TEQSA to ask parliament for more power over universities

The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Authority (TEQSA) will on Wednesday tell the Education and Employment Legislation Committee it needs increased authority to efficiently wrangle universities. In its submission to the Quality of governance at Australian higher education providers inquiry, TEQSA will say there are too many "procedural steps before TEQSA can take enforcement action against a non-compliant provider." "Unlike other regulators, TEQSA lacks a streamlined mechanism to pursue direct penalties or enforcement measures without court involvement,” its submission reads. “TEQSA must apply to a court for a civil penalty order, requiring time-consuming, resource-intensive and extensive legal action before a penalty can be applied." It will ask parliament to amend the TEQSA Act to give it the ability to suspend accreditation for a course or degree, and cancel a university's registration. It will also ask the Act be amended to prioritise student protection, provider accountability and preserve Australia’s reputation for high quality education. "An explicit requirement to consider matters relevant to the interests of students or the preservation of Australia’s reputation for quality higher education would reflect an improved balance between the sector’s protection from harsh or unjust regulatory intervention and the paramount importance of the protective purposes in the objects of the TEQSA Act," the submission reads. Related stories: New TEQSA commissioners announced | Mary O’Kane to lead ATEC from July, UA chief’s pitch to press | Will Trump’s “anti-wokeism” change DEI in Australian universities? TEQSA came under fire last year for its inaction around student complaints about the difficulty and re-traumatising effects of reporting sexual assault and harassment at universities. The governance inquiry comes at the same time as multiple governance structures were established by the education minister: the Expert Council on University Governance and National Student Ombudsman. These add to the already extensive list of watchdogs, which includes the university-specific Higher Education Standards Panel and Australian Research Council, plus the powers of the Fair Work Ombudsman and Australian Skills Quality Authority. The Inquiry will also hear from the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) and the Department of Education. The NTEU, in its submission, says vice-chancellor pay should be capped at the salary of relevant state premiers, which would be about $400,000 to $500,000 a year. The average vice-chancellor salary is $1m. "This will help restore public trust in our institutions," the union submission reads. It will also say spending on consultants and non-elected university council members needs to be reined in, and university management decisions, such as deciding VC pay, needs to be more transparent and open to contestation. "Decades of cultural change in the governing bodies of our universities and a move towards a corporate, for-profit culture that has coincided with universities increasingly looking to non-government funding sources to support their core functions of teaching and research, has seen a demise in good governance structures and practice," the NTEU will say. "Bound up with these changes has been a marginalisation of staff voice and an expansion of managerialism." The Committee is due to present its report on April 4, 2025.