TEQSA has published a sector update to support higher education providers in implementing recommendations from the Respect @ Work report.
The Respect @ Work report provides recommendations about the prevention and response to sexual assault and sexual harassment in the workplace.
Two of the recommendations relate directly to higher education workplaces.
Since August 2017, TEQSA has worked alongside the sector to improve and assure providers’ capacity to prevent and respond to sexual assault and sexual harassment, with a focus on students’ safety and wellbeing.
The Respect @ Work Inquiry and its resulting recommendations focus on sexual harassment in the workplace, which includes staff in higher education work settings. Consequently, TEQSA’s focus in this area has broadened to include this.
Earlier today, the Minister for Education announced new enforcement action by TEQSA to block access to 40 commercial academic cheating sites.
TEQSA has worked with the Communications Alliance to develop new protocols to facilitate this process under the Telecommunications Act, streamlining our ability to disrupt access to websites that are in breach of Australian law.
The websites subject to this enforcement action represent some of the most highly visited commercial cheating services that are targeting students at Australian higher education institutions.
Collectively, these 40 sites are accessed about 450,000 times per month from Australia, and this action will severely disrupt the operations of these illegal cheating services.
In addition to our enforcement action, TEQSA has also published a sector update reminding all higher education providers to maintain up to date academic integrity policies and procedures.
The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) is beginning consultations with higher education providers about minimising and streamlining reporting requirements, and improving the transparency and efficiency of the data it collects.
The consultations are in preparation for the 2020 implementation of the Department of Education’s data redevelopment project, ‘Transforming the Collection of Student Information’ (TCSI). The project will align TEQSA and Department data collections, to create a single, unified reporting system for universities, higher education and vocational institutions.
Consultations are being held with providers who currently report through TEQSA’s Provider Information Request (PIR) mechanism, whose data will be integrated with providers reporting through the TCSI project.
“TEQSA is consulting with the higher education providers whose reporting will be affected by the redevelopment project, to find out how reporting can be clearer and simpler, with quality prioritised over quantity,” TEQSA Chief Executive Officer Anthony McClaran said.
“For higher education providers, a single consistent national data collection will minimise compliance burdens and reduce costs. For TEQSA, consistent data will improve our analyses, and better inform our risk-reflective, proportionate approach to regulation.”
Following the consultations, TEQSA will support providers’ transition to the new reporting systems, and work with the Australian Signals Directorate and other agencies to ensure data security, integrity and privacy.
Early-bird registrations for the 6th TEQSA Conference are now open.
This year’s conference theme is Fit for the Future: Leadership, Quality and Integrity. Please join us as we consider how the higher education sector can meet existing challenges while seizing the opportunities awaiting in the decade ahead.
Some of the questions our expert speakers will explore include:
What does a quality higher education experience look like in 2030 – and how do we get there?
How can we ensure the authentic student voice shapes the future student experience?
How can we drive innovation without risking integrity?
For the first time since 2019, we look forward to welcoming higher education providers, academics and students from Australia and overseas in-person at the Sofitel Melbourne on Collins on 24 November 2022. A virtual attendance option is also available.
This ‘hybrid’ conference delivery will ensure that the conference is accessible for as many providers and students as possible. Visit the Registration page to learn more about the full-day conference event and in-person and virtual attendance options.
On 23 November, the day before the main conference event, we will be hosting several in-person seminar sessions. These are separate to the main conference and you can find more details on the Registration page.
We look forward to seeing you at this year’s conference, which promises to be an event which will stimulate discussion and generate new ideas and we encourage you to register now and take advantage of our early bird offer.
Early-bird pricing offers for in-person and virtual attendance end on 31 August 2022.
Predatory journals are becoming increasingly sophisticated and can catch researchers unaware as they look for ways to publish their work. This can impact the integrity and reputation of Australian research.
TEQSA has published a handy list outlining some of the ways that you can tell whether the journal you are considering is legitimate.
TEQSA has today shared updated information on suspected academic cheating service websites with Australia’s higher education sector.
Secure access to the updated database of 2,333 suspected commercial academic cheating service websites has been provided to principal contacts at all TEQSA-registered institutions.
This database includes sites operating globally, as well 579 sites specifically targeting students at Australian higher education institutions. The updated database incorporates information shared with TEQSA by institutions and intelligence gathered by TEQSA staff, and builds on the previous database shared in September 2021.
Sharing this database will enable providers to block access to these websites from their institutional networks, and forms part of TEQSA’s ongoing partnership with the higher education sector to strengthen cultures of academic integrity and reduce the risk posed by illegal academic cheating services.
In addition to this intelligence sharing, TEQSA’s Higher Education Integrity Unit is finalising investigations into a number of the most-visited sites and expects to take enforcement action in the coming weeks.
TEQSA has published a new resource to support providers and academics in the creative arts to strengthen and uphold academic integrity.
The Academic integrity in the creative artsresource outlines institutional academic integrity policies for creative arts, designing assessment for academic integrity and embedding academic integrity in the curriculum.
To support TEQSA’s ongoing work to improve the efficiency of our regulatory operations and support greater self-assurance within the higher education sector, we have commenced a project to enhance TEQSA’s suite of guidance notes for registered higher education providers.
This work will reinforce the role of guidance notes to provide guidance that focuses on a specific section of the Higher Education Standards Framework (2021) while drawing attention to connections with other sections and highlighting potential compliance issues.
Following sector feedback during consultation last year, this project will ultimately reduce the number of guidance notes from 32 to 28 to ensure each guidance note aligns with a section of the standards framework. Sector feedback has also informed the development of a new, simpler template for guidance notes.
The first three guidance notes in the revised suite to be published on our website are:
TEQSA will keep providers updated on our progress in updating the guidance note suite, including opportunities to provide feedback, through the monthly TEQSA e-News and our social media channels (subscribe to e-News).
TEQSA has issued a sector alert after becoming aware of email and social media promotions offering students the chance to win up to $10,000 if they upload course materials or assignments to academic file sharing websites.
TEQSA’s Higher Education Integrity Unit is concerned by the integrity risk posed by sharing course content and assessment material on these platforms.
TEQSA is also concerned that these websites may facilitate the operation of commercial academic cheating services.
Under Australia’s anti-cheating laws, the promotion or sale of academic cheating services is illegal and subject to penalties of up to two years’ imprisonment and fines of up to $110,000.
All staff and students at Australian institutions are reminded that commercial academic cheating undermines the integrity of higher education.
