Assessing Equivalent Academic Experience - Guidelines

Intent

These guidelines outline factors for consideration when assessing if prospective or current James Cook University teaching staff meet the equivalent level of experience for the purposes of assessing level of engagement in accordance with the JCU Enterprise Agreement and the Higher Education Standards (2015).

Scope

These guidelines apply to staff responsible for the recruitment of teaching staff and is to be considered together with the requirements and processes outlined in the Recruitment, Appointment and Selection Policy and the Recruitment and Selection Best Practice Guide.

Definitions

See Policy Glossary of terms

Principles

Staff with responsibilities for academic oversight and those with teaching and supervisory responsibilities must have:

i A qualification in a relevant discipline at least one level higher (AQF +1) than is awarded for the course of study; and/or

ii Equivalent relevant academic or professional or practice-based experience and expertise.

2. Teachers who teach specialised components of a course of study and who do not meet the requirements in Clause 1 above must have their teaching supervised by staff who meet the requirement.

3. The above requirements do not apply to staff supervising doctoral degrees. Academic staff at this level must hold an equivalent qualification or equivalent research experience.

4. All staff with academic oversight and teaching responsibilities must actively participate in induction and ongoing professional development activities offered by the University.

5. The following Roles/qualification matrix provides examples of the application of the principles in assessing academic equivalence.

Role/Qualification Matrix

Position	Qualification requirements for AQF Level 9 subjects and below	Examples
Subject Coordinator Course Coordinator	Must have a qualification in a relevant discipline at AQF +1 higher than the course, or equivalent experience.	Graduate of a doctoral degree (AQF 10) A person with substantial industry or teaching experience who is judged to have a depth of knowledge/skills in the area in which s/he is teaching that is at AQF +1 higher than the course, for example: A BComm accounting graduate with three years of industry experience and one year of tertiary teaching experience who is judged to have knowledge/skills at the cutting edge of the area in which s/he is teaching, teaching in a specialist Masters program A person with substantial relevant industry or teaching experience, for example: an MBBS graduate with three years of clinical experience and some research publications, teaching in the College of Medicine and Dentistry. A subject matter expert without any qualifications who is judged to have knowledge and skills in their field of endeavour equivalent to a Masters graduate, teaching in a Bachelor of Business. A person with relevant industry or teaching experience who is undertaking a program to obtain a AQF +1 qualification, for example: a person with two years of experience as a tax lawyer or a tutor in tax law, undertaking a PhD and teaching in the area of tax law
Teaching staff	Must have a qualification in a relevant discipline AQF +1 higher than the course, or equivalent experience.	A PhD graduate (or graduate of any other level 10 award) A PhD student with expertise equivalent to a PhD graduate in the area in which s/he is teaching A PhD student with relevant expertise who is undertaking a professional development program in university teaching An industry/professional expert with a Bachelor degree and three years of industry experience
Guest lecturers	No particular requirement but would need to be selected for the distinctive and necessary expertise they bring to a class
Tutors and Demonstrators	Same AQF level qualification (or equivalent) and either have a AQF +1 qualification, additional experience equivalent to AQF +1 qualification, or be in a further training program and be receiving professional development support and supervision for teaching at that level; or Be a current student (in good standing) and be studying at least two years above the level of study being taught	Honors students as tutors in a Bachelor degree, having the equivalent of a UG degree and undertaking a program to obtain a AQF +1 qualification. Second year PhD students as tutors in a first year Masters degree subject, having completed volume of learning equivalent to a Masters degree, tutoring in an area where they have depth of knowledge equivalent to a masters graduate and in further training and receiving professional development support and supervision A Bachelor degree graduate (AQF Level 8) teaching in a bachelor degree program A fourth year student in good standing as tutor for first year subjects.

Acknowledgement: University of Melbourne (2016)

Roles and responsibilities

Decisions regarding academic equivalence are made as part of the recruitment of teaching staff in accordance with the requirements of the JCU Recruitment, Appointment and Selection Policy and Recruitment and Selection Best Practice Guide.

Determination of applications of academic equivalence are made by the respective academic recruitment team.

Decisions related to the appointment of teaching staff where an assessment of academic equivalence is made must comply with the delegated authority identified in the Human Resources Delegation Register noting assessing academic equivalence is a process decision within the recruitment activity.

Related policy instruments

Recruitment, Selection and Appointment Policy

Recruitment and Selection Best Practice Guide

JCU Enterprise Agreement 2016

Casual Teaching by Students Policy

Learning, Teaching and Assessment Policy

Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold Standards) 2015 Section 3.2.3.c, 4.1, 4.2

TEQSA Guidance Notes – Determining Professional Equivalence

Schedules/Appendices

Nil

Administration

NOTE: Printed copies of these guideline are uncontrolled, and currency can only be assured at the time of printing.

Approval Details

Guideline Sponsor and Approver	Deputy Vice Chancellor, Services and Resources
Version no	18-1
Date for next Major Review	28/04/2018

Revision History

[Approval date - the date the Policy Sponsor approved the establishment, minor or major amendment or disestablishment]

[Implementation Date - the date the procedure was published in the Policy Library and is the date the procedure takes effect]

Version	Approval date	Implementation date	Details	Author
18-1	21/05/2018	21/05/2018	Updated reference and link to JCU Enterprise Agreement.	Quality, Standards and Policy
17-1	28/04/2017	03/05/2017	Guideline established	Manager Quality, Standards and Policy

Keywords

Academic equivalence