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This paper explains how (Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency) TEQSA's risk-based approach to assuring higher education standards is applied in broad terms to a diverse sector. This explanation is consistent with the revised processes developed by TEQSA in close consultation with the sector over 2013-14. The paper has been developed based on a dialogue between TEQSA and registered higher education providers through their peak bodies. It depicts how TEQSA's risk-based approach to assurance of quality standards is applied in practice to the sector and aims to facilitate a shared understanding of how TEQSA takes into account relevant organisational characteristics. This paper is in three parts, together with an appendix. 'Part one: TEQSA'S overall approach' outlines TEQSA's approach to assuring quality standards, by being satisfied that providers meet and are likely to continue to meet the Threshold Standards. In implementing an approach to arrive at this satisfaction about each registered provider, TEQSA considers three principles which the Act requires it to apply (reflecting risk, proportionality, and necessity). Part one explains how these safeguards require TEQSA to differentiate between providers. 'Part two: An overview of registered providers in the sector' provides descriptive observations about the diverse range and types of registered providers in the sector today. As of mid-2013, there were 173 registered higher education providers, including 37 public Australian universities, three Australian private universities, one University of Specialisation, two overseas universities and 130 other higher education providers. Many of these providers, including some universities, are also registered to provide vocational education and training (VET), and are often referred to as dual sector or multi-sector providers. This profile and the business models employed are evolving as providers respond to market dynamics and new entrants emerge. 'Part three: assuring quality standards in practice' provides further detail about TEQSA's risk-based approach to assuring that providers are meeting the national standards. This covers TEQSA's assessment approaches, including its risk assessment framework and consideration of providers' demonstrated capacity to monitor and manage identified risks. This part also describes how TEQSA's level of confidence in a provider translates into graduated interventions where warranted. To aid understanding, the appendix illustrates TEQSA's application of the framework through a series of hypothetical case studies, making reference to different types of providers, risk profiles, regulatory processes and decisions. Show less

Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, China's higher education has witnessed a quick period of growth and has evolved from elite education to mass education. During this period, the Chinese government has restructured the layout of higher education per the demand for regional economy, industry structure, and culture development. During this period, a large number of local higher education institutions (HEIs) were established.

From 2000 to 2015, 403 HEIs were founded and now they account for 42.7 per cent of all the 944 HEIs in China. Most of the newly built HEIs are institutions that were upgraded from Higher Vocational Colleges, and most are located in the nonprovincial capital cities at the prefectural level. These HEIs satisfy the urgent social demand for higher education and play an important role in serving local economic and social development.

This study analyzes and illustrates the achievements and challenges of quality assurance in China's higher education, both at the system level and at the level of new public universities. Achievements and challenges at the system level are based on literature review and secondary data. Illustrative case studies are based on University data and interviews with University representatives. The higher education system in China has increased its enrollments substantially. The construction of the new universities and colleges that started enrolling students in the past few years contributed greatly to this achievement. Challenges accompanying this growth lie in funding, quality, and quantity of staffing, teaching practices, research and community service, and quality assurance.

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An employment contract between the student and the host organization may be the unintended consequence of a work-integrated learning (WIL) placement. The student, as an 'inadvertent employee' of the host organization, can expose the university to risk. A case study involving thirteen Australian university lawyers identifies the legal and reputational risks associated with paid and unpaid WIL placements, and how university lawyers manage these risks through WIL agreements, legal advice and the support of external agencies. In Australia, the key themes which emerge from university lawyer experiences, and the existing literature, are the vocational placement exemption under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), and scholarship payments. The article concludes with a series of lessons for WIL practitioners in terms of managing the labor-related risks of WIL programs.

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The global labor market in general and the Israeli market in particular have been experiencing considerable changes in recent decades, affecting the supply of jobs in various occupations. There seems to be an association between changes in the supply of jobs in the labor market and shifts in the demand for higher education. Examination of two case studies in the Israeli economy shows a bidirectional interaction between the labor market and the system of higher education. In one case, the growing supply of jobs in the field of computers and engineering was found to result in an increasing demand for academic education in this discipline. In the second case, the growing demand for academic education in law resulted in a flooded labor market in this industry with bad effects for the industry. The public policy formed in Israel to regulate the labor market and the system of higher education is aimed at the short term and makes do with examining actual circumstances retrospectively and attempting to improve them by directing students to various disciplines in order to meet the needs of the labor market or correct its failures. It does not, however, examine future trends and try to identify prospective needs and faults that can be predicted in the present.

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