Universities Accord (Student Support and Other Measures) (Adelaide University) Transitional Rules 2025

The instrument uses a narrowly defined set of statutory concepts and cross-references. Key concepts include merger time, merging university, funding agreement, funding agreement publication, relevant student, current course, unit of study, higher degree by research, enabling course, and the interaction with items 7 and 8 of Schedule 5 to the Act.

Merger time and merging university are not defined within this instrument; the instrument expressly imports those definitions from item 4 of Schedule 5 to the Act (s4, note). The instrument therefore operates only in the context of a defined merger event under Schedule 5. The funding agreement concept is tied to the definition of “funding agreement” in section 30‑25 of the Higher Education Support Act 2003; the instrument modifies how that section applies in the narrow circumstance of Adelaide University transitioning to a Table A provider (s5(2)-(3)). The instrument also imports the meaning of enabling course, course of study, and unit of study from Schedule 1 to the Higher Education Support Act 2003 (s4).

“Relevant student” is a defined functional class in the instrument, captured by section 6(2). It means a student who is enrolled in a course of study with a merging university immediately before the merger time, or who is a grandfathered student under the Higher Education Support Act 2003 in relation to such a course. The instrument then prescribes three categories of student circumstances that determine whether items 7 and 8 of Schedule 5 to the Act do not apply as at 1 January 2026 (s6(3)). Those categories are: completion of all requirements for an enabling course, meeting all requirements for conferral of an award in a course of study other than an enabling course, being enrolled in and having commenced a unit of study but not having completed it, and being enrolled in an HDR who has submitted a thesis that remains under examination (s6(3)(a)-(c)).

The instrument creates a two-step temporal rule for transfers. Step one: determine the student’s status immediately before 1 January 2026, and exclude certain students from the operation of items 7 and 8 if they are in the specified completion-related categories (s6(2)-(3)). Step two: for those students who remain enrolled immediately before 24 March 2026 by reason of the earlier exclusion and who still have not met completion requirements, the instrument applies items 7 and 8 as if the merger time were 24 March 2026 (s6(4)-(5)). Mechanically, this delays the operation of items 7 and 8 for that limited cohort to 24 March 2026.

On the funding agreement side, the instrument modifies the timing and publication obligations that normally attach to funding agreements under the Higher Education Support Act 2003, by permitting pre‑merger agreements and provisional entries, by requiring finalisation before the merger time, and by imposing a specific publication duty within 28 days of the final variation (s5(2)-(4)). The funding agreement must commence on and from the merger time and must expire at the end of 2026 (s5(3)(a)-(b)), which makes the agreement explicitly temporary and tied to the transitional year.

Finally, the instrument’s commencement regime is important conceptually because it conditions the instrument’s operation on the Proclamation that fixes the commencement day for Schedule 5 to the Act (s2(1)), linking its practical effect to the broader schedule implementation timetable.

The instrument identifies a narrow set of affected parties and decision-makers.

The Minister for Education is the decision-maker with a direct power to act under the instrument. Section 5(2) expressly permits the Minister, on behalf of the Commonwealth, to enter a funding agreement with Adelaide University before the merger time and to unilaterally vary that agreement for the purposes described in s5(3)(c). The instrument therefore centralises authority to agree the pre‑merger funding arrangements in the Minister’s office, subject to the requirement that provisional agreements be finalised before the merger time (s5(3)(c)). The Secretary of the Department has an administrative duty to publish the final funding agreement on the Department’s website within 28 days after the Minister has varied the provisional agreement into final form (s5(4)).

Adelaide University, as named in the title and repeatedly referenced in section 5, is an intended direct beneficiary and contracting counterparty. The instrument enables the Minister to contract with Adelaide University before it legally becomes a “higher education provider” by overriding the timing constraint in subsection 30‑25(1) of the Higher Education Support Act 2003 insofar as it would otherwise prevent pre‑merger contracting (s5(2), note). Adelaide University will therefore be positioned to receive a transitional funding agreement that commences at merger time and terminates at the end of 2026 (s5(3)(a)-(b)).

Students enrolled with a merging university immediately before the merger time are affected in a graded way. The instrument defines “relevant student” to capture students enrolled in a current course with a merging university immediately before merger time, and grandfathered students under the Higher Education Support Act 2003 in relation to such courses (s6(2)). The instrument then determines which of those relevant students will not be subject to items 7 and 8 of Schedule 5 to the Act at 1 January 2026 (s6(3)), and which will have their transfer delayed until 24 March 2026 (s6(4)-(5)). The categories include students who have completed enabling courses or met all conferral requirements, those who have commenced but not finished a unit of study, and HDR students who have submitted a thesis under examination (s6(3)(a)-(c)).

Merging universities more broadly (beyond Adelaide University where applicable), their administrative teams, and legal and records staff will also be affected, because the instrument requires a precise cut‑off analysis of student status at two dates: immediately before 1 January 2026 and immediately before 24 March 2026 (s6(3)-(5)). Universities must be able to identify which students qualify as relevant students and which of those meet the exclusion criteria. That imposes record-keeping, verification and communication requirements on administrative staff.

Other entities affected indirectly include bodies that rely on the content of funding agreements and the public availability of those agreements, for example auditors, financial planners, and prospective partners. The instrument limits the duration of the funding agreement to the end of 2026 (s5(3)(b)), which affects planning horizons for stakeholders who will receive or rely on the funding terms.

Finally, the instrument is made under item 1 of Schedule 6 to the Act (s3) and modifies specified parts of the Higher Education Support Act 2003 and Schedule 5 to the Act (s5(1)(b); s6(1)(b)). Entities that interact with those statutes need to note these limited but concrete amendments for transitional purposes.

The instrument creates and modifies a small set of statutory duties and rights, focusing on funding agreements and the timing of student transfers.

Minister’s rights and duties

• Right to enter pre‑commencement funding agreement: Section 5(2)(a) authorises the Minister, on behalf of the Commonwealth, to enter into a funding agreement with Adelaide University before the merger time. This is a statutory right that departs from the default timing in subsection 30‑25(1) of the Higher Education Support Act 2003, which ordinarily limits funding agreements to “higher education providers”.
• Right to unilaterally vary a pre‑commencement agreement: Section 5(2)(b) permits the Minister to unilaterally vary the pre‑commencement funding agreement for purposes aligned with s5(3)(c), that is, to convert an incomplete or provisional agreement into a complete and final form before the merger time.
• Duty to ensure finalisation before merger time: The arrangement in s5(3)(c) creates an implicit obligation for the Minister to have the funding agreement finalised before the merger time, because provisional agreements must be varied into a complete and final form before that time.

Secretary’s duties

• Publication obligation: Section 5(4) imposes a specific duty on the Secretary to cause a copy of the complete and final funding agreement to be published on the Department’s website within 28 days after the Minister has varied the provisional agreement into a final form. The subsection explicitly overrides the publication timing in section 30‑28 of the Higher Education Support Act 2003 for these provisional-to-final agreements.

Adelaide University’s rights and constraints

• Right to be a party to a pre‑merger funding agreement: The rules permit Adelaide University to be contracted with before becoming a Table A provider, and to have a funding agreement that commences on and from the merger time and expires at the end of 2026 (s5(3)(a)-(b)).
• Constraint of short-term funding window: The requirement that the funding agreement must expire at the end of 2026 (s5(3)(b)) limits the term of funding rights conferred under the transitional agreement.

Students’ rights and status determinations

• The instrument prescribes which “relevant students” are not subject to the operation of items 7 and 8 of Schedule 5 to the Act as at 1 January 2026 (s6(3)). The relevant students include those who have completed enabling courses, met award conferral requirements, have commenced a unit of study but not completed it, or HDR students with a thesis under examination (s6(3)(a)-(c)).
• For students who remain enrolled by reason of s6(3) and who have not met completion requirements immediately before 24 March 2026, items 7 and 8 apply as if the merger time were 24 March 2026 (s6(4)-(5)). This creates a temporal right or entitlement to remain with the merging university until 24 March 2026 unless completion occurs earlier.

Procedural modifications and limits

• The instrument modifies the operation of parts of the Higher Education Support Act 2003 (specifically sections 30‑25 and 30‑28) and items 7 and 8 of Schedule 5 to the Act to the extent necessary to give effect to the transitional prescriptions (s5(1)(b); s6(1)(b)). Those modifications are limited in scope to the matters prescribed by the instrument.

Commencement duty and timing

• The commencement mechanics in section 2 require the instrument to take effect at the later of registration-plus-one-day and immediately after the Proclamation fixing the commencement day for Schedule 5 to the Act (s2(1), table). The instrument also records that the table’s Column 3 is not part of the instrument (s2(2)), which clarifies the limits of administrative notes versus legislative content.

No penalties in the instrument

• The instrument does not itself create criminal or civil penalties, nor does it specify enforcement mechanisms beyond the publication duty on the Secretary and the timing effects on enrolment transfers. The content therefore primarily allocates rights and administrative duties rather than sanctions.

This instrument does not create new criminal offences or explicit civil penalties. Its enforcement architecture is administrative and timing-based, relying on the statutory authorities and publication duties it prescribes.

No penal provisions

• The text contains no express penalty clauses. There are no criminal sanctions, infringement regimes, pecuniary penalties, or enforceable regulatory sanctions specified within the instrument itself. All duties created are administrative rather than criminal in character.

Administrative enforcement steps

• Publication duty on the Secretary: The closest thing to an enforceable administrative obligation in the instrument is section 5(4), which requires the Secretary to cause a copy of the complete and final funding agreement to be published on the Department’s website within 28 days after the Minister has varied a provisional agreement into final form. The instrument expressly modifies the operation of section 30‑28 of the Higher Education Support Act 2003 for this purpose (s5(1)(b); s5(4)). The Secretary’s obligation is couched as a duty and the practical enforcement mechanism will be public visibility and administrative accountability rather than an internal penalty specified in this instrument.

Timing of contractual effects

• Funding agreement commencement and expiry: The instrument requires any funding agreement entered pursuant to s5(2) to commence on and from the merger time and to expire at the end of 2026 (s5(3)(a)-(b)). Effectively, the instrument enforces contractual boundaries through statutory prescription of start and end dates for the funding agreement. The Minister must vary any provisional agreement into a final form before the merger time (s5(3)(c)), or the agreement cannot operate.

Operational effect on student transfers

• Items 7 and 8 of Schedule 5 to the Act are the operative statutory provisions that deal with transfer of enrolments; the instrument makes targeted exclusions and a one-off deferment for certain students (s6(3)-(5)). Enforcement of these transfer rules will be operational, driven by university administrative implementation of the statutory timetable and the determinations about student completion status made at the applicable cut-off times. There is no separate enforcement mechanism in the instrument beyond the legal effect of the Schedule 5 items once they become applicable as modified.

Accountability and review

• The instrument does not establish a formal review or appeal mechanism relating to decisions under it. Any dispute about whether a student met the criteria in s6(3) or whether the Secretary has complied with s5(4) will therefore be resolved by reference to the statutory text and, if relevant, by whatever review or judicial mechanisms exist elsewhere under administrative law. The instrument itself contains no internal review route.

Implication for contractual disputes

• Because the instrument allows provisional funding agreements that must be finalised and published, there is potential for contractual disputes about the terms that are included in the provisional form and the finalised form. The instrument does not prescribe dispute resolution mechanisms for such contracts; those would be matters for the funding agreement itself and for general contract and administrative law.

Practical enforcement risk

• The instrument’s enforcement is therefore primarily soft and administrative: publication of final agreements, adherence to prescribed commencement and expiry dates, and correct administration of student transfer timing. There is no express penal enforcement mechanism in the instrument text.

The instrument expressly operates by modifying how certain provisions in the Universities Accord Act 2024 and the Higher Education Support Act 2003 apply to Adelaide University and to students of a merging university. It is a transitional instrument designed to fit into a broader statutory architecture.

Authority source

• The instrument is made under item 1 of Schedule 6 to the Universities Accord (Student Support and Other Measures) Act 2024 (the Act) (s3). It therefore exercises a delegated, Schedule-based power granted by the Act to prescribe transitional matters related to the Act’s amendments and repeals.

Modifications to the Higher Education Support Act 2003

• Section 5(1)(b) states that the section prescribes modifications of sections 30‑25 and 30‑28 of the Higher Education Support Act 2003 to the extent necessary to give effect to the prescriptions. Subsection 5(2) is a direct modification of subsection 30‑25(1), permitting the Minister to enter a funding agreement with Adelaide University before Adelaide University becomes a “higher education provider” under the Higher Education Support Act 2003. Subsection 5(4) expressly disapplies or replaces the usual operation of section 30‑28 with respect to provisional agreements, by requiring the Secretary to publish the finalised funding agreement within 28 days after the Minister has varied it into final form.

Interaction with Schedule 5 to the Act

• Section 6(1)(b) states that the section prescribes modifications of items 7 and 8 of Schedule 5 to the Act to the extent necessary to give effect to the transitional prescriptions. The instrument therefore operates as a temporal override of items 7 and 8 for particular classes of students, in narrow circumstances identified in s6(3)-(5). The instrument does not alter the content of items 7 and 8 themselves, but it modifies their application in time for specific students.

Reference to definitions in the Act and other statutes

• Section 4 imports a number of expressions from item 4 of Schedule 5 to the Act, including “merger time” and “merging university” (s4, note). It also imports the meanings of enabling course, course of study, and unit of study from Schedule 1 to the Higher Education Support Act 2003, and the definition of higher degree by research from the Commonwealth Scholarships Guidelines (Research) 2017 as in force at the time of making (s4). The instrument therefore depends on existing statutory and delegated definitions in those instruments to operate.

Effect on the funding agreement legal framework

• The funding agreement to be entered under s5 is an agreement “of a kind mentioned in section 30‑25 of the Higher Education Support Act 2003” (s4). The instrument permits a provisional agreement entered before merger time and requires it to be finalised before merger time (s5(3)(c)). It requires publication in modified timing (s5(4)). The effect is that the funding agreement sits within the existing HE Support Act framework but with temporary timing and publication modifications.

Temporal coordination with Proclamation

• The commencement of this instrument itself is tied to the Proclamation fixing the commencement day for Schedule 5 to the Act (s2(1)), meaning that the instrument becomes operative only in the implementation sequence set by the Act’s broader commencement mechanism. This creates an integration point with the Act’s schedule commencement regime.

Limits of modification

• The instrument states that it prescribes matters of a transitional nature relating to the amendments and repeals made by the Act, and prescribes modifications of identified sections and items “to the extent necessary to give effect to those prescriptions” (s5(1)(a)-(b); s6(1)(a)-(b)). That phrasing indicates a limited, purpose-driven application rather than a general amendment of the other statutes.

In sum, the instrument is not freestanding; it overlays narrowly tailored transitional modifications on top of the Act and on certain provisions of the Higher Education Support Act 2003 and Schedule 5 to the Act. Users must therefore consult those primary instruments to understand the full legal effect, while using this instrument to resolve particular timing and publication questions during the transition.

This instrument records its making date, authorising minister, and a single commencement table. The instrument, as presented, contains no subsequent amendments or variant versions.

Original making and date

• The instrument is dated 26 August 2025 and signed by Jason Clare, Minister for Education, as recorded at the head of the instrument.

Commencement mechanics and note on the table

• Section 2 establishes commencement timing by reference to the table in s2(1). The whole instrument commences at the later of two events: (a) the day after the instrument is registered; and (b) immediately after the commencement of the Proclamation fixing the commencement day for Schedule 5 to the Act (s2(1), table). Section 2(2) contains the standard legislative drafting note that any information in Column 3 of the table is not part of the instrument and may be edited in published versions; it is not part of the statutory content.

Authority for instrument

• Section 3 states that the instrument is made under item 1 of Schedule 6 to the Act. This shows the instrument is a delegated instrument executed under a specific Schedule-power in the principal Act.

Notes regarding original content

• The commencement table contains a note stating that the table relates only to the provisions of the instrument as originally made and will not be amended to deal with later amendments of the instrument. That is a record-keeping note rather than an operative amendment clause.

No recorded amendments in the instrument text

• The instrument contains no amendments, revocations, or subsequent schedules within the text supplied. There is no text indicating that the instrument has been amended, repealed, or subject to modification since its making. The content therefore reflects only the original instrument as made on 26 August 2025.

Implication for future changes

• Because the instrument statutorily ties itself to commencement events under the Act (s2(1)), any future change to the timing of Schedule 5’s commencement in the Act will affect the operative date of this instrument. Conversely, this instrument’s content would remain in force until amended or repealed by a later legislative instrument or by express amendment to the Act’s delegated powers.

Record of authority and definitions

• Section 4 records the definitions and cross-references to other instruments that the instrument depends upon, establishing a fixed interpretive baseline for the instrument as originally enacted.

No amendment history beyond original making is recorded in the provided text. Users should therefore check the Registers of Legislative Instruments and the Federal Register of Legislation for any later amendments, but the instrument text as supplied contains no amendment entries.

The instrument itself contains no record of litigation. There are no listed cases, judicial reviews, or administrative law decisions referenced in the instrument. The text does not mention any disputes, proceedings, or determinations in court that relate to the instrument’s operation.

What the absence means in practice

• Because the instrument is a narrowly tailored transitional rule with administrative effects, disputes that might arise would most likely concern (a) interpretation of whether a student qualifies as a “relevant student” under section 6(2) and the exclusion criteria in section 6(3), (b) whether the Minister complied with the requirement to finalise the provisional funding agreement before the merger time as required by section 5(3)(c), or (c) whether the Secretary published the final funding agreement within 28 days of finalisation as required by section 5(4). Any such disputes would be matters for administrative review or judicial review processes available under general administrative law, not special procedures set out in this instrument.

Predictable litigation loci, based on instrument mechanics

• Eligibility and timing disputes: Challenges about whether a student had “met all the requirements for the conferral of a higher education award” by a specified date (s6(3)(a)(ii)) or had “commenced undertaking a unit of study” immediately before a cut-off (s6(3)(b)) are factual and record-based. Disagreements of this kind could give rise to administrative review or judicial review applications if an affected party alleges maladministration or incorrect legal interpretation of the instrument.
• Publication obligations: If the Secretary failed to publish the final funding agreement within 28 days after finalisation as required by section 5(4), interested parties might seek administrative remedy or judicial review to compel publication, although the instrument itself does not specify a private right to enforce publication.
• Contractual disputes: Because the instrument permits provisional funding agreements to be entered before merger time and then finalised, disputes could arise over the terms included in provisional versus final forms. Those disputes would be contractual in nature and resolved through ordinary contract law, unless the funding agreement supplies a bespoke dispute resolution mechanism.

No existing cases named

• The instrument names no cases and records no litigation history. The provided text therefore does not supply judicial interpretation or precedent to guide application. Practitioners should treat this instrument as freshly made and expect first-instance administrative issues to be resolved in practice, with contested questions potentially proceeding to administrative or judicial review in the usual courts and tribunals.

Recommendation for practitioners

• Given the absence of recorded litigation, parties affected by the instrument should plan for fact-sensitive administrative processes and retain documentary proof of students’ completion status and of the Minister’s and Secretary’s actions on funding agreements to reduce future dispute risk.

This instrument contains a handful of drafting features and timing triggers that could produce unintended operational or legal surprises if not carefully managed. Below are concrete items to watch for.

1. Pre‑commencement funding agreements may be provisional and not immediately public

• The Minister may enter a funding agreement with Adelaide University before the merger time and in incomplete or provisional form (s5(2)-(3)(c)). Those provisional agreements are not required to be published until the Minister has varied them into a complete and final form and the Secretary has published that final form within 28 days (s5(4)). Practically, that means there can be a period during which a legally binding provisional agreement exists but public visibility of its final terms does not. Administrators should track the moment of variation into final form, because the 28‑day publication clock runs from that variation (s5(4)).

2. Funding agreement must expire at end of 2026

• Any funding agreement entered under s5 must expire at the end of 2026 (s5(3)(b)). This is a short and explicit temporal boundary. Parties negotiating funding terms must account for the single-year ceiling when modelling revenue, obligations, and contingent liabilities. The instrument does not permit multi-year guarantees beyond that date.

3. Final terms need not be in provisional agreement

• The instrument allows provisional agreements to omit the final amounts or other key terms provided they are finalised before the merger time (s5(3)(c)). This means that certain financial variables, such as maximum basic grant amounts (the example in the note under s5(3)(c)), may be left blank in the provisional agreement and then populated later, potentially allowing shifting fiscal commitments close to merger time.

4. Precise cut-off mechanics for student status

• The instrument uses “immediately before” timing points for 1 January 2026 and 24 March 2026 (s6(3)-(5)). Small differences in how institutions calculate the “immediately before” moment could determine whether a student is classified as excluded from transfer at 1 January or subject to transfer at that date. Universities should adopt a consistent, documented time-stamping practice for completion events, unit commencements, and thesis submissions.

5. Students who have commenced a unit but not completed are excluded from transfer on 1 January 2026

• Section 6(3)(b) excludes students who are enrolled in and have commenced undertaking a unit of study as part of their current course, even if they have not completed that unit. This is a narrower and potentially counterintuitive rule, because commencing a unit can prevent a transfer that might otherwise be automatic. Universities must be able to evidence a student’s commencement of a unit as at the specific cut-off.

6. HDR thesis submission status matters

• HDR students who have submitted a thesis for examination that remains under examination immediately before 1 January 2026 are excluded from items 7 and 8 at that date (s6(3)(c)). The instrument therefore elevates the mechanical act of thesis submission as a determinative event for transfer timing. Research supervisors and HDR administrators must keep precise records of submission and examination status.

7. Possible one-off escalation to 24 March 2026

• A subset of students who are excluded from transfer on 1 January 2026 because of s6(3) may nonetheless transfer on 24 March 2026 if they remain enrolled and have not met completion requirements immediately before that later date (s6(4)-(5)). That creates two discrete retention windows, and institutions must manage transitional enrolment cohorts across both.

8. Definitions are imported from other instruments

• Key terms such as “merger time”, “merging university”, “enabling course”, and “unit of study” derive from Schedule 5 to the Act and Schedule 1 to the Higher Education Support Act 2003 (s4, note). Practitioners must consult those source definitions; misreading them could produce incorrect application of s6.

9. Commencement depends on a separate Proclamation

• The instrument does not operate until the later of registration-plus-one-day and the Proclamation fixing Schedule 5’s commencement (s2(1), table). If the Proclamation timing changes, so does the instrument’s operative timing. Administrative plans must account for that external dependency.

10. No penalties or review routes specified in the instrument

• There are no statutory penalties specified for non-compliance with the Secretary’s publication duty or for other administrative failures in the instrument. This means compliance failures will be remedied, if at all, through general administrative law remedies or contractual law rather than direct statutory sanctions. Parties should therefore document actions and decisions to support any future review.

In short, the key operational risks relate to timing, record-keeping, short funding horizon, and the provisional nature of pre‑merger contractual arrangements. Clear internal processes and timestamped records for student events and for the Minister’s and Secretary’s actions will reduce the practical risk that arises from these provisions.

This section sets out concrete compliance steps for the main duty-holders: the Minister and Department, Adelaide University, and merging universities’ student administration teams. The compliance actions follow directly from the instrument’s text.

For the Minister and Department (Minister and Secretary)

• Entering the funding agreement: If the Minister intends to enter a funding agreement with Adelaide University before the merger time, ensure that the agreement is either complete and final before the merger time or entered in provisional form and then varied into final form before the merger time, as required by s5(2)-(3)(c).
• Record the variation event: Keep a clear, timestamped record of the date and content of any variation that converts a provisional agreement into a complete and final agreement. Section 5(4) triggers the Secretary’s 28‑day publication duty from the date the Minister has varied the agreement into final form.
• Publication within 28 days: The Secretary must cause publication of the complete and final agreement on the Department’s website within 28 days after variation into final form (s5(4)). Establish a workflow that transfers the finalised document promptly to the publishing unit and logs the publication date to demonstrate compliance with the 28‑day window.
• Ensure commencement and expiry are correct: Verify that the funding agreement specifies that it will only commence on and from the merger time and that it will expire at the end of 2026 (s5(3)(a)-(b)). If the Minister enters a provisional agreement that omits some final terms, ensure that the finalised agreement populates those terms before the merger time.
• Retain version control and legal sign-offs: Because provisional agreements may be entered pre‑merger and finalised later, maintain rigorous version control, legal sign-off trails, and documentation of any unilateral variations by the Minister to demonstrate adherence to s5(3)(c).

For Adelaide University and merging universities (administration, legal, finance, and registry)

• Identify and classify relevant students: Use the definitions and timing triggers in s6(2)-(5) to create a master list of “relevant students”. The cohort includes students enrolled immediately before the merger time and any grandfathered students under the Higher Education Support Act 2003 (s6(2)). Pull reliable, timestamped records for each student to establish their status as at the relevant cut-off times.
• Demonstrate completion status as at 1 January 2026: For each relevant student, determine whether they meet any of the exclusion criteria in s6(3): completed all requirements for an enabling course, met all requirements for conferral of the award, have commenced but not completed a unit of study, or are HDRs who have submitted a thesis that remains under examination. Maintain timestamped evidence of completion, unit commencement, and thesis submission to support the classification.
• Prepare for the 24 March 2026 contingency: For students who remain enrolled by reason of s6(3) but have not met completion requirements immediately before 24 March 2026, prepare to have items 7 and 8 of Schedule 5 to the Act apply as if the merger time were 24 March 2026 (s6(4)-(5)). That means monitoring completion status through to that date and handling any transfers that become operative on 24 March.
• Communications to students and staff: Draft clear communications to affected students explaining the two-step timing rule, the criteria that determine their status, and any actions the student may take. Provide administrative staff with checklists and escalation points for ambiguous cases.
• Audit trail and escalation: Create an audit trail that includes evidence of enrolment date-times, unit commencement records, thesis submission acknowledgements, and conferral or completion records. Establish an internal escalation path for disputed or unclear records so decisions can be escalated to senior registry staff.

For legal and compliance teams

• Cross-check definitions in source instruments: Confirm imported definitions for “merger time”, “merging university”, enabling course, unit of study, and HDR by consulting Schedule 5 to the Act and Schedule 1 to the Higher Education Support Act 2003, as referenced in s4. Ensure the university’s internal policies and systems map correctly to those statutory definitions.
• Review provisional and final funding agreement terms: If involved in negotiating the funding agreement, ensure the final version complies with the instrument’s timing constraints and contains the appropriate financial and reporting terms. If the provisional agreement omits critical terms, set a timeline for their completion and ensure they are settled before the merger time to avoid legal uncertainty.
• Prepare for possible disputes: Draft standard lines of argument and retain documentation in case a student or third party challenges the application of s6. Keep a record of the Minister’s and Secretary’s actions under s5 to assist in any judicial review or contractual dispute.

For auditors and external reviewers

• Verify publication compliance: Check that the Department published the complete and final funding agreement within 28 days of variation into final form as required by s5(4) and that the published document matches the finalised agreement in the Department’s records.
• Verify funding agreement term limits: Confirm that the funding agreement commences on and from the merger time and expires at the end of 2026 as required by s5(3)(a)-(b).

Record-keeping best practice

• Timestamp all actions: For all parties, ensure that enrolments, unit commencements, thesis submissions, award conferrals, contract variations, and publications are timestamped and stored in auditable systems. The instrument’s reliance on specific cut-off moments makes timestamped evidence essential.
• Maintain clear chains of custody for documents: Especially for provisional agreements and their variations, keep signed copies, version histories, and correspondence that explain material changes.

By implementing the above processes, the Minister, Secretary, Adelaide University, and affected universities can operationalise the instrument’s prescriptions in a manner that reduces legal and administrative uncertainty and produces the records necessary to demonstrate compliance with the instrument’s temporal and publication requirements.