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Approval as a Higher Education Provider
In order to be approved as a higher education provider, a body must:
- be a body corporate which carries on business in Australia and has its central management and control in Australia;
- the body’s principal purpose must be either or both of the following: to provide education; to conduct research;
- offer at least one accredited course of study that leads to a higher education award;
- meet financial viability requirements and other quality requirements;
- meet fairness requirements, including tuition assurance arrangements; merit based selection procedures; appropriate student grievance procedures and review procedures; and
- be able to meet other compliance, accountability and information requirements set out in the Higher Education Support Act 2003 and Guidelines made pursuant to the Act.
Accreditation
Australia’s State and Territory Governments are responsible for approving non self-accrediting institutions, maintaining registers of accredited higher education courses and the providers that deliver them, under nationally agreed protocols. Course accreditation includes the assessment and authorisation of courses of study that lead to a higher education award. The Australian Qualifications Framework (commonly known as the AQF) has established a register of recognised education institutions and government accreditation authorities in Australia.
In the Australian Qualifications Framework, higher education awards courses are those leading to a Bachelor Degree, Graduate Certificate, Graduate Diploma, Master Degree or Doctoral Degree. Some courses leading to a Diploma or Advanced Diploma may also be accredited as higher education.
To be approved as a higher education provider, a provider must be a non self-accrediting enitity whose name is included in the Australian Qualifications Framework Register of Recognised Education Institutions & Authorised Accreditation Authorities in Australia as authorised by a State or Territory higher education accreditation authority under the National Protocols for Higher Education Approval Processes to offer courses of study leading to a higher education award but not to accredit any of those courses.
The AQF Register is located on the AQF website.
Quality Auditing Requirements
Non self-accrediting higher education institutions which have been approved as higher education providers (HEPs) are required to undergo periodic quality audit by the Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA).
AUQA maintains a schedule of quality audits for non self-accrediting providers. HEPs should contact AUQA to discuss the quality audit requirement and/or the scheduling of their audit if they have not already done this.
To discuss the quality audit requirement with AUQA please contact:
Dr Jasen Burgess
Audit Director
Australian Universities Quality Agency
Phone: (03) 9664 1045
Email: j.burgess@auqa.edu.au
The charge made for the quality audit must be met by the provider.
The Audit Handbook
DEEWR has prepared an Audit Handbook for non Self-Accrediting Higher Education Providers to inform HEPs about the quality audit process and help them prepare for it.
Legislative context
The Higher Education Support Act 2003 (HESA) is available through the Attorney General’s Comlaw website.
There is provision for Guidelines to be made pursuant to the HESA. The HESA and Higher Education Provider Guidelines need to be read together to fully understand the legislative context. The Higher Education Provider Guidelines are available through the Attorney General’s Comlaw website.
The Parliamentary sitting calendar is published on the Parliament of Australia website.
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