Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency

So very much sat, sat there for a while.

Um, TEQSA then released the RFI out to universities to, um, ask us to come up with a gen AI action plan, and I think TEQSA were quite progressive with that.

Uh, fast-forward three years, um, later, and it's still very much, um, where it needs to be, and we- we- we're using it, we've been using it to guide us.

But back to what you said, Kate, it is very much AI is touching, and generative AI and now agentic AI is touching, you know, every area of an organization.

So while the TEQSA, um, uh, RFI was very much in the teaching and learning space, and HDR as well, what we found when, um... and I was leading that at the time with the teaching and learning working group.

What we found at the time, that it was still meant that it was very siloed.

And of course, it touches the student journey from the minute they, uh, engage with our, um, website right through to enrollment, teaching and learning, completion, graduation, alumni, jobs.

Then the three key pieces that came out of that, and then I'll hand back to you, Annabel, um, was really our focus from our staff and, and our students was three things, and it was really just education, education, education, and it starts with workforce capability, uh, student capability and fluency, and enterprise, uh, capability.

In terms of the quality assurance, it is difficult to know.

I think many listeners will be familiar with TEQSA in Australia.

They appear to be strong and supported by the government to take action on this and to demand action from universities.

I'm not sure they've got the answers, but they're certainly spending a lot more time talking about what to do.

I think QQI in Ireland, we've got a lot of time for.

They seem to be also doing a lot of good work.

And then I think there are just very different approaches to this, let's say, in the United States where there isn't really a QAA or a TEQSA or a QQI.

It's very much more down to individual institutions, accrediting bodies, and individual academics who are judged maybe more on the quality of their assessments and their teaching than maybe we do here.

And also in March 2026, a ban was put in place banning most onshore agent commissions.

Um, we've seen evidence that some providers have creatively tried to, to get around that, and warnings from particularly TEQSA, uh, that they are trying to keep an eye on this.

Um, we'll see what happens.

In May 2026, there was, uh, the minister, uh, gave a direction to ASQA coming out of one of the, the changes in the ESOS Act, that they should put a 12-month ban on processing any VET ESOS applications.

New locations, new courses, new applications to be a, um, to offer, uh, cri- to have CRICOS approval, um, that does not apply obviously to, uh, TEQSA.

That was, um, ASQA only.

So that is an enormous number of, uh, changes that were made in what was a, uh, two and a half year period.

However, it is not clear how enforceable this framework is and how ARC were to detect any lies or deception.

In September 2026, media reported that Australian academics were rebelling against the Albanese Labor government's plan to regulate risky research collaborations with foreign scientists, objecting on the basis of regulatory overheads and impingement of academic freedom The Federal Education Minister reportedly directed the Australian Tertiary Education Commission, ATEC, to draw up new threshold standards covering national security and foreign interference in research, which would give the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency TEQSA new powers to impose conditions or even revoke a university's approval to operate for breaching national security laws.

ATEC advised universities in formal correspondence that ASIO has identified universities, academia, and research centers as potential targets of cyber espionage, particularly where they hold research data, methods, concepts, or dual-use technologies with both civilian and military applications.

ATEC's advice also says that ASIO has identified universities as high risk for espionage.

ATEC warns that individual researchers can be targeted for coercion or espionage when they attend conferences or network with foreign academics.

In response, Universities Australia reportedly told ATEC that Universities Australia objects to the government granting TEQSA a new research security role because TEQSA is not a national security agency.

Universities Australia also stated that relevant intelligence and assessments sit with agencies including ASIO, Home Affairs, Defense, and DFAT, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

TEQSA cannot independently determine whether particular collaborations, entities, or technologies present national security risks without developing substantial new capability and relying on those agencies for information.

At the heart of the current crisis is a regulatory framework that prioritises institutional convenience over safety.

Under standards introduced by the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency, Australia's 38 public universities are required to implement a definition of antisemitism.

However, the regulator's guidelines stop short of mandating which definition must be used.

And it's worth remembering Professor Craven is a constitutional lawyer, a former university vice-chancellor, so he understands this better than most.