Further Development of the National Protocols for Higher Education Approval Processes (Guthrie Review)

 In December 2003 the Department of Education, Science and Training initiated a consultancy to further develop the National Protocols for Higher Education Approval Processes.  The brief for the consultancy set out the following tasks to be undertaken:

• an analysis of issues related to the interpretation of the National Protocols, especially arising from national and international developments in higher education and the experience of implementing the National Protocols in Australia;
  
  to make recommendations on –
  
  
• the overall structure and content of the National Protocols
  
  
• the feasibility/desirability of common guidelines to address issues in National Protocol 1, such as interpreting and assessing breadths of fields of education, the requirement for scholarship/research and free enquiry
  
  
• criteria for ‘green-field university’ proposals with respect to financial and capital requirements, staffing levels and legal governance requirements (for both for-profit and not-for-profit situations)
  
  
• criteria which might be specific to private institutions, such as student appeals, and academic guarantors
  
  
• any particular criteria related to for-profit institutions
  
  
• any changes felt appropriate for National Protocol 2
  
  
• any changes felt appropriate for National Protocol 3
  
  
• any changes felt appropriate for National Protocol 4;
  
  
• a comparative review of international practice in the approval of new private universities (for-profit and not-for-profit), which may influence any recommendations;
  
  
• exploration of the possibility of developing a consistent, nationally agreed definition of ‘operate’ in the Protocols;
  
  
• clarification of how AQF interacts with the Protocols.

The full details of the brief are set out in Part VI, Appendix 2.

The project was planned in three overlapping phases:

• Reading and analysis
• Interviews and analysis
• Formulating recommendations.

The interview component was regarded as a key part of the study and widespread consultation was undertaken. For a list of interviewees see Part VI, Appendix 3. A workshop on the study was presented at the Australian Universities Quality Forum in Adelaide (July 2004).

Three meetings were held with the Project Steering Committee (for membership see Part VI, Appendix 4.). A draft report was prepared for discussion with the Steering Committee prior to the preparation of this final report.

Sections in the Report

The provision of HE throughout much of the world has traditionally been through the public and not-for-profit private sectors, though recently there has been a significant increase in private for-profit provision. There is currently a great interest in private HE around the world, both in the establishment of growing numbers of private universities and the increase in non self-accrediting HE private providers. In this regard, this study is most timely.

Part II of this report reviews the current Protocols, both generally and individually, and leads to a number of Recommendations, summarised in Part V. Part III surveys the current situation world-wide regarding higher education regulation, particularly for private universities and provides an international perspective on the issues facing Australia in the context of the Protocols, particularly Protocol 1. Part IV is a comparative analysis of the current state and character of the legislation to support the Protocols in all jurisdictions in Australia. Finally, Part VI contains various Appendices, including references.