Annual TEQSA Compliance Health Check Procedure

Intent

The Annual TEQSA Compliance Health Check Procedure provides the Chair of the Academic Board with a level of assurance that the relevant Departments/Directorates within their respective Divisions are satisfying their legislative and regulatory requirements in accordance with the Higher Education Standards Framework (HESF) (Threshold Standards) 2021 under subsection 58(1) of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) Act 2011.

James Cook University (JCU) is required to undergo an audit by TEQSA every seven (7) years to renew its registration as an accredited tertiary education provider. Non-compliance could result in penalties and/or loss of accreditation. It is therefore important to ensure that JCU periodically checks against the HESF threshold standards to assess the state of its compliance prior to renewal.

The Annual TEQSA Compliance Health Check Procedure forms part of the Annual Compliance Declaration Procedure and fulfils the ‘Comply’ pillar of the JCU Compliance Framework.

Scope

This Procedure applies to those with an assigned responsibility within the Divisions/Directorates to complete the checklist and attest the compliance status within their respective areas of responsibility.

Definitions

Except as otherwise specified in this Procedure, the meaning of terms used are as per the Policy Glossary.

Procedure

1. Key Responsibilities

1.1  The following staff have particular responsibilities under this procedure:

a)  The Chair of Academic Board. The Chair of the Academic Board coordinating, communicating and distributing the checklist to responsible officers for the collection of information and for the purpose of the completion and review of the Annual TEQSA Health Check.

b) Responsible Officer. Responsible Officers will be tasked with monitoring legislation, regulations and codes for any changes or new statutory requirements; reporting non-compliance issues and ensure that legislative requirements are met within their Departments/Directorates to demonstrate that JCU satisfy the HESF requirements.

2. Checklist

2.1  The Annual TEQSA Health Check Procedure is detailed below and in a process flow diagram at appendix 1.

2.2  The Health Check is a self-assessment in which Responsible Officers acknowledge their responsibilities and accountabilities against the HESF Threshold Standards, and where the Chair of the Academic Board undertakes periodic review of University compliance to the TEQSA Act 2011.

2.3  The Health Check is distributed by the Chair of the Academic Board at the start of August each year to staff with an assigned responsibility to ensure compliance with TEQSA. The Responsible Officers must complete certain fields in the checklist. In the ‘Compliance Status’ field, a range of options are provided from the dropdown list. Only one answer per row can be selected.

2.4  Upon receipt, the Responsible Officers coordinate the information collection and completion of the compliance requirements specified in the Health Check worksheet. The options are:

• Meets Requirement
• Partial Compliance
• Unsure (further investigation required)
• Not Applicable

2.5  Responsible Officers provide evidence of compliance which is  entered in the ‘Evidence’ field. Such evidence can be an instrument or artifact in the form of a policy, procedure, or reference to a document or page on the JCU website.

2.6  Where there is an identified non-compliance, the details are to be maintained in the Non-Compliance Register and a Corrective Action Plan is to be implemented (appendix 2). Risk assessments with mitigation strategies (where appropriate) must be specified to address any areas identified to be non-compliant.

2.7  The Non-Compliance Report must be sent to the Chair of the Academic Board along with the Annual TEQSA Compliance Health Check by the end of September each year for review.

2.8  The Chair Academic Board will provide a report to the Vice Chancellor’s Advisory Committee and Academic Board on the University’s status against the Annual TEQSA Health Check in October and November respectively.

Related policy instruments

Annual Compliance Declaration Procedure

Compliance Policy

Compliance Framework

Related Legislation

Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold Standards) 2021

TEQSA Act 2011

Schedules/Appendices

Appendix 1 - Process Flow Annual TEQSA Compliance Health Check Procedure

Appendix 2 - Internal Non-Compliance Report

Administration

NOTE:  Printed copies of this procedure are uncontrolled, and currency can only be assured at the time of printing.

Approval Details

Revision History