Quality Assurance (NSSQA)
The Centre for Healthy Activities, Sport and Exercise (CHASE) is an identified Centre of Excellence in the Faculty of Science, Health and Education at the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC).
CHASE is accredited by the National Sport Science Quality Assurance (NSSQA) Program in the streams of anthropometry, field testing, oxygen consumption and ergometry. USC is one of the first universities in Australia to receive this accreditation.
CHASE can therefore offer these services with the highest standard of quality assurance in exercise science laboratories. We maintain our commitment to quality for all operational procedures, particularly staffing, documentation, test precision and reporting for elite and community athlete testing.
NSSQA Program is a national program of the Australian Institute of Sport, designed to achieve a high standard of quality assurance in exercise science laboratories involved in the assessment of state, national and international level athletes.
The scheme is adapted from the ISO 9001 standard and the National Association of Testing Laboratories (NATA) evaluation procedure for scientific and clinical laboratories, with consideration for the specific nature of the test procedures to be undertaken, and the general scale of activity in exercise physiology laboratories.
Accreditation is based on demonstrated capacity for the necessary staffing, documentation, test precision and reporting for athlete testing, by a peer review process. Accreditation is granted for a four-year period supplemented by annual reporting. All exercise science laboratories associated with the Australian Institute of Sport and all state institutes/academies of sport hold accreditation under the NSSQA.
The Australian Sports Commission has recently introduced a clause to Funding and Service Level Agreements with national sporting organisations stating that where laboratory testing is deemed necessary by the national sporting organisation, testing of national program athletes must be undertaken using laboratories accredited under the NSSQA Program.