Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA)

The Australian Universities Quality Agency was established to undertake independent, external audits of universities and state and territory accreditation authorities. These audits operate on a five-year cycle, with the first round commencing in 2002. The University of Melbourne was audited in August 2005 and the resulting Audit Report is now available.

Download the University of Melbourne's AUQA Report. The Report is in PDF format. You will need Adobe PDF Reader to view it.

Download the University Response to AUQA Audit – 2006 Progress Report.   The Report is in PDF format. You will need Adobe PDF Reader to view it.

Download the University Response to AUQA Audit – 2007 Progress Report.   The Report is in PDF format. You will need Adobe PDF Reader to view it.

Audit Reports of other Universities can be downloaded from the AUQA website at http://www.auqa.edu.au/qualityaudit/sai_reports/index.shtml

On this page you will find:

• What is AUQA?
• Quality Assurance and the University of Melbourne

Other relevant links:

• Frequently Asked Questions
• Accountability
• Evaluation Cycle
• AUQA Portfolio- Internal access only
• AUQA enquiries form

Download the AUQA FAQ brochure (PDF, 617 KB, 2 pages).

What is AUQA?

The Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA) is an independent, not-for-profit national agency that will promote, audit, and report on quality assurance in Australian higher education. AUQA was formally established by the Ministerial Council on Education, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) in March 2000.

It operates independently of governments and the higher education sector under the direction of a Board of Directors. AUQA is owned by and receives core, operational funding from the Commonwealth, State and Territory Ministers for higher education who are members of MCEETYA.

AUQA is responsible for:

• conducting quality audits of self-accrediting Australian higher education institutions and State and Territory Government higher education accreditation authorities on a five yearly cycle;
• providing public reports on the outcomes of these audits;
• commenting on the criteria for the recognition of new universities and accreditation of non-university higher education awards, as a result of information obtained during the audits of institutions and State and Territory accreditation processes; and
• reporting on the relative standards and international standing of the Australian higher education system and its quality assurance processes, as a result of information obtained during the audit process.

AUQA's responsibilities do not include investigating student and/or staff complaints about individual universities. Such matters remain the responsibility of individual institutions.

Quality Assurance and the University of Melbourne

Through its Accountability Structure the University of Melbourne adheres to proper processes for the governance and management of its affairs, meets its compliance obligations and discharges its responsibilities to those to whom it is accountable.

The University's Accountability Structure incorporates annual cycles of planning and budgeting, reporting and quality assurance. These cycles are designed to ensure that, at University, Faculty and administrative unit levels, the University's various obligations are properly satisfied in a manner that minimises the need for duplication or rework.

The annual cycles of planning, performance monitoring, quality assurance and reporting which operate in the University of Melbourne are set out at: http://www.unimelb.edu.au/publications/accountability/index.html

Further information about the University's evaluation cycle can be found at http://www.unimelb.edu.au/UPO/ecycle/ECycle.html . This includes details of the various surveys which make up the Evaluation Cycle.