Vice Chancellor Paula Myrick Short Named Auditor for AUQA
Vice Chancellor Paula Myrick Short has been selected through nomination and board review by the Australian Universities Quality Agency as an auditor for its Academic Audit program. Vice Chancellor Short has taken the leadership for implementing the Academic Audit for TBR institutions. Tennessee is the the only state that has conducted audits with community colleges and TBR is among the few systems internationally that has an academic audit process.
Objective of an Academic Audit
The objective of an academic audit is to produce tangible improvements in education quality without having to spend more money. Similar to program reviews and accreditation visits, audits include a self-study and a site visit by external peers. However, one key difference between audits and other types of reviews is that an audit looks at the key faculty activities required to produce and regularly improve the quality of teaching and learning. That is, auditors evaluate the processes that lead to education quality rather than focusing on teaching performance or assessing student learning. An audit inquires how faculty members organize their work and how they use data to make decisions. It also asks how faculty work collegially toward improvement in teaching and learning and how they use resources available to them.
The Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA)
The Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA) is an independent, not-for-profit national agency that will promote, audit, and report on quality assurance in Australian higher education.
AUQA was formally established by the Ministerial Council on Education, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) in March 2000. It operates independently of governments and the higher education sector under the direction of a Board of Directors. AUQA is owned by and receives core, operational funding from the Commonwealth, State and Territory Ministers for higher education who are members of MCEETYA.
AUQA is responsible for:
- conducting quality audits of self-accrediting Australian higher education institutions and State and Territory Government higher education accreditation authorities on a five yearly cycle;
- providing public reports on the outcomes of these audits;
- commenting on the criteria for the recognition of new universities and accreditation of non-university higher education awards, as a result of information obtained during the audits of institutions and State and Territory accreditation processes; and
- reporting on the relative standards and international standing of the Australian higher education system and its quality assurance processes, as a result of information obtained during the audit process.
Australian Audits
Audits of the State and Territory higher education accreditation authorities pay particular attention to their recognition and accreditation processes; the consistency of these processes with the National Protocols for Higher Education Approval Processes; and the consistency of their judgements with those made in other States and Territories.
Academic audits of self-accrediting institutions will be whole-of-institution audits based on a self-assessment and a site visit. AUQA will investigate the extent to which the institutions are achieving their missions and objectives. They will assess the adequacy of the institution’s quality assurance arrangements in the key areas of teaching and learning, research and management, including the institution’s overseas activities. They will also assess the institution’s success in maintaining standards consistent with university education in Australia. AUQA will make use of panels of experts with substantial senior academic and administrative experience in higher education (in Australia and abroad) to undertake the audits. The audits will endeavour to minimise the additional workload for universities and AUQA will pay particular attention to supporting the diversity of the higher education sector.
Relevant to the operations of both agencies and institutions are the National Protocols for Higher Education Approval Processes which, among other things, set national standards and criteria for the establishment of new universities and the accreditation of higher education courses offered by non self-accrediting institutions.
