TEQSA annual report 2015–16

TEQSA's Annual Report for 2015-16 was tabled in Parliament on 26 October 2016.

Overview

This report informs Senator the Hon Simon Birmingham, Minister for Education and Training, the Parliament of Australia, the Australian higher education community and the general public about the performance of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA or the Agency) during the financial year ending 30 June 2016.

Prepared according to parliamentary reporting requirements, the report describes TEQSA’s achievements against the purposes and criteria set out in TEQSA’s Corporate Plan 2015–19 and the indicators in TEQSA’s 2015–16 Portfolio Budget Statements.

It provides information on TEQSA’s performance in relation to its stated outcome:

[To] contribute to a high quality higher education sector through streamlined and nationally consistent higher education regulatory arrangements; registration of higher education providers; accreditation of higher education courses; and investigation, quality assurance and dissemination of higher education standards and performance.

Section 1

Review by the Chief Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer – reflects on the past year, highlighting significant issues faced by TEQSA and initiatives undertaken, as well as current and future challenges.

Section 2

Agency overview – provides information about TEQSA and its governance, roles and functions and organisational structure, as well as its approach to risk and standards based regulation.

Section 3

Performance review – reports on how TEQSA performed during the reporting period against the purposes set out in the TEQSA Corporate Plan 2015–19 and its stated outcome and program deliverables contained in the 2015–16 Portfolio Budget Statements.

Section 4

Management and accountability – provides information on corporate governance, external and internal accountability, human resource management, financial management, purchasing, consultants and contract management, legal services and other activities relevant to the administration of the Agency.

Section 5

Financial report – presents audited financial statements for the year ending 30 June 2016.

Section 6

Appendices – includes information relating to TEQSA’s staffing and its performance in relation to Australian Government environmental, disability, freedom of information and financial management outcomes.

Section 7

Indices and references – assists readers to locate and understand information in the annual report (includes glossary of acronyms and abbreviations, glossary of terms, compliance index, and alphabetical index).