Pending Audit Will Be Valuable
22 April 2006
Quality reviews are becoming a feature of the higher education
environment internationally. Every Australian university is subject
to a review every five years by the Australian Universities Quality
Agency (AUQA). The outcomes of these reviews become publicly
available on the AUQA web site.
The reviews are taken very seriously by every university and
hundreds of thousands of dollars have to be spent by each
university in preparing for and undergoing the review.
Following audits, clear advice is provided to universities on
their strengths and weaknesses, and a great deal can hinge on the
outcomes, not least a university's national and international
reputation, which in turn can influence student numbers and
financial support.
In October, USC will undergo an AUQA audit. In preparation, we
have just undergone a trial audit. Experienced panel members
evaluate the University in both the trial and the actual audit,
against its mission and goals and provide preliminary feedback to
the University before providing a full report.
Once we have the final report on the trial audit we shall be
having extensive discussions covering staff, students, University
Council members, and community representatives to explore ways in
which we can further enhance our performance.
We have to provide a 20,000 word portfolio summarising all
aspects of University operations and then the panel typically
requests further information on selected areas, ahead of a
three-day visit to the University and often some off-shore or
distant sites or campuses to assess quality as well.
During the three days the trial audit panel conducted a
significant number of interviews with individuals and groups. AUQA
will do the same.
The trial audit panel concentrated mainly on our weaknesses so
that we can take steps to address them immediately and hopefully be
in good shape for the October scrutiny.
Although we have come a long way and made impressive strides in
ten years, there remain many improvements to be accomplished,
because resource constraints in particular have been a major
impediment until 2005.
This AUQA review will follow a series of reviews which we have
undergone at intervals since planning in 1995, and each one has
been positive, insightful and provided opportunities for us to
continue our development in an informed way.
The review will provide clues on how we can continue to
strengthen our sectoral positioning across the next five years and
we look forward to it.
Professor Paul Thomas is Vice-Chancellor of University of
the Sunshine Coast