Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA)

TEQSA Act and HESF

Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) is Australia’s independent national quality assurance and regulatory agency governed by the TEQSA Act 2011. It registers higher education providers against the Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold Standards) 2021 (HESF), the definitive set of requirements for Australian higher education providers.

Under the TEQSA Act, Flinders University is registered in the provider category of ‘Australian University’ for 7 years (the maximum allowable period) until 24 January 2031. Our registration details on the National Register can be found here.

The updated HESF, which incorporate the revised provider categories came into effect from 1 July 2021. The seven domains of HESF are:

Student Participation and Attainment
Learning Environment
Teaching
Research and Research Training
Institutional Quality Assurance
Governance and Accountability
Representation, Information and Information Management

Material change notifications

Under Section 29(1) of the TEQSA Act 2011, it is the responsibility of a registered higher education provider to notify TEQSA of events happen or likely to happen that will significantly affect the provider’s ability to meet the Threshold Standards or that will require the National Register of Higher Education Providers to be updated in respect of the provider. The notification must be given no later than 14 days after the day the provider would reasonably be expected to have become aware of the event.

TEQSA would expect providers to notify them of the following changes:

Type of events	Examples
Governance and status	Changes of Principal Executive Officer or principal academic leader
Safety and wellbeing	Recurring incidents of sexual assault or sexual harassment Critical incidents and other material breaches in safety
Good standing	Allegations of research misconduct under the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research Unscheduled compliance audits by another regulator or government department
Financial viability	Significant changes to the provider’s existing, new or anticipated revenue sources The appointment of an external administrator, liquidator or receiver
Third-party arrangements	New arrangements to deliver a course of study in whole, or in part, through a third-party (onshore and offshore) Failures of the control and reporting systems put in place by the primary provider to monitor third-party delivery Failures on the part of the third-party to ensure that course delivery meets the HESF
Courses	Failure to obtain professional accreditation for a course of study
Academic integrity	A contract cheating incident involving multiple students, that suggests a systemic or widespread issue, is discovered
Information security	A phishing attack disrupts a provider’s IT systems and key services

View TEQSA’s Material Change Notification Policy and guidance note.

Third party delivery

One of TEQSA’s 2023 compliance priorities (informed by their Compliance Monitoring Framework) was to ensure academic quality, and inadequate oversight of third-party delivery has been highlighted as one of the issues affecting academic quality.

In having arrangements to deliver a course with other parties, HESF requires providers to remain responsible and accountable in all aspects of course delivery and support. These aspects include (but not limited to) corporate monitoring and ensuring student wellbeing and safety.

View our Third-Party Academic Partnerships Policy and associated procedures.

View TEQSA’s guidance note.

ESOS Act and National Code

Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000 (ESOS Act) forms the legal framework for the quality assurance of education and training institutions offering courses to international students (students studying in Australia on student visas). Under the ESOS Act, TEQSA is the agency for:

All higher education providers registered under the TEQSA Act
English Language Intensive Course for Overseas Students (ELICOS) courses delivered by, or in entry arrangements with, registered higher education providers
All providers of Foundation Programs

National Code of Practice for Providers of Education and Training to Overseas Students 2018 (National Code) sets nationally consistent standards for the delivery of courses to overseas students. Education providers must comply with the National Code to maintain their registration to provide education services to international students.

Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS) is the official register of all Australian education providers that are approved to deliver courses to overseas students. All onshore courses approved for delivery to overseas students are also published on CRICOS. TEQSA is the designated authority responsible for assessing CRICOS applications.

View Flinders International’s guidance on ESOS Compliance.

TEQSA notifications

According to Standard 11.3 of the National Code, TEQSA must be notified at least 30 days prior to the time at which CRICOS details changes are proposed to take effect. Examples of these include:

Course duration (including holiday breaks)
Modes of study (including on-line, distance or WIL components of a course)
Maximum number of overseas students that can be enrolled at a location
Arrangements with other education providers, including partners, in delivering a course or courses to overseas students

According to Section 17A of the ESOS Act, TEQSA must be notified within 10 days after any change or event occurs that would significantly affect the provider’s ability to comply with the ESOS Act, such as:

Changes to the title of a course
Administrative changes such as change of provider address
Correction of a course’s Field of Education
Corrections to minor errors in the initial data entry of a course in the register

View TEQSA’s guidance note.

AQF

The Australian Qualification Framework (AQF) is the national policy guide for regulated qualifications in the Australian education and training system and is split into 10 levels.

TEQSA’s role is to register all higher education providers and to ensure their courses meet, and continue to meet, HESF that includes the requirement that the learning outcomes of all higher education qualifications (Levels 5 – 10 of the AQF) must be consistent with the level of the course.

View TEQSA’s guidance note.