Date Created	20 November 2003	by	John Farley, Records Officer/Archivist	Res. No.	n/a
Last Amended	2 February 2005	by	Jane Michell, Quality Audit Co-ordinator	Res. No.	n/a
Next Review Date	20 November 2008
Keywords	Offshore courses, record-keeping requirements

RECORD-KEEPING REQUIREMENTS FOR OFFSHORE COURSES

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide guidance about record-keeping requirements pertaining specifically to the establishment and operation of offshore courses. Academic and administrative staff responsible for offshore courses are expected to maintain a high standard of record-keeping to ensure compliance with legislative and administrative requirements.

Risk Management

The University needs to be reassured that risks associated with offshore courses are being managed effectively. These include legal risk, potential financial loss and adverse publicity affecting the University’s reputation. Furthermore, public accountability expectations, including the scrutiny of the Auditor General, must be appropriately addressed.

Destruction of Records

The arbitrary destruction of University records, as well as a failure to create and maintain full and complete records, contravenes the State Records Act (2000). Accordingly, University records may only be destroyed in accordance with Retention & Disposal schedules approved by the State Records Commission. These schedules safeguard the University by ensuring that all administrative, legal, fiscal and archival retention requirements for each record type have been met before records may be destroyed.

Reviews and Audits

Ensuring a high standard of record-keeping for offshore courses will also assist Divisions/Schools in being prepared for periodic quality reviews, auditing purposes and specific investigations as well as helping to maintain an overall high standard of operational efficiency.

Responsibilities for maintaining records (offshore courses)

Following an analysis of work processes of offshore courses the record types listed below have been identified as being mandatory for inclusion in the University’s record-keeping systems. Appendix A shows which records should be maintained by the appropriate Office/School/Division, while Appendix B shows which records should be sent to the Records Management & Archives section for permanent retention on central file.

Appendix A – Record-keeping for Offshore Courses

The responsible officer must ensure the following records are identified, documented and maintained by the Office/School/Division:

Assessment and Academic Progress

Course assessment lists
Notices of results including components
Withdrawals/suspensions from the offshore course
Appeals by students against a final grade awarded in a course or examination
Appeals by students against exclusion from an offshore course
Applications for deferred assessment and associated correspondence

Certificates issued

Recommendations from offshore partners to award certificates to students successfully completing the course
Final checklists of intending graduates from offshore courses

Committees

Agendas, minutes, and reports of Senate, Academic Council, School/Divisional Committees, and working parties relating to offshore courses

Correspondence

Correspondence with university staff and offshore partners including authorisations, negotiations, letters of complaint and general matters
Electronic mail communications should be printed and included with hard copy filing systems or retained in separate folders or directories on desktop computers

Establishment of Course – planning and approval process

Documentation showing that university policy, procedures and guidelines relating to the development and implementation of offshore courses have been followed
Feasibility analyses
Risk management reports
Financial viability reports for offshore course proposals
Business Plan plus any amendments
Reference checks of offshore partners
Authority protocols for offering new courses offshore
Approval process for qualifications to be issued to offshore students successfully completing the course
Accreditation standards, course accreditation documentation

Examinations

Examination question papers
Supplementary and deferred examination question papers
Examination scripts/answer booklets
Examination timetables

Financial Reporting requirements

All financial transactions, supporting documentation and calculations to be recorded
Periodic financial reports for each offshore partner required by management including cash flow statements, income and expenditure statements, reports on operations
Audited financial statements

Legal documentation

Articles of Association of the cooperative offshore institution
Course licence agreements issued in host country plus annual renewal of licence
Offshore Course Agreements
Other legal agreements including business registration papers required by regulatory environment of host country
English translation of legal documents issued in language of host country (where necessary)

Payments to Murdoch teaching staff

Payment documentation, including cheques, received from offshore partners
Authorisations, and support documentation, for payments made to staff through the central payroll system including payments for teaching and payments for marking examination papers
Spreadsheets maintained by Schools for recording remuneration payments to staff where payments are made via the School and not the central payroll system
Payments to reimburse staff for sundry expenses associated with offshore teaching commitments such as transport, meals and incidentals

Reviews

Post-implementation reviews
Five-yearly reviews of offshore courses
Reviews of offshore (non-Murdoch) teaching staff
Academic Quality Assurance Check template
Annual Review of Offshore Courses template
Reports and working papers of the Office of Audit & Review
Reports and working papers of other specific investigations

Staffing

Teaching arrangements including Executive Dean’s authorisations for allocation of teaching staff
Teaching timetables
Course outlines and course content used in teaching courses
Travel arrangements including scheduling and payment of airfares and accommodation expenses

Student enrolment details

Original hardcopy documentation received from offshore partner including annual enrolment forms, change of enrolment/address forms
Student numbers/statistics must be easily established for reporting purposes

Student Fees

Invoices/billing generated for offshore courses
Fee liability reports
Cheques received from offshore partners
Payment receipts issued by Murdoch International and returned to School/Division
Payment summaries
Follow-up and reconciliation activities – reminder notices for overdue payments, correspondence, monitoring of payments and monies outstanding

Appendix B – Documentation Required by Records Management & Archives

The following documentation is required for permanent retention on central file for each offshore course. It is the responsibility of the Office/School/Division to ensure the relevant documentation is forwarded to the Office of Records Management & Archives: