In the proposal, the government will seek to address over-regulation in the university sector by reducing the scope of the Tertiary Education Quality Standard Agency’s (TEQSA) authority, removing duplication of required reports and streamlining data collection.

The government has based its repeals on 27 recommendations from the PhillipsKPA and the Lee Dow-Braithwaite reviews of higher education regulation commissioned by the previous Labour government.

“Freedom and autonomy will be the hallmarks of this government’s approach to universities”

Speaking at the Universities Australia annual conference last month, Education Minister Christopher Pyne reiterated the government’s priority “to remove the dead hand of excessive reporting and regulation that stifles universities’ productivity and capacity to innovate”.

“Freedom and autonomy will be the hallmarks of this government’s approach to universities,” he said. “As we reduce the burden of regulation on universities, I would urge you to grasp your destiny into your own hands.”

Introduced in 2012 as the country’s first national tertiary education regulator, in practice TEQSA has come under harsh criticism for applying a one size fits all approach to education regulation across the sectors and resulted in burdensome regulatory overlaps.

Part of Pyne’s plan to streamline the regulatory body is establishing a TEQSA Advisory Council made up of international education stakeholders.

The council, reporting to Pyne, will advise on the progress of deregulation  and “ensure the minimum regulatory intervention consistent with accountability for quality”.

In a bid to centralise reporting into the Higher Education Information Management System (HEIMS) and “improve the coordination and interaction of existing data and information” the National Advisory Group for Higher Education Data and Information (NAGHEDI) has been set up by the government.

Following recommendations, further efforts to simplify data collection including international and financial reporting will be implemented through the NAGHEDI.

Phil Honeywood, executive director of the International Education Association of Australia said that the shift from state-based quality assurance to national regulation has led to a more mature sector needing a “lighter touch” and less of a “paper chase”.

According to sector representing body, Universities Australia, institutions collectively spend AUD$280 million every year on regulatory compliance and reporting.

Honeywood added that human resources that could have been spent enhancing the student experience were instead deployed in the quality assurance area.

“Perhaps now we can put more effort into some of the other issues associated with our wonderful industry and sector”

“There’s been concerns raised by the sector as a whole that clear needs in student service delivery areas have not had the priority that they need because of the clear importance that had to be given just to meet the terms of the regulatory bodies,” he told The PIE News.

“Perhaps now we can put more effort into some of the other issues associated with our wonderful industry and sector.”

The easing of university governance is part of the Abbot administration’s “omnibus red tape repeal bill” that aims to deregulate across the board, proposing to abolish up to 8,000 federal laws.