Registration and accreditation 29 October 2015

Initial registration

Report on initial registration of Polytechnic Institute Australia Pty Ltd

TEQSA has determined, under section 21(1) of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Act 2011 (the TEQSA Act), that registration of Polytechnic Institute Australia Pty Ltd as a higher education provider be granted for a period of seven years to 29 October 2022 in the provider category of 'Higher Education Provider'.

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 Polytechnic Institute Australia Pty Ltd for a period of seven years until 29 October 2022:

• Bachelor of Business (Accounting)
• Bachelor of Business (Marketing)
• Diploma of Business

TEQSA has, under subsection 53(1) of the TEQSA Act, imposed four conditions on the accreditation of the Bachelor of Business (Accounting).

Condition 1:

PIA employs a course coordinator appropriately qualified and experienced as per Provider Course Accreditation Standards (PCAS) 4.2 to the satisfaction of TEQSA.

Condition 2:

PIA directs the course coordinator to perform a full review of the course in respect of PCAS Section 1, taking into consideration the TEQSA expert reports, and provides TEQSA with a list of improvements made to the courses and copies of all new unit outlines as revised. In particular, the review must address the alignment of course content with AQF specifications and the alignment of assessment tasks with unit and course learning outcomes.

Condition 3:

PIA must not market or enrol students in the course.

Condition 4:

PIA must provide evidence of student access to suitable journal resources/databases such as EBSCO to TEQSA as per PCAS 2.2 within 12 weeks of receiving the notice of this decision.

The course accreditation covers delivery at all Australian sites.

NOTE: TEQSA will give particular consideration to varying or revoking Condition 3 once it has received Polytechnic Institute Australia Pty Ltd's responses to Conditions 1 and 2.

Main Reasons for Decision

As part of the initial registration process, TEQSA has assessed the registration and course accreditations submitted by Polytechnic Institute Australia Pty Ltd against the Threshold Standards for Provider Registration and Course Accreditation.

TEQSA considers that the decision to apply conditions to Polytechnic Institute Australia Pty Ltd's application for accreditation of the Bachelor of Business (Accounting) is consistent with the basic principles for regulation in Part 2 of the TEQSA Act, as Polytechnic Institute Australia Pty Ltd 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 Polytechnic Institute Australia Pty Ltd's capacity to manage and deliver its higher education awards.

• The broad issues which relate to the Bachelor of Business (Accounting) include:

  a) insufficient demonstration of unit and course learning outcomes to the Qualification Standards

  b) risk posed by the proposed staffing profile with heavy reliance on sessional staff and the fact that no member of staff with qualification and experience in accounting has yet been engaged to ensure adequate academic direction and oversight of course quality

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