House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-02-14 Daily Xml

Contents

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY

In reply to Mr PISONI (Unley) (1 July 2010) (First Session).

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Minister for State Development): I have been advised of the following:

Carnegie Mellon University-Heinz-Australia (CMU-H-A) commenced discussions with the relevant accreditation authorities in China in 2010, assisted by the Chinese Embassy in Canberra.

While CMU in the United States was already recognised as an accredited university in China, at that time it was the policy of the China Centre for Scholarly Exchange (CCSE), the agency responsible for accrediting international universities in China, not to accredit overseas campuses of international universities. However, following discussions initiated by CMU-H-A about this matter, the CCSE gave an assurance that the Chinese Government would make an exception to the CCSE policy on the basis that the Australian Campus had the same admission criteria, curriculum, faculty, and quality standards as the main campus in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The process for this to be given approval through the Chinese Ministry of Education has now been finalised.

CMU-H-A was given written confirmation by the CCSE on 26 December 2011 that they 'have already included Carnegie Mellon University-Australia degree in [their] recognition scope of Australian qualifications' and that they now 'offer accreditation service to all Carnegie Mellon University-Australia graduates just like those of any other universities in Australia'.

It is understood that CCSE received its first application from a CMU-H-A graduate in November 2011 and the recognition of the degree has been successfully completed.