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Fact Sheet (for latest Fact Sheets please go to Fact Sheets 2004)

15. Higher Education Information Management System

• Contact details

The introduction of a Learning Entitlement, scholarships and the increased range of loans that students can access, needs to be underpinned by a more sophisticated higher education information management system than currently operates. The Commonwealth will provide students with a new student number which will stay with the student throughout their academic life, allowing eligibility to Commonwealth support to be facilitated and monitored.

In an environment of greater diversity and specialisation between institutions, the information management system must be able to provide prospective students with detailed institutional and course information to help them make decisions, and to give them information on their individual entitlements and financial obligations once their decisions are made. Introduction of performance-based funding for a number of programmes will require streamlined and rationalised reporting arrangements.

A new web-based system, the Higher Education Information Management System (HEIMS), will be established and will include a range of modules to:

• provide students with timely, accessible and accurate information about course offerings, Commonwealth and student contributions to course costs, loan details and institutional performance;

• enable the efficient and effective management of Commonwealth student loans and higher education entitlements (including scholarships);

• provide institutions with timely, accessible and accurate information about institutional performance, payments and competitive funding initiatives; and

• provide one entry point for institutions to input statistical data; financial management reporting; and programme management reporting.

HEIMS will provide students and parents with accessible information on the following:

• Institution specific information:

  • Performance of institutions on the Learning and Teaching Performance Fund;

  • Links to Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA) audit data;

  • Course Experience Questionnaire/Graduate Destination Survey aggregate data; and

  • Scholarships available and eligibility requirements.

• Course/unit specific:

  • Entrance requirements for the previous year and minimum entrance requirements for the current year for students, whether they be in a Commonwealth supported place or a full fee paying place; and

  • Indicative fee ranges, Commonwealth contribution and student contribution per unit and/or per course.

• Student specific information:

  • Learning Entitlement history;

  • Loan history (but not repayment information); and

  • Break-down of loans (eg. HECS-HELP, FEE-HELP, OS-HELP).

The effective operation of HEIMS will require all existing and new students accessing Commonwealth supported places or Commonwealth student loans to be issued with a Commonwealth Higher Education Student Support Number (CHESSN) by their institution on enrolment. This number will be limited in its use to HEIMS and protected under Commonwealth privacy legislation.

The new higher education arrangements will have an impact on institutions in terms of IT implementation and administration costs associated with the management of the new loan schemes and scholarship programmes. The public higher education institutions will receive approximately $200,000 each in 2003/04 as a contribution to the costs associated with the implementation of HEIMS and the new student financing initiatives.

The reforms outlined in this Fact Sheet are subject to the passage of Commonwealth legislation. Full implementation details for the reforms will be provided over the coming months.

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Contact Details

Media inquiries:

Ross Hampton
Dr Nelson’s Office
Telephone: 0419 484 095

Jane Smith
Department of Education, Science and Training
Telephone: 0412 973 411

Other inquiries:

Louise Hanlon
Director, HEIMS Unit
Higher Education Group
Department of Education, Science and Training
Telephone: 6240 9726

Website: http://www.backingaustraliasfuture.gov.au
Email: highered@dest.gov.au

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Any comments or queries should be sent to: highered@dest.gov.au
This page was last updated on Monday, 04 August 2008

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