Australian universities have three months to divulge their overseas educational activities, as the higher education regulator assumes oversight of offshore delivery.
The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (Teqsa) has been given responsibility for monitoring Australian courses taught overseas, other than short exchange or research programmes, and for approving courses introduced from this year. The agency has now outlined its reporting requirements to meet the new obligations.
Universities and colleges must supply details about course names, levels, credentials, locations, dates and enrolments, together with specifics about business relationships with overseas partners. The information must be provided by the end of October via a template spreadsheet to be circulated this month.
These are preliminary arrangements to “capture core facts”, Teqsa warned in a consultation paper. “In later years [we] will refine the…requirements according to legislative changes and emerging risks.”
The new reporting obligations coincide with a proliferation of offshore ventures, as universities’ international tuition fee earnings come under threat from a federal government crackdown and declining demand for foreign qualifications in China.
