The requirements TEQSA university applicants must meet are set out in Part B1 of the Threshold Standards and come down to five things: accredited courses across at least three broad fields of study, research in those fields at the standard set by the Quality of Research Determination 2021, higher degrees by research, demonstrated engagement with industry and community, and governance of a kind that can sustain all of that. A provider that meets Part A, holds self-accrediting authority and has a genuine research culture can apply to change category under section 38 of the TEQSA Act. Few private providers are near it.
This article sets out the Australian University criteria in plain terms, explains the University College category as the intermediate step, and offers a realistic view of what the path involves. It draws on fifteen years of TEQSA registration work with providers who have asked me this question.
Four categories, one of which is university
Since 1 July 2021 there have been four provider categories: Institute of Higher Education, University College, Australian University and Overseas University. TEQSA's provider category reform pages describe the change, and our article on TEQSA provider categories walks through each. Every new provider enters as an Institute of Higher Education. The word "university" is protected, and a provider may use it only when TEQSA has registered it in a category that carries the title.
Moving between categories is a change of category under section 38 of the TEQSA Act 2011, assessed on application, at a 2026 fee of $51,800. The assessment is against Part B1 criteria for the category sought, in addition to the continuing obligation to meet every Part A standard.
Requirement 1: breadth of fields
An Australian University must offer accredited courses in at least three broad fields of study. Broad fields are the two-digit classifications in the Australian Standard Classification of Education, such as management and commerce, information technology, health, education or society and culture. A provider teaching business and IT alone has two. Adding a nursing school or a school of education adds a third, but each addition brings its own staffing, facilities and accreditation load, and in a regulated field its own professional accreditation.
TEQSA reads the criterion as requiring substantial course offerings in each field, including at postgraduate level, rather than a single diploma added to tick a box.
Requirement 2: research at the national standard
The criterion most private providers underestimate is research. An Australian University must undertake research in each of the broad fields in which it offers courses, at or above the standard set by the Quality of Research Determination 2021. TEQSA's guidance note on research requirements for Australian universities describes how that is assessed, with the usual caveat that guidance notes are not themselves Threshold Standards.
In practice that means research-active staff in each field, research outputs of recognised quality, research funding, research infrastructure and research governance, sustained over years rather than assembled for an application. A teaching-focused provider with no research culture cannot build one quickly, and in my experience the honest planning horizon is a decade.
Requirement 3: higher degrees by research
An Australian University must offer higher degrees by research, meaning research masters and doctoral degrees at AQF levels 9 and 10, and must have the supervision capacity, candidature management, research training environment and examination processes to run them properly under Standard 4.2. For the university category the presence and quality of HDR programs is itself a criterion.
Building HDR capacity means employing staff qualified to supervise at doctoral level in each field, which is the same staff needed for the research criterion, and it means a pipeline of candidates and completions that only exists once the program has run for several years.
Requirements 4 and 5: engagement and governance
The category also requires demonstrated engagement with the communities and industries the provider serves, and governance capable of sustaining a university. The governance requirement is not different in kind from Standard 6, but it is different in scale: a university needs a council with the independence and expertise to oversee research, HDR and multiple fields, an academic board with real authority across all of them, and the financial capacity to fund research that does not pay for itself. Our article on governance and leadership in setting up a university covers what that looks like.
University College as the step
The University College category exists for established providers that have demonstrated quality and are building towards university status. It carries the right to use "University College" in the name and signals to the market that the provider is on a trajectory. It does not carry the research requirements of the university category, and it is the realistic next step for a well-run Institute of Higher Education with self-accrediting authority and a record of quality.
I advise providers to treat it as a destination in its own right rather than a waiting room; the application is a change of category, assessed against Part B1 on evidence of operation.
A realistic view of the requirements TEQSA university applicants face
Australia has created very few new universities in recent decades, and almost none from private institutes of higher education. The data on setting up a university in Australia makes the point. The requirements TEQSA university applicants face are simply what a university is, and they cannot be met by a business plan, a building and a brand.
What can be done is the sequence: register well, accredit courses in a second and third field, earn self-accrediting authority, seek University College, build research and HDR capacity over a decade, and then apply. Providers that want the title in five years are, in my experience, better advised to spend the five years becoming an excellent institute.
Download the Self-Accrediting Authority Readiness Assessment
— a one-page test of the Part B2 and Standards 5.1, 5.3 and 6 evidence a provider needs before it can move category, drawn from our TEQSA registration and governance work with private providers. Get the assessment
Want the full article?
Enter your email for free access to the rest of this guide and our TEQSA resource library.
Frequently asked questions
Can a new provider register directly as a university?
No. New providers enter the Institute of Higher Education category. Becoming an Australian University is a change of category under section 38 of the TEQSA Act, assessed against Part B1 of the Threshold Standards.
How many fields of study does a university need?
At least three broad fields of study, with accredited courses in each, and research at the standard set by the Quality of Research Determination 2021 in each of those fields.
What does a change of category cost?
TEQSA's 2026 fee for a change of provider category is $51,800, exclusive of GST and not refundable. Fees are periodically revised.
Is University College a requirement before becoming a university?
Not formally, but it is the practical step. It is designed for established providers demonstrating quality and building towards university status, and it does not carry the university category's research requirements.
Dr Brendan Moloney is CEO of Darlo Higher Education, Australia's largest specialist TEQSA consultancy. He holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne, is a Cambridge University Press author on governance in higher education, and has advised private providers on registration and course accreditation for more than fifteen years.