New Australian University Standards for 2012 Not Ready

It will be interesting to see what effect the new national the new Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) will have, along with an emphasis on universities reporting publicly against external standards. Starting in 2012 a Higher Education Standards Framework will be used to evaluate the performance of universities (and other higher education providers). The framework has not yet been completed (although it it is to come into force in a few weeks time).

1. The Higher Education Standards Panel , with five senior academics from Australian universities, was announced 9 November 2011.
2. Provider Standards have not yet been released.

3. Qualification Standards have been released in draft form in September 2011.

4. Teaching and Learning Standards are less advanced than other parts of the framework, with a discussion paper, Developing a framework for teaching and learning standards in Australian higher education and the role of TEQSA released 17 June 2011.

5. Research Standards are described bt TEQSA as "at the initial stage of development". However, commonly accepted codes of practice for research, such as "Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research" should allow this work to progress rapidly.