It’s happening “soon”

Last week CEO of regulator TEQSA, Alistair Maclean told the Commonwealth Parliament’s Joint Committee of Public Accounts “we will be announcing very shortly court orders blocking websites offering academic cheating services.”

So how soon is shortly, CMM asked and the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency responded. “TEQSA has not yet applied for an injunction under these laws but, consistent with Mr Maclean’s comments, expects to announce its first application for such orders soon.”

The public accounts committee also asked about the Australian National Audit Office finding last year that the regulator, “did not meet its targets for re-registration and re-accreditation approvals for low-risk providers.”

“That’s been an area of focus for the agency,” Mr Maclean told the committee. To “provide a more complete answer” he took the question on notice.

Perhaps the area of focus covers Murdoch U’s registration, which expired in July last year. Section 36 (3) of the TEQSA act, allows a provider’s registration to continue until TEQSA decides what to do about it.

This week CMM asked TEQSA what is happening on Murdoch U and was told, “while there is presently no completion date, TEQSA’s National Register will be updated once a decision has been made.” No word if that also is “soon”.