Re-accreditation 24 November 2016

Renewal of course accreditation

Report on renewal of accreditation of four higher education courses of study offered by Christian Heritage College

A delegate of TEQSA has renewed the accreditation, under section 56 of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Act 2011 (the TEQSA Act), of the following higher education courses of study offered by Christian Heritage College:

• Bachelor of Education (Primary) until 31 December 2020
• Bachelor of Education (Secondary) until 31 December 2020
• Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Education (Secondary) until 31 December 2020
• Graduate Diploma in Education (Secondary) until 31 December 2017

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

Condition 1

CHC implements its Action Plan submitted and provides a report of the outcomes under PCAS 1.2, 1.3, 5.1 and 6.1 to TEQSA by 1 March 2017.

Condition 2

Within 3 months of the courses' of notification of the decision, CHC:

a) establishes a framework for systematic review of the School of Education and Humanities courses for improvement; and

b) provides a copy of the framework for course review to TEQSA.

Condition 3

Within three months of tabling the annual teaching courses' report within the School of Education and Humanities, CHC provides to TEQSA on an annual basis:

a) a copy of the CHC course report;

b) copies of the minutes from the SEH meeting demonstrating the consideration of issues raised in the report;

c) CHC's response to areas for improvement identified in the course reports; and

d) evidence that CHC has considered and responded to student performance data.

The course accreditation covers delivery at all Australian sites.

Main Reasons for the Decision

TEQSA considers that the proposed course accreditation period brings the courses into alignment with the state accreditation timeline and contributes to a more synchronised and streamlined accreditation process which will minimise the burden to the provider.

TEQSA considers that the decision to apply conditions to CHC'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 CHC 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 CHC's capacity to manage and deliver its higher education awards:

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

  a) The internal processes for design and approval of the course of study may not be sufficiently robust to ensure the appropriate development of the graduate attributes (PCAS 1.2)

  b) There is a possible risk that the higher education provider may not monitor and act on comparative data on the performance of student cohorts (PCAS 5.4)

  c) The review and updating of the courses may fail to be systematically managed (PCAS 6.1)