TEQSA reports uni failings on international student English admissions

The Tertiary Education Quality Standards Agency reports investigating ten universities last year over English-language entry for international students

The agency’s compliance report states it, “did not find evidence of widespread systemic failures in relation to English language admission standards.”

However, it states some “governing bodies,” “lacked oversight of admissions practices and could not be confident that admissions policies and procedures were being applied consistently.”

Providers blamed the Commonwealth’s international student management system for their not recording reasons why some students were admitted. “The universal use of ‘other form of testing which satisfied the institution’ limited visibility of a provider’s records to ensure compliance with English language requirements,” TEQSA states.

Other issues TEQSA identifies , “to address risks of non-compliance with the Higher Education Standards framework, include;

* “some providers had not reviewed or benchmarked their admissions practices for a considerable period of time”

* providers using “waiver” interchangeably with “equivalence” in admitting students who do not meet “documented” English language requirements for courses

* providers not using student-performance “to monitor, test and adjust” admissions policy

* providers “did not track poorly performing student cohorts and academic misconduct issues back to the student entry pathways, country/region of origin.”

So, what are the ten institutions – learned readers in the international education community generally agree on which ones they are but TEQSA isn’t telling.