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Deloitte Access Economics undertook a review of the impact of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Act 2011 on the higher education sector between July 2016 and March 2017, with oversight from the Higher Education Standards Panel. The review was a substantial body of work: 36 written submissions were received, 33 stakeholders were interviewed, and the provisions of the TEQSA Act were extensively analysed. Overall, the review was positive about the establishment of TEQSA as the national regulator in 2012, and noted that the TEQSA Act is broadly operating effectively and as intended. The review did not recommend changes that would significantly alter the regulatory framework or the role of TEQSA.

The Government's response addresses each of the review's recommendations in detail, including where amendments will be needed to the TEQSA Act. The Government will develop a bill to give effect to these proposed amendments which will improve the Act's administration, strengthen TEQSA's regulatory role and better reflect the evolution of the role of the Higher Education Standards Panel statutory advisory body.

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The key objective of this inquiry was to produce a set of policy recommendations to better protect students and the reputation of higher education (HE) in England in the aftermath of substantial reform. These reforms aimed to create a more financially sustainable sector, improve the student experience and widen access to institutions, and will transform the HE system to a demand-led one. This report makes the case for a new, pluralist regulatory architecture for higher education in England.

The report acknowledges the 'long and largely successful self-regulatory history' of the HE sector as a whole, with academic norms, peer review and sector-wide representatives remaining 'bulwarks' against poor performance. It further argues that the principle of regulatory pluralism that currently defines higher education should be continued, with a new over-arching regulatory body providing effective sectoral coordination, rather than centralist control. It stresses that in an increasingly open and market-driven HE sector, new alternative providers of higher education are not being picked up by the regulatory regime, putting students and the sector as a whole at risk. The report argues that effective regulation also has an important 'positive focus' and would have 'strong developmental effects' for the sector by increasing investor confidence and encouraging innovation across institutions.

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Engineering in its many branches is a crucial occupational field for national development. Education in initial programmes and for continuing professional development (CPD), in partnership with professional bodies, provides the requisite knowledge and skills for the engineering professions. The provision of online and distance education for engineering degrees and CPD programmes is now established in many countries. This policy brief sets out the background to this expanding mode of provision and its place in complement to campus-based programmes.

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In this paper, [the authors] propose the creation of a new, income-based system of student-loan repayment to replace current US federal loan programs. In an increasingly competitive global labor market, it is more important than ever that student-loan policy be designed to help make a college education accessible to all students. The proposal is to replace the current student-loan system with an income-based repayment system. A single, simple, income-based repayment system, Loans for Educational Opportunity (LEO), will replace the current complicated federal loan system. Employers will withhold a fixed percentage from individuals' paychecks, and payments will be spread out beyond the low-earning early years so that young workers are not hit with large payments when they can least handle them. Instead of paying off loans during a fixed, 10-year period, borrowers will have up to 25 years to repay, although most borrowers will repay in about 10 years, as is the case now.

The proposal also involves eliminating private servicing of loans and regulating private loans more tightly. Currently there are protections in the student-loan system for lenders, but not enough protections for borrowers. To protect students and their families from taking on too much debt and to ensure that individuals are properly informed of their options in repaying their loans, the authors propose a number of changes to how private lenders operate: private student loans should not survive bankruptcy, loans that need a credit check will not be marketed as student loans, and individuals must exhaust all federal student loans before being allowed to take out any private loans.

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This Senate inquiry examined the Higher Education and Research Reform Amendment Bill 2014, recommends it be passed, and makes several further recommendations. This bill was introduced in the House of Representatives on 28 August 2014. On 4 September 2014 the Senate referred the provisions of the bill to the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 28 October 2014. Details of the inquiry were made available on the committee's website. The committee also contacted a number of organisations inviting submissions to the inquiry. Submissions were received from 164 individuals and organisations. The bill seeks to reform higher education in Australia by deregulating fees and extending funding to higher education qualifications below the bachelor degree level, as well as to private universities and non-university higher education providers.

The Committee recommends that: guidelines for the Commonwealth Scholarship Scheme seek to address some of the financial barriers faced by students from low socioeconomic (SES) backgrounds and regional communities in accessing higher education; the government explore the provision of a structural adjustment package to assist certain sections of the higher education sector transition to a fully deregulated system; the government examine Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) indexation measures in light of evidence presented to the Committee, recognising the unforseen impacts of the proposed reforms on students; the government explore avenues to recover HELP debts of Australians residing overseas; and the bill be passed.

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This paper argues that it is critical that all of the components of Australia's tertiary education sector be integrated and efficiently resourced in order to achieve the Commonwealth Government's objective of promoting growth in economic prosperity and social wellbeing through access to quality higher education, skills and training. The paper presents the following: recent developments in higher education resourcing and in [vocational education and training] VET resourcing; analysis and implications of income contingent loans (ICLs); the resourcing of teaching and training in the tertiary sector; and regulation. Recommendations are also provided.

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