TEQSA Act
The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Act 2011 (TEQSA Act) established TEQSA as an agency.
The objects of the TEQSA Act are to:
- provide for national consistency in the regulation of higher education
- regulate higher education using a standards-based quality framework and principles relating to regulatory necessity, risk and proportionality
- protect and enhance Australia’s reputation for, and international competiveness in higher education, as well as the excellence, diversity and innovation in Australian higher education
- protect and enhance academic integrity by prohibiting academic cheating services
- encourage and promote a higher education system that is appropriate to meet Australia’s social and economic needs for a highly educated and skilled population
- protect students undertaking, or proposing to undertake higher education by requiring the provision of quality higher education
- ensure that students have access to information relating to higher education in Australia.
The following legislative instruments have been made under the TEQSA Act:
- The Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold Standards) 2015 that sets out the requirements for provider entry to, and continued operations within Australia’s higher education sector.
On 27 April 2021, the updated Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold Standards) 2021 legislative instrument was published on the Federal Register of Legislation. The substantive change to the instrument is the updating of the Provider Category Standards to incorporate recommendations from the 2019 review. TEQSA expects the new instrument will take effect from 1 July 2021 and will inform the sector once the commencement date is confirmed. - The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (Information) Guidelines 2017 that set out the Commonwealth authorities and the State or Territory authorities we may disclose higher education information to.
- a Determination of Fees that sets out the amount we may charge for things done in the performance of our functions.
- Register Guidelines that set out the information we must include on the National Register of Higher Education Providers.