ASQA Update - June 2023

Welcome to the June edition of the ASQA Update

Welcome to June! It’s hard to believe we are halfway through the year. I’d like to take this opportunity to re-visit some key areas I’ve raised in earlier editions.

Last month I promised an update on the development of ASQA’s Service Charter, which we are revising to enhance visibility, transparency, and accountability for ASQA’s performance, and to document what you can expect in your interactions with us. We have worked hard in recent months to ensure the Charter reflects feedback from our Advisory Council and the sector. Regularly reviewing the Charter reflects our commitment to continuous improvement. The revised Charter sets out what stakeholders can expect from us, our values and behaviours, stakeholders’ responsibilities, our Service Standards, and circumstances that may extend the resolution of a matter. We are committed to implementing the Service Charter from 1 July 2023. Please keep an eye out for further communications on this.

I have consistently focussed on delivery to international students, including unethical recruitment practices of third-party education agents. ASQA expects CRICOS providers to meet their legislative obligations under the ESOS Act and National Code and we will continue to actively engage across government to support compliance activities, surveillance and monitoring activities where concerns around provider practice have been raised.

In March I shared information about our regulatory activities and performance and committed to providing this information more regularly. I’m pleased to include here an updated snapshot of our activity, for the period July 2022 to March 2023.

By the end of March, we had completed 505 assessment activities this financial year, 155 initial registration assessments, 170 monitoring activities, 146 performance assessments (audits) of registered providers and 34 evidence reviews.

Of the 146 performance assessments of providers, 114 providers were found to not meet the quality threshold and further action was required. This high level of poor practices identified should not be extrapolated to the sector but rather, reflects the effectiveness of ASQA’s improved methods for identifying and detecting risk.

ASQA has already returned 55 providers to compliance (48%) and 36 of these providers entered into formal agreements with ASQA to rectify the issues identified. Our performance assessments provide meaningful feedback, enabling providers to address areas for improvement and to take responsibility for monitoring, evaluation and continuous improvement of the outcomes they are achieving. This is a good outcome for students and the sector.

We have been conducting surveillance activities of a variety of providers, including to monitor ESOS providers’ return to compliance with the National Code and ELICOS Standards by 30 June 2023. Where we identify concerning practices outside our remit, we share this information with other government agencies.

When a provider does not demonstrate their commitment or capability to deliver quality, or to make the necessary changes in response to identified poor practice, we apply a range of compliance and enforcement activities. As at the end of March for this financial year we have:

• suspended the registration of 11 providers
• issued notices of intent to cancel the registration of 23 providers
• rejected applications to renew registration for 8 providers.

Finally, as flagged in our last edition, providers and course owners will now have received an invitation from ORIMA Research to participate in the 2023 ASQA Provider and Course Owner Survey. This survey helps us better understand our interactions with providers and course owners. The findings also help to inform an assessment of our performance against key performance measures, the outcomes of which will be included in ASQA’s 2022-23 Annual Report. Data captured in the survey will be analysed and key shared with the sector over the coming months. I encourage all providers and course owners to participate in the survey.

Stay safe and well,

In this edition

• RTO Annual Registration Charge

• Top three enquiries from the Service Delivery team

• ESOS Providers – Sector Alert

• Written Agreements for overseas students

• Complete the 2023 ASQA Provider and Course Owner Survey by 13 June 2023

• Annual declaration on compliance submissions close

• Quality indicator summary reports due 30 June 2023

• Working under Supervision

and more