TEQSA proposes ways to assess research standards universities must meet

Last year the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency proposed research outputs and achievements universities need to achieve (CMM April 15 2021). A minimum is meeting research standards in 30 per cent (or at least three) Regulator sets out research rules, OK! that are taught by 2026 and 50 per cent by 2031.

Not a problem for most, but it could be a challenge for institutions that aspire to being universities – following what is now Avondale U’s recent elevation, or existing ones that are teaching-intensive.

There are also research admin and governance standards to meet.

TEQSA sets out proposals on both in a new draft “guidance statement” –   including matching fields of education (which the agency uses) to fields of research -(which the Australian Research Council does). TEQSA addresses this in a concordance that matches FOE and FOR.

But that isn’t that – TEQSA also helpfully points to “potential issues” for applicants – which could be interpreted as advice on what not do. For example,  “casual employment of high-profile researchers for part of a year to augment the provider’s research profile and output when the researcher is under the auspices of another provider,” and “claiming that a field meets the benchmark because some parts meet one benchmark while others meet another benchmark.”

Comment on the draft is open to September 7.