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Response to MCEETYA National Protocols for Higher Education Approval Processes, March 2008

Protocol A: Nationally agreed criteria for all higher education institutions / Macquarie response
3. A1 Is a legal entity which has been established or recognised by or under an Australian legislative instrument /
  • MacquarieUniversity Act 1989
  • Listed in AQF Register of Recognised Education Institutions & Authorised Accreditation Authorities in Australia:

3. A2 Contributes to the goals of higher education in Australia as set out (in sections 17-20) in the Part 1 (Introduction) of the National Protocols /
  • Authorised by the Australian government to offer higher education qualifications in Australia:

  • Macquarie@50 – Macquarie’s strategic plan to meet the goals of higher education in Australia:

  • Provide equitable access through the Equity Support Unit:

and the provision of Scholarships:

Access and Equity activities are reported on in the Annual Report:

  • Engage with the community to enhance material, human, social and/or environmental wellbeing of the community, through the Community Engagement Unit:

3. A3 Has a clearly articulated higher education purpose that includes a commitment to and support for free intellectual inquiry in the institution’s academic endeavours /
  • The University’s Academic Freedom Statement can be found at:

  • The values, principles and goals for Macquarie’s higher education purpose are articulated in the Learning and Teaching Plan:

  • Our support for the free intellectual inquiry can be found in the University’s Ethics Statement:

3. A4 Delivers teaching and learning that engage with advanced knowledge and inquiry /
  • Goal 4 of Macquarie’s Learning and Teaching Plan (
is to Support Research-enhanced Learning and Teaching, with the Objectives of:
  • To equip students with research skills and critical thinking, through exposure to research problems and realistic environments:
  • To enliven teaching by including examples of current research
  • To foster student engagement with research

3. A5 Has governance arrangements, quality assurance processes and a staffing profile appropriate to its goals and academic purposes /
  • Macquarie’s senior governance body is University Council,which is currently reviewing its charter and terms of reference

  • Committees of Council were reviewed in Dec 2006, with the aim of improving Council decision-making
  • A University Secretary has been recruited to act as a conduit between Macquarie Council and Macquarie Executive Management
  • Macquarie’s principle academic governance body is the Academic Senate

  • Macquarie has adopted and is implementing a Quality Enhancement Framework
  • Staffing profile information is found in the Annual Report:

and within Disciplinary Profiles (for academic staff):

3. A6 Has sound financial and business management practices and sufficient financial and other resources to sustain the delivery of the institution’s programs into the future /
  • Macquarie’s financial situation is reported in the Annual Report:


  • Macquarie has established an Endowment Fund/Property Trust to diversify its sources of income:

3. A7 Complies with the AQF higher education titles and descriptors / The Handbooks are the official source of information about MacquarieUniversity's undergraduate studies, postgraduate studies, legislation, governance and rules. Handbooks for Undergraduate and Postgraduate study are available in hard copy and on the Web at:

3. A8 Academic staff are active in scholarship that informs their teaching, and are active in research when engaged in research student supervision /
  • Scholarship of teaching is led by the Learning and Teaching Committee (of Academic Senate) and supported by the Learning and Teaching Centre. Please note that this Centre is a new creation brought about by the amalgamation of the Centre for Professional Development and the Centre for Flexible Learning on 1st Jan 2008. The website for this new Centre has yet to be developed.
  • On the basis of student feedback, relative success with Carrick Awards and Grants and active participation across the University in key strategic learning and teaching projects (Curriculum Renewal, Graduate Capabilities, Assessment, Student Feedback, Technologies in Learning and Teaching and Student Engagement) Macquarie is satisfied that academic staff are active in scholarship that informs their teaching.
  • Macquarie research activity 1999-2005 can be found at:

The Research Office maintains a database of research, researchers and grants, called IRIS:

  • Research Student Supervision
Policies, and Procedures for the appointment of academic staff as supervisors have been approved by the new University Policy Reference Group and are now available on the Higher Degree Research Office website at:

Research activity is required for appointment as a supervisor. Research Activity indicators are found on page 7 of the Macquarie University Research Strategic Plan 2006-2009
  • MacquarieUniversity meets the criteria of having staff active in research when engaged in student supervision. This statement is based on:
  • The Shanghai Jiao Tong University Rankings of research outputs has consistently ranked MacquarieUniversity in the top 350 in the world
  • A 2007 Research Benchmarking exercise with the University of Newcastle has revealed that “almost 10% of the researchers were rated 5 (by definition being rated in the top 10% of researchers internationally). The relatively symmetrical profile also indicates that the claims by Macquarie and Newcastle to be research intensive universities can be substantiated.”[2]
However, in order to achieve our strategic goal of being among the top eight research universities in Australia and among the top 200 in the world, additional effort is required. Macquarie is hopeful that AUQA and its Panel of expert assessors will play a part in the achievement of this goal.
3. A9 It provides sufficient support and infrastructure for effective student learning /
  • Support Services at Macquarie is made up of the following sections to provide services to students:
  • Welfare Office
  • Career Development Office
  • Medical Service
  • Equity Support
  • Counselling Service
  • Learning Support
  • Financial Advice
  • Accomodation Service
  • The Numeracy Centre offers a free drop-in service, weekly workshops for some first year courses, bridging programs and preparatory courses at the beginning of each semester and some on-line resources
  • A Writing Skills Program is provided for undergraduate students
  • Indigenous student support and assistance with academic literacy is provided through Warawara
  • The University Library provides personal and online student assistance through:
  • Online Librarian
  • A range of services, including access to bibliographic and online tools
  • Specialist support through Liaison Librarians for the disciplines
  • University policies with regard to its infrastructure, including the management of teaching spaces and sustainability, can be found at
  • In 2004 Macquarie adopted a Campus Development Plan to guide infrastructure development
  • Recent projects of the Office of Facilities Management can be found at:

3. A10 Provides protection of students in the event of closure of the entity or any of its courses /
  • Procedures for the Termination of a Program of Study are identical to those for the commencement of a new program, to ensure the impact on students is minimised. Both an Academic Case and a Business Case must be completed and sent to the Academic Program Committee for adoption. Templates for these can be found at:


Protocol D: Criteria and processes for establishing Australian universities / Macquarie response
4. D1Demonstrates a culture of sustained scholarship which informs teaching and learning in all fields in which courses are offered /
  • In 1991, the Centre for Higher Education and Professional Development (CHEPD) was established at MacquarieUniversity, with the aim of supporting staff development in teaching, and also in developing innovative practices among both academic and general staff.
This was done by conducting seminars and workshops on induction to teaching and on ways of improving teaching and research.
  • In 1994, CHEPD began offering a postgraduate level Certificate in Higher Education program for staff, which aimed to provide a theoretical and research base for learning and teaching, facilitate participant evaluation of relevant theory and research, and its application to practice, and promote innovation and the pursuit of best practice in learning and teaching. Staff were sponsored by the university to complete the program.
  • In 1997, the Centre was re-constituted as the Centre for Professional Development (CPD). The postgraduate programs in higher education were developed to become accredited courses of MacquarieUniversity, ranging from Postgraduate Certificate, Diploma, to Masters and Doctoral programs. At present, fifteen different postgraduate units are taught, with a total attendance of 135 students.
  • Since 2005, CPD, has conducted the Foundations in eLearning and Teaching program (FIeLT), which provides an introduction to academic teaching for new staff. Customised versions of the FIeLT program are also conducted within Divisions to meet the needs of sessional teaching staff.
  • In 2008 the Centre for Professional Development amalgamated with the Centre for Flexible Learning to become the Learning and Teaching Centre (LTC).
  • LTC staff work with staff in the departments and faculties on the organizational development of learning and teaching based upon scholarship, and on the development of web-based resources to support this. LTC staff also contribute actively to university and divisional committees concerned with learning and teaching.
  • Each Division has an Assoc Dean (Learning and Teaching), who together form the University Learning and Teaching Committee, a sub-committee of Academic Senate. The Assoc Deans (Learning and Teaching) are responsible for quality assurance within the Divisions and Departments. Large Divisions, such as Economic and Financial Studies, also have a Director of Learning and Teaching Studies, responsible for working with the Learning and Teaching Centre on projects of strategic importance in the Learning and Teaching area.
  • Teaching evaluation and improvement services were introduced in 1987, and have increased in use by staff every year. The service, now called the Teaching Evaluation for Development Service (TEDS), offers a wide variety of methods for evaluating the effectiveness of teaching. By gathering regular evidence of teaching effectiveness using the TEDS surveys, teaching staff can adopt a reflective attitude towards their teaching performance, using the cycle of evaluation, reflection, planning, implementing change, followed by evaluation again. This critical evaluation, reflection and implementation also sustains the quality of scholarship and teaching.
  • Macquarie has been awarding Vice-Chancellor’s Awards for Teaching Excellence since 1996:

  • In 2007 Macquarie undertook a Review of its Academic Structure and in 2008 is implementing a new faculty structure which includes, in addition to the Assoc Dean (L&T), a Learning and Teaching Director in each faculty. These latter positions will be responsible for quality enhancement in learning and teaching by:
  • Promoting the values of the University
  • Encouraging the pursuit of excellence in teaching and learning and in research
  • Developing and contributing to a culture of evaluation and benchmarking and strive for continuous improvements
  • For the disciplines within multi-disciplinary departments, initiating/facilitating regular reviews of academic programmes, curriculum and course content, and student evaluation of courses and teaching

4. D2Undertakes research that leads to the creation of new knowledge and original creative endeavour at least in those fields in which Research Masters and PhDs or equivalent Research Doctorates are offered /
  • The MacquarieUniversity Research Strategic Plan 2006-2008
has the following goals:
  1. To establish a pervasive research culture across all areas of the University
  2. To achieve prominence in research in selected concentrations of research excellence internationally and nationally
  3. To maximise research outcomes by increasing the number of high quality higher degree research (HDR) commencing candidates and completions
  4. To be a significant contributor to the nation’s economic, social and cultural well-being
  • The results of this coherentstrategy are commencing to show in the University’s annual Research and Research Training Report:

4. D3Demonstrates commitment of teachers, researchers, course designers and assessors to free inquiry and the systematic advancement of knowledge /
  • Section 2.9 of the MacquarieUniversityEnterprise Agreement 2006-2009 describes the commitment of the University to protect and promote intellectual freedom

  • Academic has adopted a Statement on Academic Freedom, 10 October 2006:

  • Academic Freedom features in the University Media Policy:

  • Macquarie University Research Centres (MQRC) are funded to with the anticipation that they will advance knowledge:
“All Centres will be expected to support high quality research that contributes to the University's stated regional and national research objectives, including those of the advancement of knowledge, economic and social development and promoting national and international research collaborations.”
  • Schedule 6 of the MacquarieUniversityEnterprise Agreement 2006-2009 outlines the Minimum Standards for Academic Levels. MacquarieUniversity expects that Teaching and Research staff will from Academic Level C “will make original contributions, which expand knowledge or practice in his or her discipline:

  • Schedule 6 of the Enterprise Agreement is expanded in the Discipline Profiles required in the Enterprise Agreement (Section 4.16) to be established by each academic discipline.
  • The Academic Promotion Policy states that the criteria given the greatest weight is “overall achievements in the advancement of knowledge through scholarship and research and the dissemination of knowledge through teaching”

4. D4Demonstrates governance, procedural rules, organisational structure, admission policies, financial arrangements and quality assurance processes which are underpinned by the values and goals of universities and which ensure the integrity of the institution’s academic programs /
  • The Macquarie University Act 1989 established the University Council as the governing authority of the University. The Act prescribes that at least two members of Council must have financial expertise and at least one must have commercial expertise. Part 4 of the Act outlines the Functions of Council:

  • The University Council has an Audit and Risk Committee and a Finance and Facilities Committee:
  • The University publishes a Calendar of Governance, Legislation & Rules (along with Handbooks of Undergraduate and Postgraduate Studies):

  • The Academic Program Committee of Senate is responsible for University’s annual academic program, and approval and monitoring of new programs and units. Its Terms of Reference can be found at:

  • Admission requirements for specific programs may be found in the Handbooks:

  • Macquarie@50, p.7 established a new Senior Management Structure for the University:

  • In 2007 a Review of the Academic Structure took place to ensure that the academic organisational structure was capable of facilitating excellence in research and teaching:

5. D5Delivers AQF higher education qualifications across a range of broad fields of study (including Research Masters and PhDs or equivalent Research Doctorates in at least three broad fields of study) and sets standards for those qualifications which are equivalent to Australian and international standards. /
  • Macquarie Undergraduate Programs may be found at:

  • Macquarie Postgraduate Programs may be found at:

  • Macquarie Higher Degree Research Programs Prospectus may be found at:

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[1] This is an externally accessible Web address, as it is available to Future Students, both domestic and International.

[2] Page 12 of the Report of the Research Benchmarking exercise between Macquarie and NewcastleUniversities. This Report is confidential, but will be shared with the AUQA Panel, once membership is known.