Education regulators and the CRICOS register (TEQSA / ASQA)
TEQSA regulates higher education providers and ASQA regulates vocational providers. Both also act as ESOS agencies, registering providers and courses on CRICOS, without which a provider cannot enrol international students.
Responsibilities
- Register and re-register education providers
- Register providers and courses on CRICOS under the ESOS Act
- Monitor compliance with the National Code and provider standards
Operates under
- Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000 (Cth)
- Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Act 2011 (Cth)
- National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Act 2011 (Cth)
A provider wanting to teach international students passes through two registrations administered by the same agency under two different Acts: domestic provider registration, and CRICOS registration under the ESOS Act. The evidence overlaps substantially — governance, financial viability, academic quality — and the two are assessed against different standards on different cycles.
The register also does something no other body in this database does: it sets a queue position for somebody else. Under the ministerial directions governing student visa processing, a provider's share of the national planning level, and how much of it they have used, determines how quickly their students' visas are assessed. A student's wait is therefore partly a function of an administrative allocation made to their institution before they applied, and which they cannot see. See International student obtains a visa and commences study.
New provider registrations for overseas students were frozen in 2026, which closes the market to entrants entirely rather than assessing them. A freeze is a legitimate response to an integrity problem and it is also the bluntest possible instrument: it does not distinguish a good new provider from a bad one, because it does not look.
Where this body appears in a process
Every point at which Education regulators and the CRICOS register can hold something up, and why.
| Process | Step | Why it waits | Clock | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Register as a provider of courses to overseas students | Provider registration with the education regulator registration | assessment | — | 365 |
| Register as a provider of courses to overseas students | Apply for CRICOS registration application | applicant | — | 30 |
| Register as a provider of courses to overseas students | CRICOS assessment and decision decision | assessment | — | 270 |
| International student obtains a visa and commences study | Accept the offer and obtain a Confirmation of Enrolment registration | third party | — | 21 |