What is AUQA?
The Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA) is an
independent, not-for-profit national agency that will promote,
audit, and report on quality assurance in Australian higher
education.
AUQA was formally established by the Ministerial Council
on Education, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) in March
2000. It operates independently of governments and the higher
education sector under the direction of a Board of Directors.
AUQA is owned by and receives core, operational funding
from the Commonwealth, State and Territory Ministers for
higher education who are members of MCEETYA.
AUQA's Responsibilities
AUQA is responsible for:
- conducting quality audits of self-accrediting Australian
higher education institutions and State and Territory
Government higher education accreditation authorities
on a five yearly cycle;
- providing public reports on the outcomes of these audits;
- commenting on the criteria for the recognition of new
universities and accreditation of non-university higher
education awards, as a result of information obtained
during the audits of institutions and State and Territory
accreditation processes; and
- reporting on the relative standards and international
standing of the Australian higher education system and
its quality assurance processes, as a result of information
obtained during the audit process.
AUQA’s responsibilities do not include investigating
student and/or staff complaints about individual universities.
Such matters remain the responsibility of individual institutions.
The first round of audits is expected to commence in 2002.
The costs of audits are to be met by the institutions subject
to audit.
For further information, refer to the AUQA
web site
|
