Academic Audit

The University is audited every seven to eight years by the Academic Quality Agency, the body with responsibility through Universities New Zealand for quality assurance of New Zealand’s universities.

Academic Audits require the University to examine learning, teaching and student support and submit a self-review document to the AQA.  A panel of external peer reviewers is appointed to review the University’s portfolio, and visits the University to meet with staff, students and other stakeholders. 

The Audit Panel prepares a detailed report that contains affirmations, commendations and recommendations. Over the following years the University is expected to report on its response to these, and on progress in respect to the affirmations and recommendations.

Click here to find out more about the Academic Quality Agency.  

Cycle 6 Academic Audit

The audit of Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland occurred in 2022. The Audit Panel visited the University in the week of 25 July 2022.  The Panel met with 74 staff in a variety of roles in faculties and service divisions, and with 41 undergraduate and postgraduate students. In advance of this the university prepared a self-review portfolio that described the University's activities under each of the five areas of the audit framework: 

  • Leadership and management of teaching and learning and academic quality
  • Student life-cycle, support and well-being
  • Curriculum, assessment and delivery
  • Teaching quality
  • Supervision of postgraduate research students

Report of the Cycle 6 Academic Audit

The Audit Panel’s report was published in November 2022 and is available on the AQA website:

Report of the 2022 academic audit of Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland

The report contains a total of 8 commendations, 10 affirmations and 14 recommendations relating to teaching, learning and student support - these are described below.

University’s one-year, follow-up report

The University’s one-year response was accepted by the AQA Board on 23 April 2024. It may be viewed here:

Commendations

In an academic audit, commendations refer to examples of exceptionally good practice or to examples of innovative practice that should produce positive impacts on teaching, learning and student experience. The Panel has made the following commendations:

 C1 The Panel commends the University, its staff and students for their response to COVID-19. 
C2 The Panel commends the University’s significant investment in comprehensive data collection and the development and well-received roll-out of data dashboards to support decision-making.
C3 The Panel commends the University for how risk management and business continuity frameworks and processes enabled an effective response to COVID-19.
C4 The Panel commends the University for its comprehensive range of learning support services and for the way these services also pivoted to online to remain accessible to students over COVID-19.
C5 The Panel commends the University for its integrated and enhancement-oriented approach to the Education (Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Learners) Code of Practice.
C6 The Panel commends the vision and the intentions around the learning experience that has so far been captured in the Curriculum Framework Transformation Programme.
C7 The Panel commends the annual Academic Quality Review process as a good practice model of data-informed quality enhancement.
C8 The Panel commends Te Taumata Ngaio initiative and its participation goal.

Affirmations

Affirmations refer to initiatives planned or underway that are likely to have a positive impact but are at an early stage and data is not yet available to assess impact. The Panel has made affirmations in the following areas:

A1  The Panel affirms the University’s Enhancement Initiative to develop, with students, a Student Voice Framework.
A2 The Panel affirms the development of the University’s learning management system to support more engaged learning and changing assessment modalities.
A3 The Panel affirms the development of the centralised course advising model and the development of metrics for monitoring the performance of this system.
A4 The Panel affirms the development of the Service Delivery Model for student services and the greater use of analytics to identify students who would benefit from support and the tailoring of that support.
A5 The Panel affirms the establishment of roles to support programme management and embedding of learning design with programme development.
A6 The Panel affirms the development of a University-wide online system for end-of-course review that will support continuous enhancement.
A7 The Panel affirms the refresh of the Graduate Profile and plans to make this a valuable document in practice for students that is useful for students’ learning experiences and for their future employability.
A8 The Panel affirms the further development of assessment to be more flexible, equitable and accessible.
A9 The Panel affirms the University’s enhancement initiative to review its Academic Standards Policy.
 A10  The Panel affirms the University’s Enhancement Initiative to review and make Improvements to sub-doctoral processes and support.

Recommendations

Recommendations refer to areas where the Panel considers the University would benefit from making some improvements or changes. Recommendations alert the University to what the Panel needs to be addressed, not how this should be done. The Panel has made the following recommendations:

 R1  The Panel recommends that Te Tiriti o Waitangi implications be included in terms of reference for all reviews, including reviews of policies and procedures.
R2 The Panel recommends that the University—in developing its Student Voice Framework—undertake further work on training, recognising and managing the impact on students as they contribute to university initiatives and decision-making, and ensuring information about how the University has responded to student feedback is clearly available.
R3 The Panel recommends the University maintain a whole-of-university focus on access, outcomes and opportunities for Māori students, led by the PVC Māori.
R4 The Panel recommends the University maintain a whole-of-university focus on access, outcomes and opportunities for Pacific students, led by the PVC Pacific.
R5 The Panel recommends that, in addressing its enhancement initiative, the University take a holistic approach to academic integrity and includes support for prevention, detection, investigation and reporting.
R6 The Panel recommends that demand for assessment in te reo Māori be monitored centrally.
R7 The Panel recommends that, in progressing its strategic priority of a future-ready workforce (and addressing Enhancement Initiative 7), the University review its recruitment policies and practices to ensure these align with and support the strategic direction and the Curriculum Framework Transformation Programme.
R8 The Panel recommends that the Māori recruitment strategy be progressed with urgency to support other plans and strategies.
R9 The Panel recommends that in progressing its Pacific staff recruitment strategy, the University examine and address impediments to recruitment and recognition of Pacific staff, particularly for appointment or promotion to Professorial level.
R10 The Panel recommends the University review induction processes so that access to induction programmes is equitable, that induction programmes are taken by those they are intended for, and that programmes are regularly monitored and reviewed with reviews leading to enhancement.
R11 The Panel recommends the University ensure that induction programmes provide for the specific needs of new Māori staff and new Pacific staff.
R12 The Panel recommends the University review whether its nomination processes for teaching excellence awards are inclusive and supportive of those who may not nominate themselves.
R13 The Panel recommends the University examine whether the processes for addressing issues with doctoral and sub-doctoral supervision are sufficiently accessible, transparent, timely, effective and afford appropriate protection for both students and supervisors. The University should engage students early in this process and support their contribution.
R14 The Panel recommends the University include cultural competency and safety in its supervisor development programme and requirements for supervisor accreditation.

For queries on the University’s responses to the Academic Audit please contact the Academic Quality Office at quality@auckland.ac.nz.