WORKSHOP SESSION F2
Auditing Offshore Activity of the Australian Higher Education Sector

PRE-FORUM ONLINE WORKSHOP

Start: 9 am AEST, 16 June
Finish: 3 pm AEST, 30 June

FACE-TO-FACE WORKSHOP

When: Friday 9 July, 11.15 am – 12.30 pm
Where: Banksia 1, Hyatt Regency, Adelaide

Note: these sessions are interactive workshops, not paper presentations.

WORKSHOP OUTLINE

As part of its reform package on higher education, Our Universities: Backing Australia’s Future, the Australian Government announced it would commission the Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA) to undertake auditing of the offshore provision of Australian higher education on a whole-of-country basis. From 2005, $590,000 per annum has been allocated to fully fund this initiative over a three-year period.

The Commonwealth has stated that the purpose of whole-of-country auditing is to strengthen Australia’s higher education quality assurance system, and assure the continued quality of Australian higher education provision in the international market.

The aim of the workshop is to further explore the issues and experiences that need to be considered with respect to this initiative. The workshop will also update the Australian Government’s consideration of offshore auditing.

ONLINE WORKSHOP THOUGHT STARTERS

The questions that will be discussed in the workshop include:

• Do we need to, and how can we improve our current quality assurance of offshore delivery?
  
• What are the key issues that need to be addressed with respect to offshore auditing?
  
• Should a Code of Practice exist to guide offshore auditing and what should it contain?
  
• Should institutions be audited against their Performance Portfolios and the Code of Practice? Are there any other tools which should guide the audit process?
  
• What form should the audit take and how should countries be selected?
  
• How can we minimise overlap and duplication with respect to current audit processes?
  
• How should the findings of offshore auditing be reported?

FACILITATOR SIAN LEWIS

Since January 2002, Sian Lewis has been the Director of the Quality Unit in the Higher Education Group at the Department of Education, Science and Training and is based in Canberra. As part of this role, Sian has developed policy and legislative proposals related to the implementation of the National Protocols for Higher Education Approval Processes and the 2003 higher education reform package, Backing Australia's Future; prepared legislation to regulate higher education in Australia's external Territories; and managed the review of the Australian Maritime College’s application for university status.

From February 1996 to December 2001, Sian was the Manager of Accreditation in the Office of Higher Education, Department of Education Queensland. Among other duties, this role required providing administrative, policy and research support to academic panels assessing applications from private providers for the accreditation of courses and institutions under the provisions of the Higher Education (General Provisions) Act 1993 and developing, managing and applying criteria and processes governing the accreditation and quality assurance of private higher education courses and institutions on behalf of the Minister for Education.

Prior to these positions, Sian held a number of posts in Australian universities including various positions at Griffith University and the Queensland University of Technology. She was also for three years the Manager of the Brisbane College of Advanced Education Student Union.

Contact Details

Sian Lewis
Director
Quality Unit
Higher Education Group
Department of Education, Science and Training
GPO Box 9880, Canberra, ACT 2601 (Location 136)
Phone (02) 6240 5857
Mobile 0412 464 944
Fax (02) 6123 6719
Email sian.lewis@dest.gov.au
Web site www.dest.gov.au