Update on the National Tertiary
Quality Arena
Friday 29 April 2011
Lisa Thompson-Gordon, Principal Consultant QCU
Quality Quiz – test your knowledge
1. In what year were the AQTF standards first introduced?
2. What is the name of the new National VET Regulator?
3. What does the VRQA stand for?
4. What are the (3) key components of the AQTF Essential
Conditions & Standards for Continuing Registration?
5. True or false: If I have the old Certificate IV in TAA this is
also evidence that I am also current in my VET skills and
knowledge.
6. What does compliance vs quality assurance mean to
you? (in no more than 20 words)
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Quality Consultancy Unit – who we are and what we do
Our role
• Advice across TAFE & HE (often ‘just in time’)
• Input (and influence) to senior level decision making across the QA
framework
• Internal and external audit
• Develop systems, processes & resources for effective planning, review,
monitoring and improvement of QA activity
• Respond to government policy & QA legislative frameworks (TEQSA, ASQA,
VRQA)
Reviews & audit types
• AQTF (internal & external)
• Offshore reviews of partner programs
• Organisational reviews
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Update - VET Quality Assurance Frameworks
AQTF10
• Implemented July 2010 & includes essential standards for initial & continuing
registration
• Key changes – financial management & governance arrangements,
systematic validation & moderation of assessment, currency of industry skills,
transition to Cert IV TAE by July 2012 and quality indicators (Learner
Questionnaire, Employer Questionnaire & Completions data)
• Key RMIT workforce development activity – TAE Skills upgrade & auditor
training
VRQA Guidelines
• Took effect July 2010
• Imposes additional requirements to AQTF10 and developed in response to
closure of smaller high risk providers
• Currently RMIT is unable to comply with all requirements eg, conflict with
RMIT’s establishment legislation
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The New National VET Regulator
Introducing ASQA - Australian Skills Quality Authority
• Establishment legislation passed in March, with commencement on July 1
• Operation depends on referral of regulatory powers by states and territories
July - NSW, ACT and NT
Oct - Dec: QLD, TAS and SA
• Victoria and WA resisting sign up
ASQA Values
• Independence – in regulatory role and providing advice
• Transparency – in regulatory role decisions and activities
• Collaboration – with industry, other VET regulators, governments & RTOs
• Opportunity to (re) build trust in the professionalism, consistency & integrity of
national VET system and its regulation
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ASQA’s Regulatory Approach
• ASQA will regulate within the existing VET quality framework (AQTF)
• Regulation is risk-based and targeted
• Sanctions and penalties will be proportionate and meaningful
• Develop a regulatory culture which:
 Rewards providers who are willing or trying to do the right thing
 Penalises providers who don’t want to comply or have chosen not to
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Focus on Risk Analysis
Comprehensive risk analysis of both RTOs and the VET system
• Risk assessment framework
• Structured risk assessments of initial, renewal and scope applications
• Input from:
Auditors
Industry bodies (ISCs, regulatory bodies, professional associations)
 student complaints
Student and employer outcomes and visa data
• Not all applications will result in an audit (risk-based and meaningful)
• Regulatory effort is directed at areas of higher risk
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Making the transition for
Victorian RTOs
Will I be regulated by ASQA?
Three variables
Courses on the
CRICOS
Register?
Operating in
a Referring
State?
Trading
Corporation?
Will I be regulated by ASQA?
You will be regulated by ASQA if:
– You provide CRICOS courses, and/or
– You operate in a referring state or territory.
You will be regulated by VRQA if:
– Your answer to both questions above is ‘no’.
You may be regulated by both regulators if:
– You provide both CRICOS and domestic students’ courses,
OR
– You deliver in both Victoria and interstate,
– You are not a trading corporation
AND
Who is My Regulator?
If I Only Deliver in Victoria to Domestic Students?
Victorian
RTO
CRICOS
Register?
And
Operating in
a Referring
State?
NO
VRQA
Answer
Both
Questions
Who is My Regulator if I answer ‘Yes’ Because I also operate in a Territory or Referring State
Victorian
RTO
CRICOS
Courses?
Operating in
a Referring
State?
Trading
Corporation
?
NO
VRQA
YES
YES
ASQA
NO
ASQA
Interstate Ops
VRQA
Victorian Ops
Who is My Regulator if I answer ‘Yes’ Because I have courses on the CRICOS Register
Victorian
RTO
CRICOS
Registered
Courses?
NO
VRQA
Operating in a
Referring
State?
YES
Only
CRICOS
Courses?
NO
YES
Trading
Corporation
?
NO
YES
ASQA
ASQA
Interstate
Ops
VRQA
Victorian
Ops
The New National HE Regulator
Tertiary Education Quality Standards Agency (TEQSA)
• Drivers:
2008 Bradley review of higher education
Move to competitive, demand driven market by 2012
Consumer protection & maintenance of quality
• Establishment legislation passed by parliament in March to commence
operation in July, reducing 9 regulators to 1
• Retains the self – accrediting status of universities
• Approach to audit / review will take into account an institution’s mission, scale
& past track record and unnecessary intrusion into lower risk providers
• Regulatory approach will be risk-based & proportionate
• Greater powers to take action and impose penalties & sanctions
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The Vision - Single National Tertiary Regulator
• TEQSA & ASQA developed in parallel for possible merger after 2013
• Shared office in Melbourne
• Close consultation – shared concerns & identifying commonalities &
divergence
• RMIT is actively contributing to the national HE and VET quality agenda
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Our shared challenge
• Framework & practice that supports enhanced
accountability
• Developing capability of middle managers & the ‘front line’
• Strategic approach to review & audit – “we need to
rationalise”
• Positive PR relationship building with our internal clients
Sounding familiar!!!
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QUESTIONS
Thank you
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