Non self-accrediting higher education institutions
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Introduction
Higher education courses are those leading to the award of associate degree, bachelor degree, graduate certificate, graduate diploma, master's degree or doctoral degree. Some courses leading to the award of a diploma or advanced diploma may also be accredited as higher education.
The Act protects the use of higher education award titles in Queensland and provides for significant financial penalties for bodies offering higher education courses or conferring or claiming to confer higher education awards without the permission of the Minister for Education and Training and Minister for the Arts.
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The nature and purpose of accreditation
Accreditation provides certification that the standards of a course are appropriate to the award to which it leads and that the course and the methods adopted in delivering it are likely to achieve the stated outcomes.
The purpose of Queensland's accreditation process is:
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To protect the standing and quality of higher education awards in Queensland;
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To assure the general public, the educational community, government and other agencies, employers and students that the courses accredited are appropriate to the award conferred;
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To ensure comparability of awards in higher education, and facilitate national and international recognition of awards; and
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To assist institutions to implement appropriate credit transfers between courses within nationally endorsed guidelines.
The accreditation criteria and procedures are designed to ensure that higher education courses accredited by the Minister for Education and Training and Minister for the Arts are comparable in requirements and learning outcomes to courses at the same level in a similar field at Australian universities. To this end, they:
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Higher education applications under the new National Framework.
The Higher Education (General Provisions) Act 2008 
has commenced, allowing for implementation in Queensland of the National Protocols for Higher Education Approval Processes (new window) 379k 
and the National Guidelines for Higher Education Approval Processes — Guidelines for the registration of non self-accrediting higher education institutions and the accreditation of their course/s (relating to National Protocols A and B) (new window) 836k (the National Guidelines), both approved by the Ministerial Council for Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA).
Applications for registration of non self-accrediting higher education institutions and course accreditation must be submitted to the Office of Higher Education using the application form and the relevant submission template listed below. The application must be accompanied by the relevant application fee as outlined in The Higher Education (General Provisions) Regulation 2008
Application form for Higher Education Approval in Queensland (new window) 209k
If you wish to apply for approval in Queensland as another type of higher education institution, please contact the Office of Higher Education regarding the relevant submission templates that are required. The National Guidelines relating to other types of higher education institutions can be found below.
Marketing during the accreditation process
Applicants in the process of accreditation should refrain from making any public statement or advertisement that falsely implies a course is accredited, or that the applicant is authorised to confer the award, until the Minister has formally granted accreditation of a course. This includes advertising or promoting a course as 'subject to approval'. The Act contains penalties for offering or advertising the offering of a course or the conferring of an award before it has been accredited. The provisions of the Fair Trading Act 1989 may also apply.
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Annual reporting
All non self-accrediting higher education institutions in Queensland are required to submit an Annual Report (new window) 303k 
to the Minister by 31 May each year. The report should be submitted in electronic and hard copy format to the Higher Education Approvals and Regulation Team (HEART) by the due date. A component of the report requires renewal of the declaration to meet the requirements of the Fit and Proper Person Guideline Queensland (new window) 46k .
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Current providers
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