The Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA) is the principal national quality assurance body for higher education in Australia. AUQA’s main responsibility is to provide assurance of the quality of Australian universities, other higher education institutions and state and territory higher education accreditation agencies through audits conducted in five year cycles; and to assist in enhancing the academic quality of these institutions and organisations through training seminars, workshops and publications. AUQA cooperates with other quality assurance organisations in Australia and abroad on matters relating to quality assurance, including cross-border quality assurance, and the transfer of knowledge about these processes. AUQA has considerable experience in implementing external quality audits and in providing related advice and training. AUQA completed its first round of audits in 2007. The period of the second cycle is 2008 to 2012. The quality audits and activities aimed at enhancing the academic quality of the Australian universities and other self-accrediting institutions have gone hand in hand since AUQA’s establishment. AUQA provides enhancement-oriented activities to Australian universities, other higher education institutions, state and territory higher education accreditation agencies and other stakeholders; and provides advice on the development and enhancement of quality assurance systems to quality assurance agencies across the world. Over the last five years AUQA has provided advice and services to many organisations, including:
Quality Assurance Training AUQA can provide tailored training and workshops for example to individual universities, professional organisations and other quality assurance bodies in Australia or overseas. Typical areas include:
Other Quality Assurance Services
Research/studies/surveys
The human resources used by AUQA for its advisory services are AUQA staff and AUQA honorary auditors. They bring a wealth of knowledge of quality assurance of education and of higher education systems in Australia and a range of other countries including countries in Asia and the Middle East, New Zealand, South Africa, the UK and the United States. For each service AUQA establishes a team with a profile that matches the focus and objectives of the project. AUQA audit directors all have extensive practical experience in conducting institutional evaluation processes. All staff also have extensive experience with the organisation of workshops and seminars, the preparation of publications and papers and they are regularly invited as keynote speakers at conferences in Australia and abroad. AUQA honorary auditors are primarily current or former members of staff of Australian universities and state and territory accreditation agencies. The majority of AUQA honorary auditors hold or have held senior management positions or are quality managers. The Register of Auditors also includes academics and senior managers from universities in other countries, including New Zealand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, the UK and the USA and staff from other quality assurance organisations. AUQA’s current Register of Auditors is available here: http://www.auqa.edu.au/aboutauqa/auditors/ The list of AUQA staff and their contact details is available here: http://www.auqa.edu.au/aboutauqa/staff/
Dr David Woodhouse Ph: +61 3 9664 1000
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