Re-registration 17 July 2014
Provider: Le Cordon Bleu Australia Pty Limited
Renewal of registration
Report on renewal of registration of Le Cordon Bleu Australia Pty. Limited
TEQSA has determined, under Section 36(1) of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Act 2011 (the TEQSA Act), that registration of Le Cordon Bleu Australia Pty. Limited (LCBA) as a higher education provider be renewed for a period of two years to 17 July 2016 in the provider category of Higher Education Provider.
TEQSA has, under subsection 32(1) of the TEQSA Act, imposed four conditions on the registration of LCBA as a higher education provider.
LCBA provide to TEQSA as part of its application to renew registration:
Condition 1:
A report on the outcomes of the independent review of the existing corporate and academic governance structure, which includes LCBA's response to the findings of the review, approved by the Corporate Board, and evidence of the implementation of the review recommendations. The report must provide TEQSA with details of how the LCBA reviewed corporate and academic governance arrangements meet the requirements of Provider Registration Standards (PRS) Sections 1 and 3, including:
- a clearly articulated higher education purpose that includes a commitment to free intellectual inquiry;
- evidence that the Corporate Board has ultimate oversight and responsibility for all of LCBA's higher education operations, and is the body to which management is accountable including reporting to the Corporate Board from responsible committees. This should demonstrate the Corporate Board's consideration of responsible committees' key reports, accurate data, including minutes of meetings documenting accurate record keeping of actions taken and outcomes achieved;
- evidence that the Corporate Board has, or has access to, higher education management and academic governance expertise either through membership or an external advisor or advisors. Evidence is to demonstrate that this expertise is available to the Corporate Board on a regular basis and that the expertise is appropriate to the higher education operations of LCBA; and
- evidence that all undergraduate courses have been mapped against the AQF requirements at the course and subject levels and are linked to course learning outcomes and graduate attributes, including rationale, objectives, structure, learning outcomes, assessment approaches and compulsory requirements.
Condition 2:
Evidence that the LCBA Academic Board:
- has implemented effective systems to protect academic quality and integrity to meet the requirements of PRS 4;
- has fully developed and implemented its plan to undertake effective benchmarking of academic standards against similar accredited courses offered by other higher education providers; and
- ensures quality assurance is implemented effectively to drive improvement of LCBA's higher education operations through systematic monitoring, review and improvement of LCBA's higher education operations, including the collection and analysis of relevant data.
Condition 3:
The LCBA Academic Board review of the mechanisms to manage and quality assure all aspects of third party delivery arrangements for each of the courses accredited by LCBA. The review report is to demonstrate the meeting of the requirements of PRS 4.5 outlining the review objectives, implementation strategies, key performance measures and outcomes, to centrally and effectively manage and quality assure all aspects of the third party delivery arrangements.
- Evidence of the implementation of a workforce plan incorporating development and implementation of an overarching scholarship policy and strategy that ensures LCBA's third party partners' staff are active in scholarship that informs their teaching; and
- An audit of staff qualifications and experience in relation to each course at each delivery partner and site, demonstrating that third party partners have sufficient and appropriately qualified personnel to provide academic leadership, and teaching and learning that engages with advanced knowledge and inquiry in the delivery of LCBA higher education courses.
Condition 4:
Evidence that LCBA collects and monitors attrition and completion rates across delivery partners, and annual reporting to and monitoring by the Academic Board via the respective partner Academic Committees and Joint Committee/Supervisory Councils to demonstrate improvement in attrition and completion rates through comprehensive diagnostic analysis of the student performance data.
Background to Decision
LCBA submitted an application for renewal of registration in the category of Higher Education Provider under Section 35 of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Act 2011 (the TEQSA Act). Subsection 36(4) of the TEQSA Act enables TEQSA to renew a provider's registration for a period not exceeding seven years.
Main Reasons for Decision
As part of the renewal of registration process, TEQSA has assessed the application submitted by LCBA against the Threshold Standards. The scope of the assessment included all its Australian sites.
TEQSA considers that the decision to apply conditions to LCBA's registration is consistent with the basic principles for regulation in Part 2 of the TEQSA Act, as LCBA is at risk of not complying with a number of the Threshold Standards.
- The broad issues which relate to the LCBA registration include:
a) corporate and academic governance
b) management and quality assurance of third party arrangements to maintain academic quality and integrity in the provider's higher education operations
c) qualifications of academic staff and leadership personnel.
TEQSA considers that the risks of non-compliance with the Threshold Standards involve a number of matters that may affect LCBA capacity to manage and deliver its higher education awards.