| Number of Students | 13,250 |
| Number of Students by DE mode | 13,250 |
| Number of Academic Staff | 450 |
| Summary of External Quality Assurance Processes | Australia has had in place the Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA) since 2000, which: “ ... is an independent, not-for-profit
national agency that promotes, audits, and reports on quality assurance in Australian higher education” (www.auqa.edu.au/aboutauqa/mission/). All Australian universities are audited on an approximately 5-year cycle. USQ has, to date, been audited twice - in 2002
and 2009. The auditing process for all Australian universities is subject to the same guidelines, although the process has
been subject to refinement over time. (Refer to AUQA Audit manuals at: www.auqa.edu.au/qualityaudit/auditmanuals/) The details of all institutional audits are made publicly available (www.auqa.edu.au/qualityaudit/universities/). The first round of institutional audits conducted between 2002 and 2007 involved a review of all institutional processes.
The second round of audits commenced in 2008 looked at ‘internationalisation’ plus one other theme nominated by the institution
– with the theme selected by USQ being ‘Program Design and Delivery’. USQ received commendations in relation to its distance
education in each of the audit reports published by AUQA. In 2011 the new TEQSA agency was established which will build on the AUQA role. |
| Summary of Quality Procedures | The University has adopted an ADRI (analyse, deploy, review and improve) quality cycle and academic units are required to
report on this. The University has also adopted a Quality Management Framework that ensures cross-institutional planning is
conducted across the major divisions. (please see http://www.usq.edu.au/planqual) The University does not differentiate between distance and on-campus programs in this regard. USQ recently launched a new course review system that requires teaching staff to review key data on course performance and report back on this annually. This report also contains an action plan for future improvement of courses. |
| Percentage of resources that are OER | not reported |
| Intellectual Property Rights Position | Owned by the institution but with some licensing back to staff. (Comment: This is made clear in the employment contracts the University has with its academic staff members.) |
| Expected changes for DE from the current strategy | USQ plans that all students in all modes of learning with have digital technologies to support them in their academic and non-academic work. |
| Any future considerations for DE | not reported |
| Summary of the impact of technology on distance education | 18% of the total courses offered in 2010 were offered purely online. USQ requires that all courses, regardless of mode of offer, have an online presence via USQ’s LMS (Moodle). So, for example, a course may be offered on-campus but there will still be a site within Moodle for this course, where students may participate in forums, submit assignments and the like. |
- Supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research
- Consultative partner status with UNESCO
- Affiliate member of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization
