Independent Higher Education Australia (IHEA) acknowledges today’s release of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) Cost Recovery Implementation Statement, providing information on how TEQSA will implement cost recovery for quality assurance and regulation of higher education, as of 1 January 2023.
“This announcement by TEQSA on implementation of cost recovery from 2023 has the potential to significantly impact Australis's world-class independent higher education sector,” said IHEA CEO, Dr Peter Hendy.
“IHEA is concerned about the imposition of set fees on providers irrespective of their size. Large public universities, who as a rule are billion-dollar organisations, can absorb these costs, but non-scalable set fees are a heavy blow on niche independent providers and their small student cohorts.”
“There is also no clear provision for external review of any future increases in the fee schedules.”
“The Australian community should be concerned because these additional costs will be unavoidably passed onto students and their hard-working families, either partially or in full.”
“TEQSA has also failed to give an undertaking to underpin the application of cost recovery with a service obligation charter, which IHEA believes is essential. With the significant increase in fees being imposed on the independent sector it is imperative that TEQSA performs its functions with efficiency, accountability, and transparency in a timely manner. Over the course of the last few years TEQSA has fallen short of sectoral performance expectations on various occasions.”
“IHEA will continue to advocate for scalable fees based on provider size and a service obligation charter from TEQSA.”
TEQSA’s implementation of cost recovery, as directed by the Government, is structured around three elements: (1) Application-based charges; (2) Single provider charges related to compliance and enforcement activities; and (3) An annual registration charge.
More information about TEQSA cost recovery and the Cost Recovery Implementation Statement 2022-23 can be found HERE.
All quotes attributed to Dr Peter Hendy, IHEA CEO
IHEA Media Contact: Matthew Coote, IHEA Communications Manager (matthew.coote@ihea.edu.au / 0413 735 710)
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