Edition 87, April 2011

TEQSA legislation in parliament

TEQSA legislation in parliamentOn 23 March legislation was introduced into the Australian parliament to establish the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA).

The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Bill 2011 and Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provision) Bill 2011 will establish TEQSA as a new national regulatory and quality assurance agency for higher education.

TEQSA will be 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 of our higher education providers.

TEQSA will register providers, carry out evaluations of standards and performance, protect and assure the quality of international education and streamline current regulatory arrangements. It will join together the regulatory activity currently undertaken in the states and territories with the quality assurance activities currently undertaken by the Australian Universities Quality Agency.

TEQSA will combine the regulatory activities currently undertaken in the states and territories with the quality assurance activities undertaken by the Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA). This will reduce the number of federal, state and territory regulatory and quality assurance bodies from nine to one.

The Government has referred the Bills to the Senate Standing Committee on Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, which is due to report to the Senate on 10 May.  For information on the Senate Inquiry and to view submissions visit: www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/eet_ctte/teqsa/index.htm.

For further information on TEQSA visit: www.deewr.gov.au/TEQSA

This page was generated on 15 April, 2011