National Protocols

The National Governance Protocols were implemented under the Federal Government’s reforms in higher education and became effective in June 2004. The Protocols were to improve governance practices at universities by providing standards to ensure that governing bodies were effectively overseeing the operations of universities.

The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) deplores the recent violent attacks against members of the international student community at the Ourimbah campus at the University of Newcastle.

CAPA President Nigel Palmer said "Intimidation and attacks like this on international students are just not acceptable- no way. International students here in Australia make a huge contribution, to our universities and to our communities. And this is the thanks they get? Attacks like this are utterly deplorable.

The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) is the national peak body representing Australia's 257,700 postgraduate students. These students are engaged in both coursework and research programs and include over 84,600 international students.

CAPA welcomes the invitation to respond to the recommendations in the Evaluation of the General Skilled Migration Categories report by Dr Bob Birrell, Professor Lesleyanne Hawthorne and Professor Sue Richardson.

The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) welcomes the opportunity to comment on the JCHE's draft National Protocols for consideration by the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs

CAPA's concerns about quality in the provision of education for international students onshore have been enumerated in several recent submissions including to the DEST Evaluation of the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000 and to the DIMIA review of Options for Regulating Migration Agents Overseas and the Immigration Related Activities of Education Agents. These submissions raised the inadequacy of the quality assurance mechanisms that apply onshore, yet even these minimal quality assurance provisions do not exist for offshore students.

The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) welcomes the opportunity to contribute to Minister Nelson's debate on our future higher education accreditation and approval arrangements. We value this opportunity for public consultation, and believe that this is integral to the process of reviewing the National Protocols. We submit the following response to the issues paper Building University Diversity: Future approval and accreditation processes for Australian higher education on behalf of all students enrolled in Australian postgraduate degrees.

In 1990 DEET designated six equity groups, including students from rural and isolated areas, for targeted action to increase these students' access to tertiary education. The strategies, set out in the policy paper A Fair Chance for All, were focused heavily on improving distance education as a means of raising higher education participation for rural and isolated students.

Submissions included are:

Response to the Ministerial discussion paper "Varieties of Learning"
Response to the Ministerial discussion paper "Meeting the Challenges"
Response to the Ministerial discussion paper "Varieties of Excellence"
Response to the Ministerial discussion paper "Setting firm Foundations"
Response to the Ministerial discussion paper "Striving for Quality"

The complete submissions are available in the PDF below:

The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) welcomes the opportunity to contribute to Minister Nelson's review of the higher education sector. We value this opportunity for public consultation, and believe that this is integral to the review process. We submit the following response to the overview paper Higher Education at the Crossroads on behalf of all students enrolled in Australian postgraduate degrees.

The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the Government's proposed framework for establishing national research priorities. We applaud Minister McGauran's decision to incorporate public consultation into the priority setting process. We submit the following response to the Minister's issues paper, Developing National Research Priorities, on behalf of all students enrolled in Australian postgraduate degrees.