Revoke-Vary Conditions 4 January 2017

Provider: ParaPharm Pty Ltd

Varying Conditions on Registration and Accreditation

Report on varying conditions on the registration of ParaPharm Pty Ltd and the accreditation of the Bachelor of Health Sciences (Mind Body Medicine) offered by ParaPharm Pty Ltd

A delegate of TEQSA has varied under subsection 32(2) of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Act 2011 (the TEQSA Act), Condition 1 imposed on registration of ParaPharm Pty Ltd (refer to Renewal of Registration Public Report dated 21 September 2016).

A delegate of TEQSA also varied under subsection 53(2) of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Act 2011 (the TEQSA Act), Condition 3 imposed on the accreditation of the Bachelor of Health Sciences (Mind Body Medicine) course offered by ParaPharm Pty Ltd (refer to Renewal of Registration Public Report dated 21 September 2016).

Attachments 1 and 2 reflect the full suite of active conditions on the registration of ParaPharm Pty Ltd and the accreditation of the Bachelor of Health Sciences (Mind Body Medicine).

Main reasons for decision

The condition was varied to afford ParaPharm Pty Ltd additional time to meet the requirements of Part C of Condition 1 on its registration and Condition 3 on the accreditation of the Bachelor.

Attachment 1

Conditions imposed on the registration of ParaPharm Pty Ltd trading as Paramount College of Natural Medicine:

i. ParaPharm Pty Ltd must review the following three courses of study:

  • Bachelor of Health Science (Naturopathy)
  • Bachelor of Health Science (Nutritional Medicine)
  • Bachelor of Health Science (Western Herbal Medicine)

    and its information resources in light of the matters described in the 2016 expert reports and, within three months of the date of these orders, provide TEQSA with the following:

    1. a list of the changes to be made to each of the courses;
    2. evidence that the changes have been considered and approved by ParaPharm Pty Ltd's Academic Committee; and

    within six months of the date of these orders, provide TEQSA with the following:

    1. evidence from an independent expert (approved by TEQSA prior to his/her appointment) that the revised courses and information resources will allow students to achieve the learning outcomes of the courses (Condition 1);

ii. ParaPharm Pty Ltd must not enrol any new students in the following three courses of study:

  • Bachelor of Health Science (Naturopathy)
  • Bachelor of Health Science (Nutritional Medicine)
  • Bachelor of Health Science (Western Herbal Medicine).

    until A and B of Condition 1 are met (Condition 2);

iii. ParaPharm Pty Ltd must, within one month of the date of these orders and, at least one month prior to the beginning of each financial year in which it is registered, provide TEQSA with the following:

  1. a budget describing ParaPharm Pty Ltd's planned expenditure on staffing, facilities and educational resources for the financial year, which includes details on how ParaPharm Pty Ltd intends to address the concerns raised in the 2016 expert reports in relation to the currency of ParaPharm Pty Ltd's information resources and the adequacy of ParaPharm Pty Ltd's physical facilities (particularly its specialised facilities); and
  2. evidence that the budget has been considered and approved by ParaPharm Pty Ltd's Board of Governors, with the benefit of advice from the ParaPharm Pty Ltd's Academic Committee (Condition 3);

iv. For six months from the date of these orders, ParaPharm Pty Ltd must provide TEQSA with a copy of the minutes of each meeting of its Board of governors and Academic Committee (minutes) no later than 21 days after the meeting takes place. After the initial six month period, ParaPharm Pty Ltd must provide the minutes no later than two weeks after the date the meeting takes place. The minutes must:

  1. demonstrate a process consistent with the TEQSA Guidance Notes for the relevant bodies on the matters the subject of discussion;
  2. include consideration of the matters required to be considered by the relevant bodies under the Higher Education Standards Framework, including risk management, delegations, course review, student performance, financial sustainability, facilities and staffing; and
  3. specify the extent to which the discussion took account of external advice or input (Condition 4);

v. Within one month of the date of these orders, ParaPharm Pty Ltd must provide to TEQSA revised position descriptions for its Faculty Manager and another person or other persons, which set out the specific responsibilities of those staff to guide and support students to access library and information resources (Condition 5); and

vi. Within six months after the date of these orders, ParaPharm Pty Ltd must provide TEQSA with a report from an independent external expert (approved by TEQSA prior to his/her appointment), which reviews ParaPharm Pty Ltd's clinic arrangements and confirms that those arrangements provide for appropriate supervision, resources and student experiences to prepare students for practice in the field of their course of study (Condition 6).

Attachment 2

Conditions imposed on the accreditation of the Bachelor of Health Science (Mind Body Medicine) offered by ParaPharm Pty Ltd trading as Paramount College of Natural Medicine:

i. ParaPharm Pty Ltd must not enrol, or allow to be enrolled, any new students in the Bachelor of Health Science (Mind Body Medicine) course;

ii. any students currently enrolled in the Bachelor of Health Sciences (Mind Body Medicine) course who are scheduled to complete the course by 31 July 2017 may continue studying the course; and

iii. any students currently enrolled in the Bachelor of Health Sciences (Mind Body Medicine) course who are not scheduled to complete the course by 31 July 2017 must be transferred to another appropriate course or be provided with an appropriate refund within six months of the date of these orders