Degrees - Governance - Content

Governance

Higher Education programs are delivered by the NSW Technical and Further Education Commission trading as TAFE NSW Higher Education. Delivery of Higher Education programs is overseen by a corporate governance structure and supported by our guiding principles.

Corporate governance

The key governance committees with responsibility for TAFE NSW Higher Education are the Academic Council and the TAFE NSW Leadership Team. The structure separates the delivery of TAFE NSW higher education courses, from the delivery of TAFE NSW vocational courses.

TAFE NSW Higher Education Academic Council

The Academic Council which operates independently of TAFE NSW Higher Education is responsible for academic policy making, academic administration, oversight of the educational process and maintaining appropriate control over the administration of higher education curriculum to safeguard the academic integrity of its programs and to ensure educational objectives to be achieved.

The chair of the Academic Council is Dr Valerie Braithwaite, Emeritus Professor in the School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet) at the Australian National University.

Other members include senior managers at TAFE NSW; the Head of Higher Education Standards, TAFE NSW; the Dean of TAFE NSW Higher Education; and a number of TAFE NSW academics, and academics from external higher education providers.

TAFE NSW Leadership Team

The TAFE NSW Leadership Team has overall responsibility for the efficient conduct of the TAFE NSW higher education operations. Membership of the Leadership Team includes the Managing Director of TAFE NSW and all chiefs, including the Chief Financial Officer.

Guiding principles

Higher qualifications assist people to become more employable and provide opportunities for more interesting work and higher wages. This, in turn, increases the productivity of the Australian workforce and strengthens our economy. Australian Governments have set ambitious targets to increase the proportion of young people with bachelor degree qualifications and increase the proportion of higher education students from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

TAFE NSW is uniquely positioned to help Australia meet these goals. Through the network of TAFE NSW campuses stretching across NSW, TAFE NSW Higher Education is well placed to expand tertiary pathway opportunities to people across the state, contributing to Australia's ambitious higher education participation targets.

TAFE NSW Higher Education will build on its reputation for quality and industry responsive training to deliver job ready higher education graduates in areas of niche capability and high employment demand.

Our ambition

TAFE NSW Higher Education will:

enhance and expand opportunities for students from all communities to attain higher education qualifications;
encourage the exploration and development of inquiry, applied skills and knowledge within an industry focussed learning environment.

Our intentions