The higher education sector in Australia is made up of universities, university colleges and a number of other types of higher education institutions that award qualifications from Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) levels 5 to 10. There are three main cycles of higher education, which respectively lead to the AQF awards of Bachelor, Masters and Doctoral Degrees. There are also sub-degree undergraduate qualifications and other postgraduate qualifications.

 

Higher education courses and qualifications

Courses can be taken either full-time or part-time, on campus, by distance or through online study. All courses, regardless of mode of study, are subject to rigorous quality assurance arrangements.

For full descriptions of the qualifications below, see www.aqf.edu.au.

 

Types of Australian higher education institutions

In Australia, higher education institutions are either self-accrediting or non-self-accrediting, which refers to whether they can accredit their own courses. Accreditation is explained under Accreditation and quality assurance in higher education (page 23) of the Australia Country Education Profile (CEP).

 

Universities

 There are 43 Australian universities, comprised of 37 public universities, 5 private universities and one overseas university operating in Australia. Australian universities must be established or recognised under Australian or state and territory legislation. Universities are multi-disciplinary, self-governing institutions that are responsible for their own management structure, budgets, staffing, admissions, internal quality assurance (including course accreditation) and curriculum. All Australian universities:

• offer quality higher education
• can accredit their own courses
• offer undergraduate and postgraduate courses
• undertake research
• demonstrate good practice in teaching and learning, and
• are involved in the community.

Universities are located in major cities and in smaller regional centres. Larger universities usually have a number of campuses, and some have campuses outside Australia. Most universities are organised into faculties and/or schools and many also have specialised research centres or institutes.

 

University Colleges 

University colleges are high quality institutions that can accredit their own courses. While universities have a dual focus of teaching and research, university colleges are typically focussed on teaching excellence. There are four university colleges registered with the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA), Australia’s national regulator and quality assurance agency for the higher education sector. TEQSA applies a merit-based assessment process to consider institutions that apply for categorisation as a university college.

 

Institutes of higher education

 The Australian higher education system includes several other types of providers known as institutes of higher education. These institutes form a significant majority of the accredited providers in Australia, including both self-accrediting and non-self-accrediting institutes of higher education registered by TEQSA. The majority of these institutions are private and they include international, faith-based and specialised organisations. For more information about accreditation, see Accreditation and quality assurance in higher education (page 23) in the Australia (CEP).

 

Offshore higher education delivery

 Many international students study with Australian higher education institutions without studying within Australia. This can be done through:

• on-campus learning, such as by studying at an Australian university campus  located overseas or at an overseas institution delivering Australian courses  under a partnership arrangement, or
• distance learning, where an Australian institution delivers a course online.