Accreditation 12 November 2015 updated 14 January 2016

Course accreditation

Report on accreditation of a higher education course of study offered by SP Jain School of Global Management (SP Jain) and on the revocation of conditions of accreditation on the course.

A delegate of TEQSA has accredited, under section 49 of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Act 2011 (the TEQSA Act), the following higher education course of study offered by SP Jain for a period of seven years until 12 November 2022.

• Doctor of Business Administration

TEQSA, under subsection 53(1) of the TEQSA Act, imposed four conditions on the accreditation of the above course of study which it required SP Jain to meet prior to marketing and offering students a place in the course.

As reported below, SP Jain subsequently met these conditions and TEQSA has revoked them for the reasons below.

Condition 1:

SP Jain review and revise course admission criteria and provide TEQSA with a report no later than 31 December 2015 detailing:

1. external benchmarks taken into account in the review, including English language entry requirements;
2. evidence that revised admission criteria will ensure students have adequate prior knowledge and skills to undertake the course successfully and achieve its learning outcomes; and
3. revised admission criteria.

Condition 2:

SP Jain review and revise its policies, procedures and rules for the composition and operation of the exam panel for the thesis component of the course and provide TEQSA with a report by 31 December 2015 detailing:

1. benchmarks taken into account in the review;
2. evidence that revised policies, procedures and rules are clear and coherent, ensure the independence of the exam panel and that external examiners are appropriately qualified to undertake assessment of the thesis.

Condition 3:

SP Jain:

1. develop and implement appropriate policies and procedures for the responsible conduct of research undertaken for the thesis component of the course;
2. provide evidence that it has developed and implemented an appropriately benchmarked training program for DBA teaching and research staff in the responsible conduct of research; and
3. provide TEQSA no later than 31 December 2015 a copy of its research policies and procedures and details of the staff training program.

Condition 4:

SP Jain review and revise learning outcomes for the coursework subjects to ensure they meet the AQF by clearly and coherently expressing the knowledge and skills graduates of the DBA will have, and provide TEQSA with a copy of revised learning outcomes no later than 31 December 2015.

The course accreditation covers delivery at all the provider's sites.

Main reasons for decision to impose conditions

TEQSA considers that the decision to apply conditions to SP Jain's application for accreditation of the course of study is consistent with the basic principles for regulation in Part 2 of the TEQSA Act, as SP Jain is at risk of not complying with a number of the Threshold Standards.

• The broad issues which relate to the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) include:

  a) the risk that the course admission criteria, including:

  a. the lack of a requirement that students admitted to the DBA hold an appropriate qualification in a relevant business discipline, at an appropriate level and have the necessary extensive managerial or other experience; and

  b. the lack of clear English language entry requirements may not ensure that students have adequate prior knowledge and skills to undertake the course of study successfully and achieve its learning outcomes;

  b) the lack of clarity of the expression of learning outcomes of certain coursework subjects;

  c) the lack of clarity of the composition of the panel of examiners assessing the thesis component of the course, and of the panel's qualifications in the relevant discipline and the risk of conflicts of interest; and

  d) the absence of any policy or procedures addressing the ethical conduct of research, a key component of the DBA, and the need to ensure teaching and research staff are fully conversant with Australian research practices.

TEQSA finds the DBA course content overall meets the Provider Course Accreditation Standards (PCAS) including the Qualification Standards (QS) but there are risks to the course meeting certain Standards relevant to admission criteria (PCAS 3), learning outcomes (PCAS 1; QS 1), assessment (PCAS 5), and implementing a benchmarked policy on research (PCAS 1). The conditions imposed will ensure that the provider must address those risks and demonstrate it meets these Standards before delivering the course.

It will be important for the provider, as required by PCAS 1.8, to review and take into account available benchmarks for DBA degrees in responding to the conditions imposed.

Revocation of conditions

On 14 January 2016 a delegate of TEQSA revoked, under Section 53(2) and 53(3) of the TEQSA Act, the conditions imposed on the accreditation of the following course offered by SP Jain:

• Doctor of Business Administration

The decision to revoke the conditions was made on the basis that the delegate was satisfied that the conditions had been met.