VET News

TEQSA Welcomes Changes to ELICOS Standards

The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) has welcomed revised standards governing English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students (ELICOS) announced by the Minister for Education and Training on 12 October.

The changes come after significant consultation by the Department of Education and Training, with input from TEQSA and other key industry stakeholders such as English Australia.

One change to the revised ELICOS Standards will see formal measures put in place to ensure that assessment outcomes for all ELICOS courses are comparable to other criteria used for admission to a higher education course of study.

TEQSA chief executive Anthony McClaran said that the changes improved quality assurance of courses used as pathways to higher education and provided additional protection to students.

“Standard 1.1 of the Higher Education Standards Framework calls for higher education providers to ensure that students admitted have a proficiency in English needed to participate in their intended study”, said Mr McClaran.

“Students must be given every opportunity to succeed in their chosen study and proficiency in English can be a vital factor for international students”.

With almost 19,000 students studying over 230 TEQSA regulated ELICOS courses, and international education now Australia’s third largest industry, it is important that the quality assurance and standards which govern pathways to further learning are robust and protect learning outcomes.

TEQSA will continue to work the Department of Education and Training, higher education providers and English Australia prior to the 1 January 2018 implementation date.

Guidance material on what TEQSA will expect to see when assessing ELICOS providers will be released in draft form over the coming months.

For more information, you can view the original TEQSA announcement.

Date posted Oct 19, 2017