Higher Ed Accreditation

At Charles Darwin University higher education courses are approved by the Academic Board through the Course Accreditation/Reaccreditation Process which operates on an annual cycle and is used for:

  • accrediting new higher education courses,
  • reaccrediting existing higher education courses according to scheduled course review dates, and
  • for making major changes to existing higher education courses in accreditation.

This process follows a Resource and Planning stage followed by a Quality Accreditation stage. Both stages depend on effective review being carried out at faculty and central University level.

Critical Dates for CARP 2014 (.doc)

Expression of Interest for New Higher Education Courses

The purpose of the Expression of Interest is to make a preliminary case for the development of a new Higher Education course.

The EOI should be a brief summary seeking Faculty approval for the development of the new course.

Schools and Faculties can use this form if they choose to gather information about courses that are being developed for 2015.

Note: Support for the EOI does not constitute approval to offer a course, but provides clearance to proceed to the next stage – completion of the R&P proforma.

Expression of Interest for New Higher Education Courses (.doc)

Stage 1 Resource and Planning - executive review

Resource and Planning proposals are developed in consultation with the Office of Learning & Teaching (OLT) and Library and Information Access (LIA) and are reviewed by the relevant Faculty/Institute Executive.

For existing HE courses approval for the proposal to proceed to the Quality Accreditation stage of the process is made by the Pro-Vice Chancellor, Academic in consultation with the relevant Pro-Vice Chancellor. New HE course proposals are reviewed by the Vice Chancellor’s Advisory Group (VCAG) who advises the Vice Chancellor to either (i) approve the proposal to proceed to the Quality Accreditation stage of the process or (ii) reject the proposal.

 

Forms and documents

Stage 2 Quality Accreditation - academic review

Details of course structures, specific award requirements, transition arrangements and study plans are required to be finalised at this stage.

Course developers collaborate with Course Advisory Groups, OLT and LIA to develop aspects of the curriculum at course and unit level.

Quality Accreditation proposals must initially be reviewed and approved by the relevant Faculty/Institute Learning and Teaching Committee.

Faculty-approved proposals are submitted to the CDU Learning and Teaching Committee for final quality review. The role of the Learning and Teaching Committee is to recommend to Academic Board the accreditation, review, re-accreditation, suspension and discontinuation of higher education courses.

Forms and documents

Course Quality Accreditation proformas will be provided by Accreditation & Registration (OLT) subsequent to approval of courses at Stage 1.

Please be aware that due to the introduction of TEQSA and the new AQF there are a number of changes to these forms from previous year. It is recommended that each school works closely with their appointed Education & Training Development team member. For more information please visit http://www.cdu.edu.au/olt/etd.html

Amend Accredited Units

All of the information included in the accreditation documentation is required for a variety of reasons including legislative requirements, quality assurance and operational planning.  However, changes to some variables are more significant than others for a variety of reasons.  As such changes to units are deemed to be either minor or major.  

The definition of minor and major changes has been determined based on the following principles:

  • TEQSA requirements
  • HESA requirements
  • Potential impact on students
  • Potential impact across courses/cross disciplinary considerations.

Minor changes are deemed to include:

  • Assessment (weight change only)
  • Adding offerings (e.g. add the unit to an additional semester or study period)
  • Learning method (online, online reliant, print based etc.)
  • Teaching responsibility (who the unit is reported to)
  • Unit description (grammar, format, additional student information)
  • Assumed knowledge
  • Refining current Learning outcomes (to make them clearer).

Major changes are deemed to include:

  • Unit code
  • Unit title
  • Unit description (content change)
  • Field of education
  • Pre-requisite(s)
  • Learning outcomes (adding or removing)
  • Assessment (other than weight change)
  • Removing offerings
  • New unit mode (a unit mode such as internal/external/intensive that has never been offered for this unit).

Is it recommended that staff read the Minor and Major Unit Changes Procedure located on the Governance document site http://www.cdu.edu.au/governance/lt.html

Forms and documents

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Enquiries

Samantha Thompson - Team Leader, Accreditation & Registration
Email: samantha.thompson@cdu.edu.au
Phone: (08) 8946 7775