We work closely with international higher education quality assurance and regulatory agencies and participate in global forums, as part of our work to protect and enhance the integrity, quality and reputation of Australian higher education. TEQSA seeks to work collaboratively with overseas regulatory and quality assurance agencies to protect and enhance the quality and integrity of higher education.

Visiting delegations

To request a delegation visit, please use our contact form. Please submit your request at least two months in advance of the proposed date and include:

• name of your organisation
• contact person details: Name, title, email address, telephone, if contact is in Australia or your home country
• date of proposed visit
• name and title of the head of the delegation and number of officials attending
• purpose of the visit, including specific topics to be discussed
• previous contact or visits with TEQSA (if any)
• list of other Australian organisations/government agencies you may also be visiting during the trip.

TEQSA will let you know if we are able to meet your request within 15 days of receiving your completed request.

Speaking invitations

International organisations wishing to invite a TEQSA representative to speak at their event should use our speaker request form. Please note that TEQSA requires at least 28 days advance notice of any request and that TEQSA is not able to provide speakers for all requested events. TEQSA will let you know if we are able to meet your request as soon as possible after receiving your completed request.

Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs)

TEQSA is presently reviewing our approach to memorandums of understanding with international organisations. Please use our contact form to enquire about current or prospective MOUs (including renewals).

• Memorandums of Understanding

International projects

Global academic integrity network (GAIN)

The Global Academic Integrity Network is a consortium of education quality and integrity agencies worldwide joining forces to fight the rise of commercial academic cheating services targeting students. Founded by Quality and Qualifications Ireland and TEQSA, the network aims to tackle commercial cheating operations, protecting students, qualifications and the integrity of national education systems.

• Visit the GAIN website to learn more

APEC Quality Assurance of Online Learning Project

The Department of Education and Training approached TEQSA in mid-2016 to manage a project focused on the quality assurance of online higher education for countries in the APEC region. The project deliverables include the development of a Discussion Paper and Toolkit, a workshop on the Toolkit with representatives from a range of APEC economies followed by a limited number of validations in Indonesia, Vietnam and Mexico and finalisation of the discussion paper and toolkit. This work was completed in 2017. 

• Download the Quality Assurance of Online Learning - Discussion Paper (PDF, 2.6 MB)
• Download the Quality Assurance of Online Learning - Toolkit (PDF, 1.1 MB)

Toolkit to support quality assurance agencies to address academic integrity and contract cheating

The toolkit was developed to share Australia’s lessons with our colleagues in quality assurance agencies in the global fight against contract cheating and other threats to academic integrity. It applies the principles of quality assurance to creating strong frameworks that support academic integrity.

TEQSA led the development of the toolkit which was funded by a grant from the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE).

• View the toolkit

This report outlines our compliance priorities for the upcoming year, as well as our compliance and enforcement activities for the previous year.

The report also includes compliance in focus guidance to support higher education providers in meeting their obligations.

Latest report

• 2023 TEQSA compliance report

Past reports

• 2022 TEQSA compliance report
• 2021 TEQSA compliance report
• 2020 TEQSA compliance report

Under the Compliance Monitoring Framework, we set compliance priorities within agreed risk tolerance parameters approved by TEQSA’s Commission.

These priorities guide our compliance monitoring activities for the greatest regulatory impact to protect students and the quality, integrity and reputation of the sector.

Our compliance priorities are reviewed on an annual basis to ensure they remain relevant and reflective of risk in the sector and are published in the annual compliance report.

Compliance priorities for 2024

Upholding wellbeing and safety

Issues relating to the wellbeing and safety of students (including those who are vulnerable or under 18) with particular focus on systemic failures to:

• provide adequate assistance and support mechanisms for students, including academic advice, learning support and mental health support
• address barriers for students with a disability
• adequately inform staff and students about grievance mechanisms.

Ensuring academic quality

Issues affecting academic quality, focusing on:

• monitoring students at (academic) risk
• systemic deterioration or failure of academic quality (including quality of online delivery)
• admission of students who are ill-equipped to succeed
• inadequate oversight of third-party delivery.

Protecting sector integrity

Issues that put the integrity of the sector at risk, with a focus on fraud and criminality, including:

• not implementing policies and procedures relating to academic integrity
• creating incentives for non-genuine students
• poor oversight and management of overseas education agents
• commercial academic cheating services.

Strengthening corporate governance

Issues that impede the delivery of quality higher education including:

• changes in ownership and cross ownership
• insufficient expertise in higher education
• inadequate risk management
• underpayment of staff.

Maintaining information security

Issues with information security, including those related to:

• poor identification and management of cyber security risks
• inadequate protection of staff and student data, research data technology development and use
• intellectual property.

Monitoring financial standing

Issues that affect a provider’s present and projected financial sustainability and viability, with a particular focus on:

• significant financial mismanagement
• lack of resilience to shifts in revenue sources. 

Compliance in focus

As part of our annual compliance report, TEQSA publishes advice to support providers in meeting their HES Framework obligations.

• Compliance in focus
   

Overview

The Compliance Monitoring Framework supports our regulatory oversight of providers’ compliance and enhances community confidence that the quality of Australian higher education is maintained. 

The framework assists TEQSA to perform its core regulatory functions and powers under the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Act 2011, Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000 and subordinate legislation and is informed by our statements about our Approach to Quality Assurance and Regulation and Compliance and Enforcement.

Figure 1: Key elements of TEQSA’s compliance monitoring cycle

The framework is reviewed by TEQSA’s Commission annually, or where there is significant change affecting the sector, to ensure it reflects changing regulatory risks and remains effective.

Framework elements

Identify

TEQSA’s broad compliance monitoring activities provide us with insight into emerging and current risks to the sector, as well as common risks to provider quality assurance practices.

This assists us to identify and focus on the areas of non-compliance that pose the greatest risk to students and the quality, integrity and reputation of the higher education sector.

TEQSA monitors and identifies risk through a number of interconnected and complementary activities, including:

• TEQSA’s annual provider Risk Assessment Framework, a tool to identify risk, which provides a snapshot of each higher education provider, including regulatory history 
• assessments for renewal of TEQSA and CRICOS registration and accreditation
• compliance assessments and investigations, and enforcement action
• information and intelligence from various sources, including peak and professional accreditation bodies, other government agencies, concerns and material change notifications
• sector-wide thematic analyses and consultation/engagement with key stakeholders.

Prioritise

We set compliance priorities within agreed risk tolerance parameters, approved by TEQSA’s Commission, to guide our compliance monitoring activities for the greatest regulatory impact to protect students and the quality, integrity and reputation of the sector. These are reviewed on an annual basis to ensure they remain relevant and reflective of risk in the sector and are published in the annual compliance report.

As a risk-based regulator, TEQSA’s prioritisation model, based on the compliance priorities, is an essential component of our approach to compliance monitoring. It involves a robust triage process to promptly identify those issues that pose the greatest risks. This helps to prioritise TEQSA’s work and determine how best to allocate our resources. 

The Compliance Priorities, annual provider risk assessment and other information and intelligence sources feed into the development of an Annual Compliance Program. This is a proactive and forward-looking plan to target current, systemic and emerging risks. This targeted approach provides assurance that priority risk areas are being managed in the sector.

Action

TEQSA has a range of regulatory tools and statutory powers to address non-compliance. Our regulatory response is guided by the Compliance and Enforcement Policy, which documents principles for undertaking enforcement activities and supporting processes and procedures.

Where we identify that a provider is not complying (or is at substantial risk of not complying) with its obligations, our level of regulatory response will: reflect the level of risk identified, be proportionate to the issues we seek to address, be tailored to the individual circumstances so as to achieve the most effective compliance outcome.

Learn

Information gained from compliance monitoring activities and lessons learned from the action and response flow back into monitoring and assessment activities as regulatory intelligence.

We work across government, sharing resources, information and findings, where it is relevant to the functions and powers of other agencies. This joined up approach reduces duplication of effort and increases our knowledge base. 

Inform

We communicate information about our compliance monitoring activities to raise awareness and inform, which in turn helps the sector build capability through lessons learnt. We do this by tailoring and publishing education and guidance based on findings from compliance monitoring activities and through our annual compliance report. We also consult with the sector and key stakeholders, including peak bodies, to assist the sector to develop solutions to problems.

Framework principles

The Compliance Monitoring Framework is underpinned by the following contemporary best-practice regulatory principles:

The circumstances

In 2023, TEQSA noted an increase in concerns from students about the availability and adequacy of support services and wellbeing services.

These included concerns that providers had left vacant student counselling and wellbeing officer positions, and that funding for on-campus support services withdrawn by providers during COVID-19 had not been restored. Additionally, we consulted with higher education students, which helped inform our compliance priorities for 2024 and highlighted their concerns, including:

• lack of wellbeing and support services available for students
• lack of awareness amongst students and staff about the availability of support services and complaint handling mechanisms
• inadequate level of staffing and staff training to ensure students are provided with accurate and timely advice
• mismanagement of conflicts of interest when handling complaints.  

Our role

TEQSA expects providers to meet their obligations under the HES Framework, which includes specific requirements regarding student wellbeing and safety.

These include the need for a safe learning environment to be promoted and fostered, support services for students, formal complaints handling policies and procedures, and compliance with relevant legislation including Commonwealth, state and territory laws.

Relevant sections and standards of the HES Framework include Sections 2.3, 2.4 and 6.2, and Standards 6.1.4 and 7.2.1.

Providers also have statutory obligations to provide for the support of international students who are studying in Australia under the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000 (ESOS Act), with its associated National Code.

Our focus

TEQSA focuses on:

• providers’ compliance with their own policies and procedures
• the extent to which providers take steps to identify and mitigate risks associated with wellbeing and safety
• whether providers have adequate levels of oversight to address the issues relating to the wellbeing and safety of students and staff.  

What providers can do

We encourage providers to:

• engage with staff and students in developing strategies relating to wellbeing and safety, including strategies relating to gender-based violence
• have mechanisms to evaluate the effectiveness of the strategies and framework, which in turn inform continuous improvement
• ensure adequate level of staffing, and that the first points of contact for students and staff responsible for providing support and managing complaints have the required training for their respective roles
• increase awareness amongst students and staff about options for wellbeing support services and complaint handling mechanisms, relevant policies and procedures, including student obligations and expected standards of behaviour.

Resources

• TEQSA: Guidance note on wellbeing and safety
• TEQSA: Guidance note on grievance and complaint handling
• Our Watch: Resource links
• Orygen Institute: University Mental Health Framework
• ACT Ombudsman and Commonwealth Ombudsman: Complaint handling at Universities: Australasian Best Practices Guidelines
• Universities Australia: Guidelines for University Responses to Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment
• Universities Australia: Primary Prevention of Sexual Harm in the University Sector – Good Practice Guide 

TEQSA publishes compliance in focus resources to support providers in meeting their obligations under the Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold Standards) 2021 (HES Framework).

The resources below contain information on best practice and links to other useful information to assist providers in ensuring their continued compliance with the HES Framework.

2024

• Compliance in focus: Student wellbeing and safety
• Compliance in focus: Education agent monitoring

2023

• Compliance in focus: Academic integrity
• Compliance in focus: Change of ownership
• Compliance in focus: Cyber security

2022

• Compliance in focus: Identifying students at academic risk
• Compliance in focus: Professional accreditation
• Compliance in focus: Wages underpayment

The circumstances

In 2023, TEQSA observed an increase in risks to compliance in the recruitment of overseas students and the monitoring of education agents.

This included a large increase in the number of overseas students who, after being recruited by education agents, were refused a visa, failed to commence, or left the provider before completing their course of study.

This raised concerns that providers were not meeting their obligations under the National Code and HES Framework to recruit responsibly and to ensure their education agents were acting ethically, honestly and in the best interests of students.

Our role

TEQSA expects each provider to vigilantly monitor the conduct and performance of the education agents it engages to formally represent it. Further, providers are expected to develop mature processes for evaluating student performance and outcomes to inform its recruitment activities.

• Standard 4.1 of the National Code requires providers to enter into a written agreement with each education agent.
• Standard 4.3 of the National Code expects providers to ensure education agents act honestly and in good faith, and in the best interests of the student.
• Standards 4.4 and 4.5 of the National Code require providers to take immediate corrective action where an education agent or its subcontractor has not complied with its obligations, or terminate its relationship if the education agent has engaged in false or misleading recruitment practices.
• Standard 4.6 of the National Code requires providers to not accept students from an education agent that has engaged in dishonest recruitment practices, or facilitated the enrolment of an overseas student that is not bona fide or that the agent believes will not comply with visa conditions.
• Standard 7.1.1 of the HES Framework requires providers to ensure that representation of the higher education provider, its educational offerings and charges, whether directly or through agents and other parties, is accurate and not misleading.
• Standard 7.1.4 of the HES Framework requires providers to ensure that agents and other parties that are involved in representing the higher education provider are bound by formal contracts with the provider, their performance is monitored, and prompt corrective action is taken in the event or likelihood of misrepresentation or unethical conduct.  

Our focus

In 2023, TEQSA’s assessments identified significant risks to compliance in the monitoring of education agents for numerous providers, including universities.

TEQSA sought information from each of these providers to better understand their processes for monitoring education agents, and their response to the elevated risk.

Some providers were able to address TEQSA’s concerns by demonstrating that robust and effective self-assurance mechanisms were in place. This included evidence that the provider had identified issues independent of TEQSA’s assessment, had taken steps to understand the root cause of the problems, and was in the process of implementing measures to address them.

Importantly, these providers were able to demonstrate that their governing bodies had sufficient and effective oversight of these risks and the actions to address them.

In contrast, some providers were unable to adequately address TEQSA’s concerns, and further regulatory intervention was required. TEQSA is working closely with the Department of Home Affairs, the Department of Education, and the Australian Skills Quality Authority to continue to monitor risks in the recruitment of overseas students and provider management of education agents.

Providers are expected to be able to demonstrate that they have effective processes and mechanisms in place for monitoring their education agents.  

What providers can do

We encourage providers to:

• independently identify issues related to the recruitment of overseas students and the monitoring of education agents and take reasonable steps to understand the issues once identified
• take sufficient and immediate corrective action when poor performance by education agents is identified
• take comprehensive steps to address the root causes of identified issues, rather than implementing superficial or temporary measures
• develop mature monitoring and review processes for their education agents, informed by student progression, performance, and feedback
• implement quality assurance measures to address risks at an institutional level prior to the matter being raised by TEQSA.  

Resources

• TEQSA: Sector alert on the recruitment, admission, and support of overseas students
• TEQSA: Sector alert on provider responsibilities when using education agents
• TEQSA: Guidance note on corporate governance