Sectors nervously welcome TEQSA

CHRIS Evans will create the first legal threshold standards for Australian universities by the end of 2011 without independent advice.

TERTIARY Education Minister Chris Evans will create the first legal threshold standards for Australian universities by the end of 2011 without independent advice from the Higher Education Standards Panel, a Universities Australia representative claims.

At a Melbourne forum on Monday night, Michael Beaton-Wells, who has represented Universities Australia in negotiating changes to Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency provisional legislation, said the minister could create the first set of standards under a provision in the TEQSA Transition Bill. Mr Beaton-Wells said the government took the view the standards should be in place by the end of 2011 because TEQSA will have power from January 2012.

Under the act, the standards framework includes registration as a university, course accreditation, research, and teaching and learning activities.

At a minimum, the minister is likely to officially declare that the Australian Qualifications Framework represents the course qualifications standards under the act.

Speakers at the forum hoped the establishment of TEQSA's regulatory powers would presage the introduction of a more diversified higher education system.

Martin Riordan, chief executive of TAFE Directors Australia, advocated a European model of colleges, polytechnics and universities. He also expressed concern that governments seemed committed to withdrawing funding for TAFE.

He highlighted the Victorian funding model as particularly problematic and said some regional TAFEs were struggling

financially under present regulatory arrangements.

Mr Riordan tried to assuage concerns that the allowance of higher education degrees in TAFEs was an attempt by vocational education providers to encroach on universities' traditional mission. He argued instead that weaknesses in Australian Quality Training Framework requirements and the absence of a TEQSA-style regulator for Australia's vocational education and training sector had led to vague standards across the sector. Mr Riordan recommended the Arizona Articulation Council in the US as a useful model for how the Australian higher education and training sectors could be brought together more effectively under TEQSA.

Director of the L H Martin Institute for Higher Education Lynn Meek also thought a more stratified tertiary education system was essential to meet the country's productivity needs.

Mr Beaton-Wells said the establishment of teaching-only and research-intensive institutions should be part of future reforms.

While sectoral stratification was supported by forum speakers, it was apparent that difficulties remained in establishing standards by which universities would be classified. Professor Meek

raised concerns about TEQSA constraining autonomy, while Mr Beaton-Wells acknowledged that in the area of teaching and learning there was significant, ongoing debate about standards.

"There is no comparable high-quality university system elsewhere in the world that has gone to this extent of introducing a national regulating industry model that has this amount of reserve power and procedural power," Mr Beaton-Wells said.

"Academic boards have been especially concerned that their role will be circumscribed."

Despite concerns about academic freedom and institutional autonomy, Mr Beaton-Wells and Mr Riordan affirmed the role of TEQSA in establishing and maintaining quality standards as the tertiary education sector expands. They believe students will benefit significantly from the regulations introduced under its auspices.