The Government of Australia ensures the highest standards in Higher Education Programmes delivered in Sri Lanka
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Stuart M Rees, Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner, South Asia, Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade)
Why is quality assurance important in Higher Education?
Higher education is a key driver of growth performance, prosperity and competitiveness. Therefore, quality assurance plays a central role in the endeavour to achieve excellence in higher education in institutions. However, ensuring that the quality of educational programs meet local and international standards simultaneously, has become a great challenge in many countries.
Accordingly, we see policies being implemented to assure high quality when it comes to Higher Education. The purpose of administering such policies is to ensure the provision of high-quality education, university accountability and transparency in the use of public funding and meeting the needs of the diverse stakeholders.
The role of higher education in sustainable economic and social development increases year by year, and this will continue over the next decades. Higher education can be seen as a focal point of knowledge and its application. By fostering innovation and increasing higher skills, an institution can make a great contribution to economic growth and development.
It is seen as a way to improve the quality of life and address major social and global challenges.
Creating a quality workforce
Universities promote lifelong learning; they offer opportunities to engage and attract professionals into training and professional development. By doing so, they extend individuals the opportunity to succeed in today’s global economy. Modern universities provide their students with various programmes aimed at preparing them for different economic sectors, helping them to stay and progress in the labour market. Such programmes make a difference in labour market outcomes and keep pace with changes in the global economy and changes in the innovation process.
Supporting business and industry
Business has changed much over the last decade. There are jobs that exist today, that wouldn’t have made sense several decades ago. Technology is changing the nature of work. The 2017 McKinsey report estimated that 49 percent of time spent on work activities worldwide could be automated using existing technologies.
Employee skills requirements have also changed. Higher education institutions assure the relevance of their knowledge, identify skill gaps, create special programmes and build the right skills that can help countries improve their economic prosperity and social cohesion. It also allows them to adapt workforce development to the economy and changing demand for new skills, develop relevant skills and activate skill supply, and thus supporting improvement in productivity and growth.
Carrying out research and promoting technologies
One of the missions of modern universities is finding solutions to big challenges and conducting research within global priority areas and contributing to social outcomes such as health and social engagement. They often focus on designing technologies that result in new products and supplying advanced technology for use.
Knowledge is the true basis of higher education: its production via research, its transmission via teaching, and its acquisition and use by students.
Hence, excellence must remain the prime objective of any institution of higher education, including universities in any country.
Leading universities in Australia guarantee excellence in the knowledge and training that they impart. These institutions focus their resources on quality education, encouraging students and taking account of students’ profiles and specific needs. They also focus on strengthening teacher training and exposure to best working practices, while creating incentives to attract the most experienced teachers.
Universities are putting knowledge at the service of their societies to create a better world. This can be achieved through the training of first-class minds, through major advances in science and technology and by encouraging an interest in learning. Now, to realize its full potential, higher education is to maintain a proactive stance, strengthen its position as a bedrock upon which countries are and build a new road to growth.
Australian Programmes Delivered in Sri Lanka
Over 25 Australian education providers have established strategic partnerships in Sri Lanka and continue to grow with the high demand. Australian programs delivered in Sri Lanka are in line with the same Australian quality standards whilst students have a considerable cost benefit.
These partnerships represent institutions from almost each state and territory from Australia offering a great balance of courses. We have seen Australian institutions adopting various education partnerships such as pathway programs, articulations arrangements and even full degree completions in Sri Lanka. It is important to note that these partnerships cater to all education levels from vocational education, higher education to Post Graduate studies
It is unique to see that over a period of time, a number of research collaborations have been nurtured between well recognised Australian and Sri Lankan state universities, and this has had a direct impact on the economy of the country.
How Sri Lanka could benefit with
high quality Australian education
programmes in the market
It gives Sri Lankan students the opportunity to study high-quality Australian programmes and pedagogy for a competitive fee in Sri Lanka. It also attracts students from the regional countries to enrol in Australian institutions in Sri Lanka, which helps to develop other sectors such as tourism, retail and ICT with fresh, regional graduates and their skills. It also promotes more foreign exchange in the country by attracting international students.
Quality Assurance Framework in Australia
The TEQSA, AQF and QILT protect the reputation of Australian higher education, as seen below.
- The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA)
The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) is Australia’s independent national regulator of the higher education sector. TEQSA’s role is to ensure that quality standards are being met by all Australian higher education providers so that the interests of students and the reputation of Australia’s higher education sector are promoted and protected.
TEQSA registers and evaluates the performance of higher education providers against the Higher Education Standards Framework, which all providers must meet in order to enter and remain within Australia’s higher education system.
TEQSA also regulates the Education Services for Overseas Students (ESOS) Act 2000 and its associated legislation, which includes the National Code, the English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students (ELICOS) National Standards and the National Standards for Foundation Programs
- The Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF)
The Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) is the national policy for regulating qualifications in Australian education and training.
The aim of the AQF is to ensure that higher education institutions deliver quality education outcomes that are equivalent to those offered in other institutions. It incorporates the qualifications from each education and training sector into a single comprehensive national qualifications framework. The Threshold Standards related to higher education qualifications reference the AQF.
The AQF enables consistent naming, volumes of learning (e.g. in years of full-time study) and learning outcomes for AQF qualification types. It also provides clearer pathways to higher qualifications and recognition of prior learning, supports national and international mobility, and enables alignment with international frameworks of academic qualifications.
To assist staff with ensuring consistency with the AQF, a University guide on volume of learning and admission requirements has been developed by the Office of Quality and Performance.
- The Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching (QILT)
The Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching (QILT) was launched by the Australian Government Department of Education & Training in 2015. QILT provides prospective students with relevant and transparent information about Australian higher education institutions, from the perspective of recent students and graduates. This feedback is collected via a series of surveys of higher education students to clarify and understand the overall experience of attending a specific higher education institution. The quality indicators collected through the surveys relate to:
- Students’ satisfaction with key aspects of their study experience, such as teaching quality, learning resources and support services.
- Graduates’ satisfaction with their course.
- Graduates’ employment and further study outcomes, including information on the proportion of graduates finding work and median salaries.
kanishka.padidilian@austrade.gov.au