Proposed Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Comes Under Intense Scrutiny. (April 21, 2010)

 Reporting on a matter that is likely to have profound effects on Australia's university sector Andrew Trounson analyses a letter Peter Coaldrake, chairman of Universities Australia and vice-chancellor of Queensland University of Technology has written to the federal Department of Education in regard to the form the Department intends for the implement of its proposed Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA). Both the tone and specific points noted in the letter tend to raise serious doubts as to whether or not Julia Gillard's department knows what it's doing, if the intent is really to enhance the quality of learning and research in the sector rather than merely control it. For example the initial departmental suggestion that the Agency's CEO should report solely to the ministers of Education and Research was met with suspicion.

In an effort to have TEQSA be placed at arms-length from government, the letter suggests the creation of an interim higher education advisory committee with significant sector representation which would oversee the design and early implementation of the Agency. It recommends that the committee be composed of three university representatives as well as one representative each from the research, vocational and non-university provider sectors, and two government representatives, including one from a state or territory, plus four independents.

And it goes on to pointedly suggest that the duties of the Agency should be "properly prioritised and carefully scheduled rather than attempting to achieve all functions at once".

Universities Australia also advocates that in order to "allow the Agency to focus on higher priority and higher risk areas while continuing to assure quality", it should deem universities as registered providers for five years keeping in place the existing quality, registration and audit processes for them.  UA specifically mentions the registration and accreditation of non-university providers.

In his letter Professor Coaldrake writes: "The reputational damage suffered from poor quality private providers in recent times requires that registration and accreditation be the early and high priority focus in tertiary education regulation reform. In the higher education sector itself there are aspirants to university registration and accreditation that, in the view of Universities Australia, also provide potential for reputational threats."

The letter also brings up some matters that the government ought to consider to be extremely awkward:

• UA has rejected proposals from the Australian Qualifications Framework for its logo to appear on university degree testamurs like an accreditation,

• how regulation would be linked to the new compacts agreements,

• whether these would conflict with the government's aims to promote diverse missions among universities,

• how would new discipline standards and the results of the Excellence in Research initiative be used by TEQSA.

And for all of this the federal Coalition is nowhere to be seen. Truth to tell the universities really have little choice except to:

...keep a-hold of Nurse
For fear of finding something worse.
                                                    Hillaire Belloc,  More Beasts for Worse Children