Explanatory Memorandum
(Circulated by authority of the Minister for Education, Science and Training, the Honourable Julie Bishop MP)Outline
The Bill will revise the maximum funding amounts in section 41-45 of the Higher Education Support Act 2003 (HESA) to provide funding to support the implementation of the Research Quality Framework (RQF).
The Bill will amend the HESA to reflect changes to the National Protocols for Higher Education Approval Processes . The National Protocols were first approved by the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs in 2000, and regulate the recognition of new universities, the operation of overseas universities in Australia and the accreditation of courses offered by higher education institutions. Ministers have approved revised National Protocols to take effect from 31 December 2007, and legislative changes are required in all jurisdictions. These changes to the HESA will:
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- align key definitions with those used in the revised National Protocols and the Australian Qualifications Framework;
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- reflect new arrangements for the National Protocols to apply to all new and existing higher education institutions (the Protocols previously applied only to new institutions);
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- allow for approval and regulation of the new types of higher education institutions, as defined in the revised National Protocols, as Higher Education Providers;
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- align the definition of 'to operate' with that used in the revised National Protocols; and
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- allow for new types of higher education institutions, as defined in the revised Protocols, to apply for approval to operate in the External Territories.
The Bill includes a number of measures which will improve the administration of the Higher Education Loan Programme (HELP) and arrangements for Commonwealth supported students, including amendments to:
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- clarify the overseas study requirements in relation to eligibility for OS-HELP assistance;
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- clarify that nothing requires a provider to advise students that they are Commonwealth supported at a particular campus of the provider;
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- clarify the residency requirements in relation to Commonwealth support and HECS-HELP and FEE-HELP assistance for study undertaken offshore; and
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- allow providers to advise students that they will be Commonwealth supported for cross-institutional study where one or both of the higher education providers are not Table A providers.
The Bill will also amend the Higher Education Support Act 2003 (HESA), the Higher Education Funding Act 1988 (HEFA) and the Higher Education Support (Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Act 2003 (TCA) to limit the time for students to claim an entitlement to Commonwealth support. The HESA will be amended to allow students six weeks from the census date to correct information so as to establish an entitlement to Commonwealth assistance. The HEFA will be amended to clarify that students can no longer establish entitlement to assistance provided under the Act. The TCA will be amended to allow students six weeks from the census date to correct information so as to establish an entitlement to Commonwealth assistance. The commencement date for these amendments will be 1 January 2008 in order to allow sufficient lead time to inform students and higher education providers of these time limits.
Finally, the Bill makes a range of minor technical amendments which will improve the operation of the HESA by:
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- ensuring persons undertaking a bridging course for overseas-trained professionals with Open Universities Australia may be entitled to FEE-HELP assistance;
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- providing for the suspension of higher education providers approved under the HESA to be a legislative instrument which can be registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments (FRLI); and
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- reflecting the name change of Victoria University of Technology to Victoria University.