Weeding out 'dodgy' players key, says Peter Coaldrake Peter Coaldrake: 'There's got to be a signal that the dodgy operators aren't welcome in Australia.' VICE-CHANCELLOR Peter Coaldrake believes the anti-red-tape crusade has not gone too far but warns that the rationale for a national watchdog must not be forgotten. "There's got to be a signal that the dodgy operators aren't welcome in Australia," said the Queensland University of Technology chief, who was a key player in the creation of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency. In the HES today, Australian National University vice-chancellor Ian Young calls for balance after "a feeding frenzy of criticism" of TEQSA. "Denise Bradley recommended that universities be able to enrol any students they deemed suitable," he says. In return, the regulator ... would monitor quality and would have the power to act. I don't believe you can have it both ways - to set your own standard and have no or little review. In line with a reform agenda inherited from the previous government, Education Minister Christopher Pyne has ordered TEQSA to consult a new advisory council, and to put streamlined regulation ahead of any further quality assessments. He has also asked for statistics on its case-handling, reports on its own plans to cut red tape, and an estimate of how much money providers will save thanks to lighter-touch regulation. Professor Coaldrake said TEQSA had to reposition itself as "a brand protector for Australia - otherwise it will be characterised as a negative, compliance organisation." But he dismissed as lacking credibility the occasional suggestion from "the top end" of the sector that a regulator was unnecessary. "Let me tell you, some of the biggest risks in Australia are at the top end - the exposure to international students (for example)," he said. Meanwhile, the UK Higher Education Commission has called for an overhaul of regulation there to deal with risks arising from a new funding regime, easier entry by new providers and a demand-driven system. The commission's report says there are lessons to be learned from the missteps of TEQSA. "The Australian risk indicator approach was initially commended for its ability to look forward at potential future risks, but the indicators became too prescriptive and left little flexibility for institutions to innovate in the way risk-based regulation intends," it says. Birgit Lohmann, deputy vice-chancellor at the University of the Sunshine Coast, one of the first institutions to undergo re-registration with TEQSA, agreed with Professor Young's warning that deregulation ought not to overshoot. Asked if the regulator's authority had been damaged, she said: "I think it has to some extent but I don't think it's irretrievable." Professor Lohmann advised a "separation of powers" division between regulation and quality assessment. However, RMIT University policy analyst Gavin Moodie said TEQSA's first quality assessment topics - third-party arrangements and English language standards - were well-chosen examples of "preventative" measures to uphold standards. He said a more general easing of regulation was risky, given the government's ambition to increase international student numbers and yesterday's decision to extend streamlined visa processing to some non-universities. In its latest annual report, TEQSA says its appropriation budget for 2013-14 is $18.5 million. Of operating funding, about two thirds would go on staff salaries. The agency expected to be "under increased cost pressure" with more work to do in 2013-14. It hired 38 staff in 2012-13, and reached its target of 96 full-time equivalent staff (not counting commissioners) by the end of the financial year. A survey last year showed TEQSA staff were "less satisfied" in areas such as "access to learning and development, performance management and internal communication."