Re-registration 21 May 2018

Provider: Group Colleges Australia Pty Ltd

Renewal of registration

Report on renewal of registration of Group Colleges Australia Pty Ltd

On 21 May 2018, TEQSA:

  • has agreed for the registration of Group Colleges Australia Pty Ltd (GCA) as a higher education provider to be renewed, under section 36 of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Act 2011 (the TEQSA Act), for a period of 18 months until 21 November 2019 in the provider category of 'Higher Education Provider'.
  • Under section 32 of the TEQSA Act, seven conditions have been imposed on the registration of GCA. A copy of the conditions is available at attachment A.

Main reasons for the decision

The conditions are designed to address risks in relation to the following issues:

  1. GCA's corporate governance in relation to risk management and delegations, having regard to Provider Registration Standards (PRS) 3.4 and 3.5;
  2. GCA's academic quality assurance in relation to benchmarking, course assessment and moderation, the use of comparative student performance data, and reviews of GCA's courses, having regard to PRS 5.6 and Provider Course Accreditation Standards (PCAS) 5.3, 5.4 and 6.1;
  3. GCA's approach to staff scholarship and professional development, having regard to PRS 5.3 and Provider Category Standard (PCS) 1.4; and
  4. GCA's standing and history of operation, having regard to PRS 1.5 and 1.6.

Attachment A: Conditions imposed on the registration of Group Colleges Australia Pty Ltd (GCA)

Condition 1

GCA must, within 21 days after the day on which the relevant meeting occurs and until the submission of its next renewal of registration application, provide TEQSA with copies of the minutes of each meeting of its Corporate Board. The minutes must:

  1. use the Issue, Consideration, Resolution and Action (ICRA) minuting system;
  2. demonstrate consideration of reports from GCA's Audit and Risk Committee;
  3. demonstrate consideration and recording of corporate and academic risks that is directly aligned to GCA's Risk Register;
  4. demonstrate the consideration and implementation of clear, detailed and time-bound strategies for the mitigation of risks considered as significant in the Risk Register, and the effectiveness of those strategies; and
  5. demonstrate the consideration of an annual scan of changes in organisational structures, responsibilities and reporting relationships; the consequences of any changes for delegations; and consideration of the continuing appropriateness of (and possible improvements to) the delegation processes and content.

Condition 2

GCA must:

  1. by 21 June 2018 provide TEQSA with a copy of its Benchmarking Review, together with the minutes of any meeting of its Corporate Board and Academic Senate which considered the Benchmarking Review.
  2. submit with its next renewal of registration application a report, considered and approved by the Academic Senate, which describes:
    1. the steps taken by GCA to compare its performance on teaching, student learning outcomes, and graduate outcomes, with other higher education providers; and
    2. how specific benchmarking activities have been used to effect improvements in performance.

Condition 3

GCA must:

  1. by 21 June 2018 provide TEQSA with a revised policy dealing with moderation of assessment, together with evidence that the revised policy has been approved by GCA's Academic Senate. The policy must describe the basis on which GCA will arrange for independent external review, by no fewer than two external moderators, of a statistically representative sample of assessments for each study period in each higher education course;
  2. implement the revised policy; and
  3. provide TEQSA with evidence that the revised policy has been implemented as part of GCA's next renewal of registration application.

Condition 4

GCA must:

  1. by 21 July 2018 provide TEQSA with a report containing a comprehensive diagnostic analysis of the probable causes for observed rates and trends for grade distributions and student attrition, progression and minimum time completion rates, for each accredited higher education course it offers, for the period from 2012 to 2016 inclusive. The report must also include analysis by:
    1. entry path (comparing students admitted under each entry pathway);
    2. recognition of credit (comparing students admitted without recognition of prior credit to students admitted with credit for up to a third of the course and up to half of the course);
    3. referral to and uptake of student support;
    4. student achievement (including attrition, progression, completion and grade distribution) in similar courses at other higher education providers.
  2. by 21 July 2018 provide TEQSA with a detailed strategy, having regard to the report at (a), which:
    1. includes specific targets for improvement of student attrition, completion and progress rates for each course;
    2. gives consideration to admission practices and standards, the identification of students at risk of not progressing academically, and the adequacy and effectiveness of student support mechanisms.
  3. include evidence of the consideration of the report at (a), and the approval of the strategy at (b), by GCA's Academic Senate, when the report and the strategy are provided to TEQSA.
  4. include evidence of the steps taken to implement the strategy at (b), together with a report on the effectiveness of the strategy, in GCA's next renewal of registration application.

Condition 5

GCA must, in relation to each of its courses that have been accredited for three years or more as at 21 May 2018:

  1. ensure that the courses are reviewed in accordance with GCA's Triennial Course Review process;
  2. submit a report detailing the outcomes of those reviews, together with a copy of the minutes of its Corporate Board and Academic Board which demonstrate the consideration of those outcomes, with its next renewal of registration application.

Condition 6

GCA must submit with its next renewal of registration application evidence of:

  1. the professional development activities that have been undertaken in the previous three years by each member of GCA's staff with teaching, management or academic leadership responsibilities with respect to one or more of GCA's higher education courses; and
  2. the resources that GCA has made available to support the professional development of its staff.

Condition 7

GCA must:

  1. by 21 August 2018 provide TEQSA with a proposed framework for collating, and reporting on, information about the scholarly activities of its staff. The frame work must include a description of the steps taken by GCA to ensure that this information is consistently and appropriately categorised.
  2. submit with its next renewal of registration application a complete set of staff scholarship profiles for the preceding twelve months that:
    1. have been completed by each individual academic staff member who is required to be active in scholarship;
    2. categorise scholarship activities in accordance with meaningful definitions agreed by TEQSA;
    3. include only activities or memberships which have scholarly or professional relevance to the individual's role with GCA.