Equivalence of Professional Experience to Academic Qualifications: TEQSA Guidance Note

By Paul Kniest (NTEU National Office). Clause 4.2 of Provider Course Accreditation Standards of the Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold Standards) 2011 requires that providers ensure that academic staff “are appropriately qualified in the relevant discipline for their level of teaching (qualified to at least one AQF qualification level higher than the course of study being taught or with equivalent professional experience)”.
A number of universities have been selectively ignoring or interpreting the “equivalent professional experience” part of this clause and attempting to dismiss staff on the basis that they do not have a qualification one AQF level higher than the course in which they are teaching, despite in a number of cases having successfully taught in those courses for many years). More...