HE standards don’t change without expert oversight says Minister Tehan

In October, the Senate’s Scrutiny of Bills Committee had questions about the government’s plan for provider category standards.

In particular, the Committee wanted to know why assessment of providers’ research is in the delegated legislation (CMM October 26).

Education Minister Dan Tehan explained all in a letter to the committee; the research requirement should be with the other threshold standards which will be in the legislative instrument, rather than the proposed Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Act. “Moving this threshold into the TEQSA Act would reduce the sector’s ‘ownership’ and capacity to influence should it be the subject of future reconsideration,” the minister advised. (Scrutiny Digest, 16/20 p50).

Nor is there need for the proposed Act to include “high-level guidance” on the content of the threshold standards and research requirement because they can’t be changed, “without significant scrutiny by higher education stakeholders, the expert advice of the Higher Education Standards Panel and TEQSA, input from state and territory governments and finally the opportunity for parliamentary review,” Mr Tehan wrote.

“Precedence and consensus play a very significant role in guiding the evolution or replacement of content within the Threshold Standards, to the point that any guidance overlayed by provisions of the TEQSA Act could be seen as stifling the opportunity for reform and innovation.”

The committee is not convinced and “draws its scrutiny concerns to the attention of senators.”

“The minister’s advice that a long period of consultation has been undertaken in relation to reviews of the standards shows the significant nature of the standards and their impact on the sector, thus making them more appropriate for the full scope of parliamentary scrutiny via their inclusion in primary legislation.”