Operating an External Quality Agency

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2016:

Participation in discussion boards and webinars and final 3000 word assignment.

170 hours

To enrol in this subject, you must be admitted in the Graduate Certificate in Tertiary Education Management (GC-TEM), Graduate Certificate in Quality Assurance (GC-QA), or the Master of Tertiary Education Management (MC-TEM). This subject is not available for students admitted in any other courses.

If you are interested in this subject but are not admitted in any of the above course, please email TL-tertiaryed@unimelb.edu.au

You must have taken the following subject prior to enrolling or you must take the subject concurrently.

None

For the purposes of considering requests for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Objectives, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this course are encouraged to discuss this matter with the Student Equity and Disability Support Team: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

This subject deals with aspects of operating an external quality assurance agency (QA agency) building on the concepts and frameworks in quality assurance introduced in the previous compulsory subjects. The focus here is on the practical aspects of providing QA services that ensure quality of programs or institutions either through initial accreditation or later through re-accreditation or quality review and improvement strategies.

To enable participants to recognise the strengths and weaknesses of different governance and funding arrangements, and organizational structures and processes of external QA agencies; and to identify the resources and operating policies required to fulfil the role.

Active participation in weekly discussion board; compulsory webinar attendance; one essay due after the end of the semester.

This is a pass/fail subject. Participants receive feedback for each task, and must pass all tasks.

There are two hurdle requirements:

• Weekly discussion board postings, postings are required in at least four of the five weeks with prior notification if a particular week is going to be problematic.
• Webinar attendance, attendance is required in a minimum two of the three webinars.

Selected readings and notes to be provided prior to commencement

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

On successful completion of this subject participants will be able to distinguish the strengths and weaknesses of different governance and funding arrangements, and organizational structures and processes for external QA agencies; identify the resources and operating policies required to fulfil the role; and apply this knowledge to specific situations.