Accreditation 20 July 2016

Course accreditation

Report on accreditation of four higher education courses of study offered by Excelsia College

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 courses of study offered by Excelsia College for a period of seven years until 20 July 2023:

• Master of Business Administration
• Executive Master of Business Administration
• Graduate Diploma of Business Administration
• Graduate Certificate in Business Administration

TEQSA has, under subsection 53(1) of the TEQSA Act, imposed three conditions on the accreditation of the above courses of study.

Condition 1:

Prior to marketing or delivery of the courses, Excelsia College is to direct the new Head of Business to perform a full review of the courses in respect of Provider Course Accreditation Standards 1 and 5, taking into consideration the TEQSA expert reports, and provide TEQSA with a list of improvements made to the courses and copies of all new unit outlines as reviewed. The review must include consideration of the requirements of PCAS 1.9 for those units taught and assessed in both face-to-face, online and Carousel modes of study.

Condition 2:

Prior to marketing or delivery of the courses, Excelsia College is to provide evidence demonstrating that students will have library access to academic journal databases, relevant to the field of study, as well as library holdings of all prescribed and recommended readings for the courses.

Condition 3:

Prior to marketing or delivery of the courses, Excelsia College is to submit evidence demonstrating progress towards building its Business School (including a workforce plan) in respect to meeting Provider Course Accreditation Standards 4.1 and 4.2. The evidence must include the name, qualification, nature of engagement and number of teaching hours of the Head of Program for the MBA, a Discipline Leader for Management and Commerce and a Principal Research in Management.

The course accreditation covers delivery at all Australian sites.

Main reasons for decision

TEQSA considers that the decision to apply conditions to Excelsia College's application for accreditation of four courses of study is consistent with the basic principles for regulation in Part 2 of the TEQSA Act, as Excelsia College 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 Excelsia College's capacity to manage and deliver its higher education awards.

• The broad issues which relate to the courses of study include:

  a) risk in relation to demonstration of compliance of unit and course learning outcomes to the Qualification Standards,

  b) risk that the courses' content will not provide appropriate engagement by students in intellectual inquiry consistent with the nature and level of the units being taught and the expected learning outcomes of the courses of study,

  c) risk that students may not have access to library and information resources required to achieve the learning outcomes of the courses of study, and

  d) risk posed by the proposed staffing profile and the fact that a full complement of staff with appropriate qualifications and experience has not yet been engaged to ensure adequate academic direction and oversight of course quality.