Quality improvement

Student survey results (PDF)

As a Christian enterprise the College aspires to excellence and integrity in the content and delivery of its educational endeavours and transparency in the conduct of its affairs. Over the years this commitment has involved regular comparison of our standards with those of Australian universities and the gathering of external input to the improvement of our processes and practices. The history of the ready acceptance of our graduates by churches and other employers of trained Christians and the admission of our graduates to higher degrees in well-recognised UK and Australian universities is testimony to the quality of the educational experience provided by the College.

In more recent years the College has sought and gained accreditation of all of its higher education awards by the NSW Department of Education. In each of the five-yearly reviews undertaken since 1991 the College and its awards have been accredited for the maximum allowable period (five years) and without condition. The increasing rigour of those reviews provides evidence that ongoing work within the College to progressively improve the quality of all that we do has been externally recognised.

Commencing in 2005 eligible students of the College may apply for and receive FEE-HELP assistance for their tuition fees. This is a result of the College being approved as a Higher Education Provider under the (Commonwealth) Higher Education Support Act (2003). A condition of that approval is that the College undergo a Quality Audit by the Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA) every five years.

The first AUQA Quality Audit of the College was undertaken in July 2008. In preparation for that Audit, an extensive and rigorous self-review was undertaken. It built on a range of self-reviews conducted in recent years. This particular self-review was organised around four Quality Audit Factors (together with a number of criteria) prescribed in guidelines provided by the (Commonwealth) Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR). The review looked at all areas of the College and where appropriate compared our progress in continuous improvement against that of other relevant providers of Higher Education. The results are set out in the Performance Portfolio submitted to AUQA on Monday, 16th June 2008. That Performance Portfolio may be accessed by clicking HERE.

AUQA’s report on its first audit of the College may be accessed by clicking HERE. The report included 13 commendations, 10 affirmations and three recommendations. The plan, published on 8^th December 2008, to address those affirmations and recommendations may be accessed by clicking HERE. DEEWR’s response to that plan may be accessed by clicking HERE.

As required by DEEWR, a report on progress in addressing the affirmations and recommendations in the AUQA Audit Report was published on 29^th September 2009. That report may be accessed by clicking HERE. That progress is made in the context of an ongoing strategy to make evidence-driven continuous quality improvement intrinsic to the processes and practices of the College and part of preparation to apply for self-accrediting status by the end of 2010.