course fees and payment plan structure vary with each course and individual circumstances. For more information, contact us.

Concession fees are available to eligible students only through our courses which have been granted government funding. Currently this only applies to the Certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing for students that are residing within Western Australia. For more information on the eligibility criteria please see the Fees & Entry section (tab) on this page.

You may be able to get financial or government assistance such as Austudy, if you study the course on a full-time basis. The full-time study duration is as follows: Certificate IV Veterinary Nursing – 12 months, Certificate III Animal Studies – 12 months, Certificate II Animal Studies – 6 months. You will need to approach Centrelink for further advice on government assistance.

Our Animal Studies courses are self-paced and offered via supported online learning. This means you can apply at any time throughout the year.  To enrol simply go to the bottom of the page and complete our online enrolment form or click here.

Our Animal Studies courses are available online, so you can study from anywhere around Australia or overseas.  As long as you have access to a reliable internet connection via a PC or electronic device, you are proficient in speaking and writing in English and can secure a workplace for your practical training where your supervisor can also read English then you can complete our qualifications from any location.

We have students enrolled in our VET in Schools program around Australia, so it is likely your VET Co-ordinator may consider introducing our animal care program at your school.

If your school does not offer our courses as part of their VET in Schools program we advise that you speak with your careers adviser or VET co-ordinator.  We encourage you to direct them to this website and contact us via our website. We can send them our VET in Schools information pack and answer any of their questions in relation to your interest in studying Animal Care.

The minimum age requirements for Certificate II in Animal Studies  are based on academic school year.  For the Certificate II in Animal Studies, this is Year 10 High School or equivalent.

AVT offers high quality study material written, reviewed and delivered by Veterinarians, Animal Scientists and Veterinary Nurses with formal training qualifications. Our in-house training team have spent hundreds if not thousands of hours creating course resources for our units of competency across all courses.

The difference between registered training providers course content across all RTO’s including TAFE is often the units contained in the course and the quality of material. There are many units that can be included in a course and training providers nominate a selection of units they will offer to students.

Our courses are broad based and give an excellent introduction to working with animals across all species. They provide a fantastic is opportunity to learn about many different animals and most importantly allow you to apply what you learn in the classroom to the workplace.

To find out more about the units offered within each course visit the Course Content tab on our qualifications pages below.

• Certificate II in Animal Studies
• Certificate III in Animal Studies
• Certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing

Yes, our qualifications in Vet Nursing and Animal Studies are nationally recognised and accredited.  Our company is fully registered by the Australian Government training registration authority ASQA (Australian Skills Quality Authority) and the qualification offered is the nationally recognised Certificate. We are supported and endorsed by the Australian Veterinary Association. Our registration authority can be viewed on the training.gov.au website, which is the Australian Government’s website for details of registered courses and training providers –  View our details here.We strongly recommend you search the training.gov.au website for any training organisation you maybe considering.

The code for Certificate II in Animal Studies changed to ACM20117 in November 2017. The content and requirements for this particular certificate have not changed however and the new certificate is deemed equivalent to ACM20110.

The reason for the code change is that all units in the Animal Care Package (ACM10) have been reviewed and codes updated for 2017. Some qualifications have changed significantly, others have not.

All training providers have 12 months from endorsement to bring up to date and changes required to any courses they are registered to deliver.

AVT is in the process of completing administrative and compliance paperwork that will allow us to offer ACM20117 Certificate II in Animal Care.  As such we are registered to deliver ACM20110 and ACM20117 for the next 12 months.

Most importantly however, all students who enrol in ACM20110 with us in the near future will be issued ACM20117 when they complete.

For more information visit our article on the Changes to National Qualifications 

For Certificate II and III in Animal Studies students, your workplace practical hours can be completed at one or more workplaces. It is important to remember that your practical placement must correspond with the species specific unit that you choose as your elective unit. To complete your placement at 2 or more work places, you must ensure all paperwork is completed by both work places and submitted to AVT.

Many of our Animal Studies students, unless employed at a suitable workplace, complete their required hours in a voluntary position whether that be as a volunteer in an animal or wildlife shelter or an animal related business.

Prior to commencing your work placement, you will need to complete the practical workplace approval form to our Student Liaison Officer to ensure the voluntary organisation is suitable for the course requirements and is likely to be approved for your workplace training.

All of our courses are vocational, which means that they are specifically designed to provide students with the skills, experience and knowledge to enter the animal care workplace. Working in an animal care facility, where you are responsible for a number of different animals and sometimes a range of different species on a daily basis is very different to caring for your own pets at home.

Therefore to successfully complete your qualification you will need to secure a formal workplace practical training placement in a pet related business or organisation.

Below are just a few examples of the types of skills and knowledge that must be covered in all of our courses, which cannot be learned from caring for your own animals –

• Being able to understand and interpret the behaviour of animals that you are not familiar with.  This is an essential skill in order to ensure that the animal is approached and handled in the most appropriate and safest way so as to minimise stress to the animal and reduce the risk of injury to the handler.
• The ability to accurately assess the health of an animal that you are not familiar with.  As we know our own animals so well, we can often pick up on the early signs that something is wrong.  However, being able to do this with animals that you do not know particularly well and may be in an unfamiliar environment such as boarding facility, rescue shelter or vet clinic requires a completely different set of skills and knowledge.
• Understanding of hygiene and infection control practices.  In a facility where numerous animals are housed, it is vital to have a good understanding of the correct hygiene practices to ensure that all animals are kept healthy and to minimise the risk of the spread of disease and cross-contamination.
• Health and safety practices – working with animals can present a very unique set of risks and therefore it is vital that students are aware of not only the possible risks but also how to ensure they can minimise these risks at all times.