Moving to a new model of academic audit in New Zealand’s university sector
26 June 2024 | media
From Professor Cheryl de la Rey, Chair of Universities New Zealand.
The Education and Training Act 2020 identifies the New Zealand Vice-Chancellors’ Committee (NZVCC) as the entity primarily responsible for quality assurance in the university sector. This responsibility has existed in various forms all the way back to the original University of New Zealand in 1870.
In the 1990s academic audit and accreditation of institutions became a standard approach to quality assurance internationally. NZVCC established the Academic Audit Unit in 1994 to lead academic audit in the university sector. The Academic Audit Unit (AAU) became the Academic Quality Agency (AQA) in 2013.
We are currently in the sixth audit round – currently running over eight-nine years.
AAU/AQA has served the university sector and the country extremely well (as evidenced by its positive external reviews) in its 30 years of existence. Very challenging financial headwinds mean that the Vice-Chancellors believe it is time for a different model.
NZVCC remains committed to academic audit as a concept. It is valuable for the universities themselves – periodically leading them to look holistically at their quality arrangements and to ensure they remain fit for purpose. It is also valuable for external audiences – having an independent validation of the quality of our publicly funded universities.
We are currently in the sixth audit cycle – currently running over eight years. Earlier audit cycles ranged from 3-6 years.
The audit cycles have grown longer over time as our university sector has matured. Audit findings have mainly confirmed a continued commitment to quality across all eight of our universities.
The cost of our current model of academic audit is substantial once we factor in the cost of AQA as an organisation and the costs incurred by universities in preparing self-review portfolios and in follow-up reporting.
NZVCC now want to look at whether future cycles of academic audit can be done in a way that reduces complexity and cost, but that maintains rigor, credibility, and helps drive quality outcomes.
The current Cycle 6 audit has almost completed six of the eight university audits and the final two audits will continue under the oversight of the current AQA Board. These are:
- The University of Otago – site visit in July 2024 with the report published in October 2024.
- Auckland University of Technology (AUT) – site visit in September 2024 with the report published in December 2024.
Once the AUT report is published, the AQA Board will end its tenure and the organisation will be wound up as an independent entity.
Although AQA will cease operations, NZVCC is committed to the following:
- Completing one-year reports for the universities that will not have completed them by the end of December 2024. This will be the University of Waikato, Lincoln University, the University of Otago, and Auckland University of Technology.
- A review of Cycle 6 and recommendations for Cycle 7.
A sub-committee of Learning and Teaching Committee (the Deputy Vice-Chancellors’ Academic) will be established to oversee completion of these Cycle 6 elements. The sub-committee will have an independent chair and will be constituted so it has the necessary independence to be objective and credible.
NZVCC has taken the in-principle decision that there will be a Cycle 7 but there is not yet any decision as to what this will look like. The findings of the Cycle 6 Review will inform thinking about the scope and shape of Cycle 7.
Although detailed thinking about Cycle 7 is unlikely to start before late 2025, NZVCC has taken six in decisions that will inform the future model of academic audit. The future model will:
- Maintain an eight-year cycle for institutional assessment, but eventually aim for both academic assessment and Code of pastoral care verification to be completed through one combined process.
- Maintain a five-year cycle of independent reviews of AQA and CUAP but move to just one independent review that covers both institutional assessment (AQA) and programme approvals (CUAP).
- Meet all INQAAHE requirements for international recognition as an External Quality Assurance Provider (EQAP)[1]. One of INQAAHE’s requirements for recognition as an EQAP is “1.3.2 – The composition of the decision-making body and/or its regulatory framework ensure its independence and impartiality”.
- Where it does not undermine independence use existing Universities NZ staffing for secretariat and administrative support of institutional assessment.
- Support institutional evaluations (academic audits) and reviews through temporary/fixed term capability brought in as and when needed within each eight-year cycle.
- Retain a distinct brand for institutional evaluation/academic audit – such as the Academic Quality Agency even though it will not have permanent staffing and will be supported by UNZ staff. Future institutional evaluation/academic audit will be overseen by some governance mechanism that ensures academic audit remains useful to the universities while having the independence necessary to provide external audiences with confidence in findings.
The Vice-Chancellors accept that there will be some additional risk associated with moving to a different model of quality assurance but intend that these risks will be appropriately managed at the time new arrangements are defined.
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Separately I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge and to thank AQA’s Executive Director Sheelagh Matear.
Emeritus Professor Sheelagh Matear joined AQA in 2016 in time to design and run Academic Audit Cycle 6 – from 2017 to 2024. In late 2023 Sheelagh informed the AQA Board of her desire to retire – ideally around the middle of 2024. This announcement informed thinking about how NZVCC statutory functions were being exercised and partially contributed to the decisions taken around AQA and academic audit.
Although Professor Matear will retire formally at the end of June 2024, she has generously agreed to continue overseeing the final two audits on a part time basis. Her work will conclude with the completion of the Auckland University of Technology audit report in December.
I would also like to thank the AQA Board for their stewardship and oversight of academic audit on behalf of the NZVCC. They have ensured a high level of confidence and trust in academic audit – within the sector and among our external stakeholders.
This is a standard that the Vice-Chancellors remain committed to for Cycle 7 and beyond.