Accreditation 7 October 2016

Course accreditation

Report on accreditation of six higher education courses of study offered by Wentworth Institute of Higher Education Pty Ltd

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 Wentworth Institute of Higher Education Pty Ltd (Wentworth) for a period of four (4) years until 7 October 2020:

• Master of Business
• Graduate Diploma in Business
• Graduate Certificate in Business
• Master of Professional Accounting
• Graduate Diploma in Professional Accounting
• Graduate Certificate in Professional Accounting

TEQSA has, under subsection 53(1) of the TEQSA Act, imposed three (3) conditions on the accreditation of the above courses of study.

Condition 1:

Wentworth provide to TEQSA a report, not later than four (4) weeks prior to the commencement of each semester, for its postgraduate program in relation to each staff member proposed to teach one or more units in the proposed courses of study, that details:

• the highest qualification in the discipline of the course being taught
• the units proposed to be taught
• the professional experience held; and
• a summary of how Wentworth's 'Recognition of equivalence in Academic Staff Qualifications and Experience Policy' has been applied to that staff member.

Condition 2:

Wentworth provide to TEQSA, not later than four (4) weeks prior to the commencement of delivery, evidence, considered and approved by the Academic Board, of the mapping of how assessment tasks align to the subject learning outcomes and the course learning outcomes.

Condition 3:

Wentworth provide to TEQSA a report within 180 days of the notice of decision on the progress of implementation of its benchmarking agreement with Federation University including:

• benchmarking methodology
• selected metrics; and
• how outcomes will be reported and used for improvement.

The course accreditation covers delivery at all Australian sites.

Main reasons for decision

TEQSA considers that the decision to apply conditions to Wentworth's application for accreditation of six courses of study, and to grant a four (4) year accreditation period, is consistent with the basic principles for regulation in Part 2 of the TEQSA Act, as Wentworth is at risk of not complying with a number of the Threshold Standards.

• The broad issues which relate to the accreditation of Wentworth's above six courses of study include:

  a) Provider Course Accreditation Standard (PCAS) 1.2 in relation to the robustness of its internal course development and approval processes

  b) PCAS 4.1 and 4.2 in relation to the appropriateness of the proposed academic staff who will teach the courses of study

  c) PCAS 5.1 in relation to the appropriateness of the assessment tasks for the courses of study

  d) PCAS 5.5 in relation to the benchmarking of academic standards and academic performance; and

  e) PCAS 5.6 in relation to ensuring appropriate course progression and completion.