{"id":"F2021L00989","name":"Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (Quality of Research) Determination 2021","slug":"tertiary-education-quality-and-standards-agency-quality-of-research-determination-2021","collection":"legislative_instrument","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":440928,"registerId":"F2021L00989-fast-fetch-1775956377026","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-12","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (Quality of Research) Determination 2021","content":"---\nmeta-content-style-type: text/css\nmeta-content-type: application/xhtml+xml; charset=utf-8\n---\n\n?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\" standalone=\"no\"?>\n\n![Commonwealth Coat of Arms of Australia](image.001.jpeg)\n\n \n\nTertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (Quality of Research) Determination 2021\n\n \n\nThe Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency hereby makes the following determination of matters relating to the quality of research, under section 59A of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Act 2011 (the Act).\n\n \n\n \n\nDated:  25 June 2021\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n- Professor Peter CoaldrakeChief Commissioner\n- Professor Cliff WalshCommissioner Professor Joan CooperCommissioner\n\n\n \n\nI, Alan Tudge, Minister for Education and Youth, approve the following determination of the matters relating to the quality of research, made by the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency, for the purposes of section 59A of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Act 2011.\n\nDated:   12 July 2021    \n\nThe Hon Alan Tudge\n\nMinister for Education and Youth\n\n \n\nContents\n\n1  Name\n\n2  Commencement\n\n3  Authority\n\n4  Definitions\n\n5  Matters relating to the quality of research\n\n \n\n \n\n1  Name\n\n  This instrument is the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (Quality of Research) Determination 2021.\n\n2  Commencement\n\n (1) Each provision of this instrument specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, in accordance with column 2 of the table. Any other statement in column 2 has effect according to its terms.\n\n \n\n- Commencement information\n- Column 1 Column 2 Column 3\n- Provisions Commencement Date/Details\n- The whole of thisinstrument The day that Schedule 1, Part 1 of the Higher Education Legislation Amendment (Provider Category Standards and Other Measures) Act 2021 commences. This date is to be fixed by proclamation\n\n\nNote: This table relates only to the provisions of this instrument as originally made. It will not be amended to deal with any later amendments of this instrument.\n\n (2) Any information in column 3 of the table is not part of this instrument. Information may be inserted in this column, or information in it may be edited, in any published version of this instrument.\n\n3  Authority\n\n  This instrument is made under section 59A of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Act 2011.\n\n4  Definitions\n\nNote: A number of expressions used in this instrument are defined in definitions section of the Act, including the following:\n\n(a) regulated entity.\n\n  In this instrument:\n\nAct means the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Act 2011.\n\nExcellence in Research for Australia means the national research evaluation framework, developed and administered by the Australian Research Council.\n\nEngagement and Impact Assessment means the assessment of university researchers and their engagement with the end-users of research and their translation into economic, social, environmental, cultural and other impacts.\n\n5  Matters relating to the quality of research\n\nTEQSA must have regard to the following matters relating to the quality of research at a regulated entity for the purposes of section 59A of the Act:\n\n1.    results from Excellence in Research for Australia and the Engagement and Impact Assessment or any successor evaluations in Australia, and from comparable national and international research assessment exercises;\n2.    the volume of citations, and the quality of the publications in which the research output appeared;\n3.    whether research outputs have been peer reviewed and, where peer review has occurred, the nature of the peer review process;\n4.     outcomes from the prevailing practices for the measurement of research quality in a particular discipline;\n5.    the regulated entity’s governance framework for research including:\n  1.             its policy framework for research; \n  2.             its financial support for the pursuit of research;\n  3.             whether and how the governance framework for research is implemented.\n6.    the extent to which there is a research community at the regulated entity, including:\n  1.             the number of researchers at the regulated entity and the proportion of time spent by those researchers on research at the regulated entity;\n  2.             the relationship between individual researchers and the regulated entity;\n  3.             the extent to which researchers are engaged in the research community at the regulated entity, and with their discipline in the national or international research community where relevant;\n  4.             the extent to which research at the regulated entity is current or recent; and\n  5.             the supervisory and study environment for research activity at the regulated entity; and\n7.     the success of the regulated entity in competitive research grant rounds and in obtaining other direct funding for research.\n\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This instrument does not amend the Act or change which organisations are regulated. Made under section 59A of the Act (see s3), it specifies matters TEQSA must have regard to when assessing the quality of research at a regulated entity (see s5). It therefore narrows the regulator's stated assessment focus without expanding the statutory scope of regulated entities or changing definitions in the Act (see s4)."},"complexity_factors":["Delegated discretion: TEQSA is required to \"have regard to\" the listed matters rather than follow a strict formula, leaving assessment judgement to the regulator (see s3 and s5).","Use of external and evolving frameworks: reliance on Excellence in Research for Australia and Engagement and Impact Assessment or their successors introduces dependence on other national evaluation designs and future changes (see s4 definition and s5(1)).","Mixed objective and subjective indicators: items blend quantitative signals (citations, grant success) with qualitative judgements (publication quality, nature of peer review, prevailing disciplinary practices) increasing interpretive complexity (see s5(2)–(4)).","Governance and implementation assessment: requirement to evaluate institutional policy frameworks, financial support, and how governance is implemented adds organisational-review elements beyond pure output metrics (see s5(5)).","Research community metrics and relationships: assessing researcher numbers, time allocation, employment relationships, supervisory environment and national/international engagement requires collecting varied data types and contextual interpretation (see s5(6)).","Timing dependency: commencement is tied to the commencement of a schedule of another Act, creating potential transitional timing complexity (see s2)."],"plain_english_summary":"This Determination tells TEQSA what specific research-quality matters to consider when assessing a regulated higher-education provider. It lists indicators such as national research evaluations, citation and publication quality, peer review, discipline practices, governance and implementation, the size and engagement of the research community, and competitive grant success. It affects universities and other regulated entities by shaping TEQSA’s assessment criteria and therefore what providers must evidence about their research activity and support."},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The instrument remains tightly focused on its original purpose: specifying matters for TEQSA to consider when assessing research quality under section 59A of the TEQSA Act. The seven criteria listed align precisely with the statutory mandate and do not expand into unrelated regulatory areas."},"complexity_factors":["Very short instrument — only 7 operative provisions","Minimal defined terms (only 3: Act, Excellence in Research for Australia, Engagement and Impact Assessment)","No cross-references to other legislation beyond the enabling Act (section 59A)","Simple list structure in section 5 with no conditional logic, exceptions, or nested provisions","Straightforward directive language ('TEQSA must have regard to') with no thresholds, tests, or discretionary triggers","No temporal limitations, sunset clauses, or transitional provisions"],"plain_english_summary":"This instrument directs TEQSA on the factors to use when judging research quality at Australian universities and other regulated providers, affecting universities, researchers and research students.  \n\nIt matters because TEQSA’s assessments influence funding, reputation and accreditation, and formalise a mix of traditional academic measures (citations, peer review, discipline standards) with broader indicators of impact, governance, research community health and grant success."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/tertiary-education-quality-and-standards-agency-quality-of-research-determination-2021","history":"/api/acts/tertiary-education-quality-and-standards-agency-quality-of-research-determination-2021/history","analysis":"/api/acts/tertiary-education-quality-and-standards-agency-quality-of-research-determination-2021/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/tertiary-education-quality-and-standards-agency-quality-of-research-determination-2021/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/tertiary-education-quality-and-standards-agency-quality-of-research-determination-2021/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/tertiary-education-quality-and-standards-agency-quality-of-research-determination-2021/documents"}}