Accreditation 16 October 2017

Course accreditation

Report on accreditation of one higher education course of study offered by Eastern College Australia Incorporated

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 Eastern College Australia for a period of seven years until 16 October 2024:

• Master of Education

TEQSA has imposed, under section 53 of the TEQSA Act, three conditions on the accreditation of the Master of Education:

Condition 1

The Master of Education must be delivered face-to-face (only) until evidence has been provided that the curriculum has been redesigned with appropriate online learning pedagogy, necessary to facilitate student engagement and critical inquiry within a blended learning environment, consistent with the nature and the levels of the units being taught.

Condition 2

Prior to commencing delivery of the Master of Education, provide evidence to TEQSA that an additional academic staff member with appropriate qualifications has been employed to teach in the course.

Condition 3

Following the first year of benchmarking against a similar accredited course of study, evidence must be provided of the Academic Board's review of benchmarking of the Master of Education, as captured in minutes, demonstrating any action taken to improve academic standards where divergence is identified in comparison with the benchmarking partner.

Main reasons for the decision

The issues which led TEQSA to impose the conditions are:

TEQSA considers that the decision to apply conditions to the Eastern College Australia accreditation of the course of study is consistent with the basic principles for regulation in Part 2 of the TEQSA Act, as Eastern College Australia is at risk of not complying with a number of the Threshold Standards. TEQSA considers that the risks of non-compliance with the Threshold Standards involve a number of matters that may affect Eastern College Australia's capacity to manage and deliver its higher education award.

• The broad issues that relate to the Master of Education include:

  a) Course Design

  b) Teaching and Learning

  c) Assessment

TEQSA's assessment considered Eastern College Australia Incorporated's arrangements for delivery at all its Australian sites.