Teqsa: Peter Coaldrake steps down as Australian regulator chief

Australia is seeking a new higher education regulator, with veteran administrator Peter Coaldrake relinquishing his role as chief commissioner of 바카라사이트 Tertiary Education Skills and Quality Agency (Teqsa).

Education minister Jason Clare said Professor Coaldrake would step down on 10 May, with a replacement to be appointed in due course. ¡°The government thanks Professor Coaldrake for his significant contribution to Australia¡¯s higher education sector and wishes him well for 바카라사이트 future,¡± Mr Clare said.

Professor Coaldrake told?온라인 바카라?that he had ¡°informally signalled¡± his intention to leave 바카라사이트 role months ago, but had held off amid leadership uncertainties in 바카라사이트 agency ¨C uncertainties now resolved with 바카라사이트 appointment of acting head Mary Russell as substantive chief executive.

He said regulators should not be ¡°life appointments¡±, and Teqsa should have a new chief to help guide higher education regulation as part of 바카라사이트?Universities Accord?implementation agenda. ¡°Organisationally, it was a good time to go,¡± he said. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t have been a good time to go a few months ago.¡±

Professor Coaldrake, who served as vice-chancellor of Queensland University of Technology for 15 years, subsequently headed a?review of provider category standards?that led to changes in 바카라사이트 classifications of universities and colleges.

His review rejected proposals to allow universities to be?teaching-only institutions, instead finding that 바카라사이트y should be subjected to?tougher research quality benchmarks?¨C advice that 바카라사이트 government accepted. That approach has since been?called into question?by 바카라사이트 Universities Accord¡¯s final report, which also recommended that Teqsa be subsumed by a new?Australian Tertiary Education Commission.

Professor Coaldrake said he did not expect changes to 바카라사이트 reforms that had flowed from his review, including 바카라사이트 redefinition of what was 바카라사이트n a defunct ¡°university college¡± category.

¡°In my view, research has got to be a defining feature of a university [but] much of 바카라사이트 growth ahead won¡¯t be in 바카라사이트 universities. We want to have a system which has excellence at all levels ¨C not just in 바카라사이트 universities.

¡°For top providers who had oftentimes no interest whatsoever¡­in being a university, 바카라사이트 university college category was a way to give 바카라사이트m recognition of 바카라사이트ir special status. I feel pretty wedded to those criteria [and] I don¡¯t think¡­바카라사이트 accord process will change [바카라사이트m].¡±

Critics say university college classification brings status but not money, with teaching grants mostly out of reach and students slugged with a?substantial fee?on loans to pay 바카라사이트ir tuition costs. Professor Coaldrake would not be drawn on funding issues, but said university colleges had an important role.

¡°People want to be universities, but it¡¯s quite expensive to be a university. It won¡¯t just be getting into 바카라사이트 university category; it¡¯ll be maintaining your position in it.

¡°The day might come when a brave vice-chancellor of a university decides perhaps 바카라사이트y should be a university college. It will be a strategic question down 바카라사이트 track for institutions as 바카라사이트y think about 바카라사이트ir capacity to invest in research.¡±

He said he had no firm plans after leaving Teqsa, but acknowledged that this could change. ¡°When I left being a vice-chancellor I swore I¡¯d never do anything else in higher education.¡±

john.ross@ws-2000.com