As the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) moves towards cost recovery of its quality assurance and regulatory activities from 1 January 2023, the regulator needs to improve its accountability to the sector. That’s the view of the Independent Tertiary Education Council Australia (ITECA), the peak body representing independent providers in the higher education, vocational education, training and skills sectors.
“The move towards cost recovery changes the relationship between higher education providers and their regulator. In an environment where providers will be paying for the processing of applications and similar processes, it’s not unreasonable that TEQSA should set clear and unambiguous processing timeframes for the execution of these activities,” said Troy Williams, ITECA Chief Executive.
ITECA has written to TEQSA recommending that the regulator publish new TEQSA Customer Service Standards that sets out TEQSA’s commitment to the standards of service that higher education providers can expect in their dealings with TEQSA, as well as what TEQSA can assist higher education providers with.
“ITECA believes that in a cost-recovered environment, TEQSA needs to provide a higher degree of certainty and transparency in its interactions with higher education providers. In that context, we are advising that TEQSA must implement customer service standards parallel to implementing full cost of quality assurance and regulatory functions,” Mr Williams said,
The framework recommended to TEQSA by ITECA closely aligns with standards currently applied by other regulators, such as the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).
“We look forward to working with TEQSA as it transitions not only to its new cost recovery model but also as it transitions to being a best practice regulator,” Mr Williams said.
The work of TEQSA is critical to the independent higher education sector that supports around 10% of the 1.6 million students in a higher education awards program.
Key Facts:
Independent higher education providers support around 10% of the 1.6 million students in a higher education awards program.
About us:
The Independent Tertiary Education Council Australia (ITECA) is the peak body representing independent providers in the higher education, skills training and international education sectors.
