Commonwealth Numbered Acts

STATES GRANTS (TERTIARY EDUCATION ASSISTANCE) ACT 1987 No. 123, 1987 - SECT 3

3. (1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:

"Aboriginal" means a member of the Aboriginal race of Australia, and includes
a descendant of the indigenous inhabitants of the Torres Strait Islands;

"Academic Salaries Tribunal" means the Tribunal established under that name by
section 12B of the Remuneration Tribunals Act 1973;

"approved authority" means, in relation to a non-government teachers college
or a non-government business college, a person or body declared by the
Minister to be an approved authority of that college for the purposes of this
Act;

"approved form" means a form approved by the Minister;

"building project" means:

   (a)  the purchase of land, with or without buildings;

   (b)  the designing, erection, alteration or extension of a building or
        other facilities;

   (c)  the development or preparation of land for building or other purposes;
        or

   (d)  the installation of water, electricity or other services;

"business college" means a college or similar institution, whether
incorporated or unincorporated, providing courses of instruction in
secretarial studies, but does not include a particular college or institution
that provides such courses if the Minister:

   (a)  is notified by the State Tertiary Education Minister for a State that
        the college or institution is not recognised by the
        State Tertiary Education Minister as a business college; and

   (b)  does not approve the college or institution as a business college for
        the purposes of this Act;

"business college census date", in relation to a month of the year 1988, means
the date in that month declared by the Minister, by notice published in the
Gazette, to be the business college census date for that month;

"capital expenditure" means expenditure on a building project;

"charge" means higher education administration charge;

"college of advanced education" means:

   (a)  an institution that is a college of advanced education for the
        purposes of the Commonwealth Tertiary Education Commission Act 1977
        other than such an institution in a Territory; or

   (b)  any other institution in a State that is declared by the Minister,
        after obtaining the view of the State, to be treated, for the purposes
        of this Act, as a college of advanced education;

"college purposes", in relation to a college of advanced education, means:

   (a)  the general teaching purposes of the college in connection with
        courses of advanced education provided at the college, including
        preparatory work in connection with proposed courses of advanced
        education to be provided at the college;

   (b)  the provision by the college of courses of continuing education in
        accordance with a program of continuing education of the college that
        is approved by the responsible authority for the State in which the
        college is situated; and

   (c)  building projects of the college, not involving the purchase of land,
        in relation to each of which the total expenditure does not exceed
        $100,000 or an amount equal to 0.25% of the amount specified in
        Schedule 2 in relation to the college, whichever is the lesser amount;

"course of advanced education", in relation to a relevant institution, means a
course of study:

   (a)  that is accredited or provisionally accredited by the authority for
        the State concerned that is responsible for the accreditation of
        advanced education courses; and

   (b)  that is undertaken for the purpose of obtaining an award of the
        relevant institution, or of another relevant institution, of a kind
        determined by the Minister, to be an award to which this definition
        applies;
and includes a course of instruction provided by the relevant institution to
persons for the purpose of enabling those persons to undertake, at the
relevant institution or another relevant institution, a course of study of a
kind to which paragraph (a) or (b) applies;

"course of instruction in secretarial studies" means a course of instruction
in:

   (a)  shorthand;

   (b)  typing; or

   (c)  shorthand and typing;
together with other subjects suitable for preparing persons to perform
secretarial duties;

"course of study", in relation to a university, includes a course of
instruction provided by the university to persons for the purpose of enabling
those persons to undertake a course of study provided by the university or
another relevant institution;

"course of teacher education" means a course of instruction that is accredited
or provisionally accredited by the responsible authority for the State
concerned as a course of teacher education and that is provided by way of
professional training for persons intending to become primary school teachers
or secondary school teachers;

"de facto spouse" means a person who is living with another person of the
opposite sex as the spouse of that other person on a bona fide domestic basis
although not legally married to that other person;

"enrolment" includes re-enrolment;

"fees", in relation to a relevant institution, means tuition, examination or
other fees payable to the institution by a student enrolled at, or applying
for enrolment at, the institution in connection with a course of study or
attendance at the institution, and includes fees payable to the institution in
respect of the granting of a degree, diploma or other award (including a
qualification relating to a trade, technical or other skilled occupation) but
does not include:

   (a)  fees the payment of which is voluntary;

   (b)  fees payable in respect of an organisation of students, or of students
        and other persons, or in respect of the provision to students of
        amenities or services that are not of an academic nature;

   (c)  fees payable in respect of residential accommodation;

   (d)  fees imposed in accordance with guidelines determined by the Minister,
        by notice published in the Gazette, for the imposition of fees in
        respect of overseas students;

   (e)  where the relevant institution is a university, college of advanced
        education or non-government teachers college-fees payable in
        connection with attendance for the purposes of studies (not being a
        course of instruction provided by a university or
        college of advanced education to persons for the purpose of enabling
        those persons to undertake a course of study provided by the
        university or a course of advanced education provided by the college)
        that are not required or permitted to be undertaken for the purpose of
        obtaining a degree, diploma or other award of the
        relevant institution;

   (f)  where the relevant institution is an institute of tertiary education,
        a technical and further education institution or a
        Northern Territory tertiary education institution-fees payable in
        connection with, or in connection with attendance for the purposes of:

        (i)    studies that are not, or are not preparatory to, studies for
               the purposes of obtaining a qualification relating to a trade,
               technical or other skilled occupation; or

        (ii)   studies that are not required or permitted to be undertaken in
               relation to a course of advanced education provided by the
               relevant institution; or

   (g)  fees of a kind that are incidental to studies that may be undertaken
        at relevant institutions and that the Minister, by writing signed by
        the Minister and notified to each State Tertiary Education Minister,
        declares to be fees of a kind to which this paragraph applies;

"institute of tertiary education" means an institution in a State, or a
proposed institution to be in a State, that is specified in a direction for
the time being in force under section 5A of the Commonwealth Tertiary
Education Commission Act 1977;

"minor building project" means a building project determined by the Minister
to be a minor building project;

"non-government business college" means a business college in a State that is
not established by the Government of the State or conducted by or on behalf of
that Government, but does not include a business college conducted for the
profit, direct or indirect, of an individual or individuals;

"non-government teachers college" means Avondale College or McAuley College;

"Northern Territory tertiary education institution" means Batchelor College;

"prescribed staff", in relation to a body, means:

   (a)  the members of the staff (whether employed on a full-time or part-time
        basis) of the body:

        (i)    who are employed by the body wholly or principally in teaching
               or research or in both teaching and research; or

        (ii)   to whom persons referred to in subparagraph (i) are responsible
               in relation to the teaching or research in which they are
               employed;
but does not include members of the staff employed wholly or principally in
support of other members of the staff who are employed in teaching or
research; and

   (b)  those senior officers of the body in respect of whom the Academic
        Salaries Tribunal has recommended rates of salaries in a report or
        reports of a kind referred to in paragraph 12D (2) (c) of the
        Remuneration Tribunals Act 1973;

"previous Assistance Act" means the States Grants (Tertiary Education
Assistance) Act 1984;

"qualified accountant" means:

   (a)  a person registered as a company auditor or a public accountant under
        a law in force in a State or Territory;

   (b)  a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia or of
        the Australian Society of Accountants; or

   (c)  a person approved by the Minister as a qualified accountant for the
        purposes of this Act;

"qualified auditor" means:

   (a)  the Auditor-General of the State; or

   (b)  a qualified accountant;

"recurrent expenditure" means expenditure that is not capital expenditure;

"relevant date", in relation to an institution, means a date specified by the
Minister for the purposes of that institution by notice published in the
Gazette before 31 December 1987;

"relevant enrolment" means the enrolment of a person at a relevant institution
to undertake a course or a part of a course, being a course the completion of
which leads to the granting of a degree, diploma or other award of the
institution (whether or not that course or that part of that course is
undertaken for the purpose of obtaining such an award), but does not include:

   (a)  the enrolment of a person in a course of technical and further
        education;

   (b)  the enrolment of a person who is an overseas student within the
        meaning of the Overseas Students Charge Act 1979 to undertake such a
        course or part of such a course where the institution imposes a fee of
        the kind referred
to in paragraph (d) of the definition of "fees" in relation to that course or
that part of that course;

   (c)  the enrolment of:

        (i)    a person who at any time in the year 1988 has been in receipt
               of a pension, benefit or allowance from the Commonwealth, being
               a person specified by the Minister for the purposes of this
               subparagraph by notice published in the Gazette; or

        (ii)   a person who at any time in the year 1988 has been the spouse
               of, and dependent on, another person specified by the Minister
               for the purposes of subparagraph (i) and this subparagraph by
               notice published in the Gazette;

   (d)  the enrolment of a person to undertake part of such a course during a
        year at a relevant institution where that enrolment is required for
        the purposes of another course being undertaken by the person at
        another relevant institution, being another course in respect of which
        charge was imposed or exemption was provided in respect of that year;
        or

   (e)  the enrolment of a person to undertake such a course at a relevant
        institution where the institution provides a scholarship to the person
        to undertake that course, being a scholarship that entitles the person
        to an amount by way of living allowance of at least $1,100 per annum,
        not including any amount payable in respect of the person's
        dependants;

"relevant higher education institution" means a university, college of
advanced education, institute of tertiary education or non-government teachers
college;

"relevant institution" means:

   (a)  a university, college of advanced education, institute of tertiary
        education, non-government teachers college or a technical and further
        education institution providing courses of advanced education that is
        in a State; or

   (b)  the Northern Territory tertiary education institution;

"spouse" includes a de facto spouse;

"State" includes the Northern Territory;

"State Tertiary Education Minister" means:

   (a)  in relation to a State-the Minister of the Crown for the State who is
        responsible, or principally responsible, for the administration of
        matters relating to tertiary education in that State; and

   (b)  in relation to the Northern Territory-the Minister of the Northern
        Territory who is responsible, or principally responsible, for the
        administration of matters relating to tertiary education in the
        Northern Territory;

"teaching hospital", in relation to a university, includes a hospital in which
students enrolled in the Faculty of Medicine, or School of Medicine, of the
university receive clinical instruction;

"technical and further education" means education provided by way of a course
of instruction or training:

   (a)  that is, or that is preparatory to, a course of a kind relevant to a
        trade, technical or other skilled occupation; or

   (b)  that otherwise meets the educational needs of persons who are not
        enrolled in a full-time course of primary or secondary education at a
        school;
but does not include education by way of a course of study that is, for the
purposes of this Act, a course of advanced education;

"technical and further education institution" means:

   (a)  an institution (other than a university or school), in a State, that
        provides technical and further education, being an institution
        conducted by, or on behalf of, the Government of the State; or

   (b)  an institution in a State, or a proposed institution to be in a State,
        that is specified in a direction for the time being in force under
        section 5 of the Commonwealth Tertiary Education Commission Act 1977;

"university" means an institution that is a university for the purposes of the
Commonwealth Tertiary Education Commission Act 1977 other than such an
institution in a Territory;

"university purposes", in relation to a university, means:

   (a)  the general teaching purposes of the university in connection with
        courses of study provided by that university, including preparatory
        work in connection with proposed courses of study to be provided by
        the university;

   (b)  the general research purposes of the university; and

   (c)  building projects of the university, not involving the purchase of
        land, in relation to each of which the total expenditure does not
        exceed $100,000 or an amount equal to 0.25% of the amount specified in
        Schedule 1 in relation to the university, whichever is the lesser
        amount.

(2) Where a building project consists of, or includes, the erection,
alteration or extension of a building, that project shall be deemed to
include:

   (a)  unless paragraph (b) applies-the provision of furnishings for the
        building, or for the altered parts or the extensions of the building,
        as the case may be; or

   (b)  where the building project is a building project of a technical and
        further education institution-the provision of furnishings and
        equipment for the building, or for the altered parts or the extensions
        of the building, as the case may be.

(3) Without limiting the generality of subsection (2), where a building
project by way of the erection, alteration or extension of a building is
undertaken in connection with the establishment of a library at a technical
and further education institution, the project shall be deemed to include the
provision of books and other library materials required for the establishment
of the library.

(4) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears, a reference to a
report of the Academic Salaries Tribunal is as a reference to a report of that
Tribunal of a kind referred to in paragraph 12C (b), 12D (2) (c), 12DB (2)
(b), 12DB (3) (a) or 12DC (1) (b) of the Remuneration Tribunals Act 1973.

(5) For the purposes of this Act:

   (a)  a State shall be deemed to have paid money to a college of advanced
        education, or an institute of tertiary education, that is not a body
        corporate if it has paid the money to the body administering that
        college or institute, as the case requires; and

   (b)  a college of advanced education or an institute of tertiary education
        that is not a body corporate shall be deemed to have done any act or
        thing that is required or permitted by this Act to be done if the body
        administering the college or institute, as the case requires, has done
        that act or thing.

(6) Where:

   (a)  a State proposes to establish an institution, being a college of
        advanced education or an institute of tertiary education;

   (b)  the name of the proposed institution is specified in a Schedule to
        this Act; and

   (c)  an institution under that name has not been established or a body has
        not been established to administer the proposed institution; then, for
        the purposes of this Act:

   (d)  there shall be deemed to be in existence a college of advanced
        education or an institute of tertiary education, as the case requires,
        under that name;

   (e)  the State shall be deemed to have paid money to the institution if it
        has paid the money to such person or body as the Minister determines
        to be the appropriate authority in relation to the institution for the
        purposes of this Act; and

   (f)  the institution shall be deemed to have done any act or thing that is
        required or permitted by this Act to be done if the appropriate
        authority in relation to the institution has done that act or thing.

(7) Where the Minister is satisfied that a relevant institution (other than
the Northern Territory tertiary education institution) that is known by a name
other than a name specified in a Schedule to this Act is substantially
identical with an institution specified in a Schedule to this Act, the
Minister may, in the Minister's discretion and with the approval of the
relevant State, declare that the Minister is so satisfied, and, upon the
making of the declaration, the first-mentioned institution shall, for the
purposes of this Act, be deemed to be the institution so specified in that
Schedule.

(8) Where, for university purposes or for college purposes, a university or
college of advanced education makes provision, not inconsistent with actuarial
principles, in the accounts (including the journals and ledgers) of the
university or college for future or contingent liabilities in respect of
superannuation payments or long service leave, the university or college shall
be taken, for the purposes of this Act, to have expended the amount of that
provision for university purposes or college purposes, as the case requires,
in respect of the year in which that provision is made.

(9) Any declaration, approval, determination, direction or notification made
or given by the Minister under, or for the purposes of, this Act shall be made
or given in writing.
(10) For the purposes of the definition of "relevant enrolment" in subsection
(1), where the enrolment of a person to undertake a course at a
relevant institution entitles the person to undertake a part of that course in
more than one year, the person shall be deemed to become enrolled to undertake
that course in respect of each year in which the person undertakes a part of
that course except where that course is of less than 12 months' duration and
the person undertakes that course continuously.

(11) Where a matter specified in a Schedule has been varied under this Act, a
reference in this Act to that matter is a reference to that matter as so
varied.

(12) The express references in this Act to the Northern Territory do not imply
that references to a State do not include references to that Territory.