AUSTRALIA: Quality assurance bill up for debate

The federal government has released a draft of legislation establishing Australia's first tertiary education quality and standards agency. Known as TEQSA, the agency will combine regulations currently applied by the states with activities at present undertaken by the Australian Universities Quality Agency - thereby cutting the number of federal, state and territory regulatory and quality assurance bodies from nine to one.

Releasing the draft bill for discussion and debate on Thursday, Higher Education Minister Senator Chris Evans said that as the tertiary education sector went through a period of expansion, it was important to have a national system of regulation to assure the quality of all providers.

"A national approach is vital so that all students, domestic and international, can be assured of the quality of their education," Evans said.

The new Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency will be established as an independent body with powers to regulate university and non-university higher education providers, monitor quality and set standards.

Its primary task will be to ensure that students receive a high quality education at any higher education institution by registering all providers, conducting evaluations of standards and performance, "assuring the quality of international education", and streamlining current regulatory arrangements.

Evans said that following public debate and discussion, the government would introduce the legislation to parliament in the week beginning 21 March, but would also refer the bill to a senate education committee "for inquiry".

Initial plans for the creation of the agency were shrouded in secrecy, with confidential meetings held with a few representatives of some of the main interest groups. This created suspicion and alarm, particularly among the states and vice-chancellors, the latter fearing that what the government was planning would threaten their autonomy and impose more government control.

Subsequently, discussions were held with all those likely to be affected, including state governments, the vice-chancellors, private education providers, students and vocational education directors.

The legislation says TEQSA's approach to regulation will be "proportionate and risk-based", taking account of a provider's "history of scholarship, teaching and research; its students' experiences; its financial status and capacity; and its history of compliance with the act". It says TEQSA must exercise its powers "in proportion to any non-compliance, or the risk of future non-compliance, by the provider".

The agency will be governed by five commissioners: a chief commissioner, two full-time commissioners and two part-timers. The act says "major regulatory decisions" can only be taken by the commission as a whole.

The government says this offers higher education providers further certainty "that regulatory action taken by TEQSA will be soundly based and subject to appropriate checks and balances".

The vice-chancellors' association, Universities Australia, and the National Tertiary Education Union welcomed the public release while expressing some reservations.

UA Chair Professor Peter Coaldrake said the legislation was complex and of national importance, and it was "vital that the focus be on getting it right".

Coaldrake said that while the proposed legislation was seen as being sound and workable, the UA position remained subject to two important caveats: "First and foremost, the issue of self-accreditation and second the need to address with certainty other complex transitional provisions requiring clarification and possible amendment.

"Self-accreditation refers to academic autonomy in relation to courses and degree content. Self-accreditation is a central characteristic of true universities around the world in their role as long-standing independent centres of knowledge and learning," Coaldrake said.

"This in turn underpins distinctive public benefits for our society. At present, reflection of this in the bill is indirect and uncertain."

Union President Jeannie Rea said the NTEU was encouraged that the draft had addressed a number of important concerns the union and other stakeholders had raised in regard to the roles and responsibilities of the agency.

"In particular, the specific inclusion of the principles of minimising the regulatory burden on higher education providers and ensuring that the regulation of standards and quality are risk based and proportionate are very important," Rea said.