Early audits of non-self-accrediting higher education providers: A thematic analysis

Non self-accrediting higher education providers form a growing private sector alongside Australian public universities and are an increasingly significant element in the Austral ian higher education landscape. These providers are becoming more visible to the public and subject to public scrutiny as Australian higher education moves towards a quality and standards regime in higher education. The first audit of an NSA-HEP by AUQA occurred in late 2006. As noted previously, the Higher Education Support Act (HESA) requires that HEPs in receipt of FEE-HELP funds must meet a range of quality and accountability requirements, including regular audit. There are now approximately 80 HEPs subject to these requirements every five years. As AUQA is the only quality assurance body legislated to undertake HEP audits, the schedule of these audits has been accelerated. Accordingly, 10 audit reports had been published by July 2009 and 20 published by April 2010. Additional audit reports on NSA-HEPs continue to be published. AUQA audits NSA-HEPs against their own institutional objectives and a schedule of Quality Audit Factors (QAFs) published in the DEEWR Handbook for Quality Audits of Higher Education Providers.