AQF levels explained simply: the Australian Qualifications Framework defines ten levels of qualification, and for each level it specifies the knowledge, skills and application of knowledge and skills a graduate must have, together with the volume of learning the qualification should take. Higher education occupies levels 5 to 10, from diploma to doctorate. A course is at a level when its learning outcomes match that level's descriptors and its assessment confirms them. That last sentence is the whole of course design as TEQSA assesses it, and it is where most new courses go wrong.
This article is written for the people who design courses rather than for regulators: what each level actually demands, how to write outcomes that sit at the level, and the mismatch trap that draws more requests for further information than any other single issue in fifteen years of TEQSA course accreditation work.
What is the AQF and why does it govern course design?
The Australian Qualifications Framework is the national policy for regulated qualifications across schools, vocational education and higher education. It is referenced directly by the Threshold Standards: Standard 1.4 requires that learning outcomes are consistent with the level and field of the qualification, Standard 1.5 requires that qualifications comply with the AQF, and Standard 3.1 requires that course design, including volume of learning, is appropriate to the level, all under the Threshold Standards. TEQSA cannot accredit a course that does not meet the AQF, and it reads every application with the AQF level descriptors beside it.
Each level is described in three dimensions. Knowledge is what graduates know: its breadth, depth and complexity. Skills are what they can do: cognitive, technical, communication and creative skills. Application is the context in which they can apply both: the autonomy, judgment, responsibility and adaptability expected.
A qualification type, such as Bachelor Degree, is then tied to a level and given a purpose statement and a volume of learning. The design task is to write learning outcomes that meet all three dimensions at the level, and to build a course whose volume and assessment deliver them.
The higher education AQF levels explained, 5 to 10
Level 5, the Diploma, requires technical and theoretical knowledge in a specific area, with skills to analyse information and solve a range of unpredictable problems, applied with some autonomy and judgment. Volume of learning is one to two years. Level 6, the Advanced Diploma and Associate Degree, adds broad theoretical and technical knowledge with some depth, and skills to analyse, plan and design across a broader range of contexts, over one and a half to two years.
Level 7, the Bachelor Degree, is the level most private providers build first, and its descriptor is the one to memorise: broad and coherent theoretical and technical knowledge with depth in one or more disciplines; cognitive skills to review, analyse, consolidate and synthesise knowledge, to identify and provide solutions to complex problems, and to think critically; and application with initiative and judgment in professional practice, taking responsibility for one's own learning and for the work of others within broad parameters. Volume of learning is three to four years.
Level 8 covers the Bachelor Honours Degree, Graduate Certificate and Graduate Diploma. The knowledge is advanced, with an understanding of the underlying principles and, for honours, of recent developments and research methods. The skills add the capacity to plan and execute a project or piece of research, and the application involves initiative and judgment in professional practice and scholarship. Volume ranges from half a year for a Graduate Certificate to two years for a Graduate Diploma, with honours as a fourth year or a separate one-year program.
Level 9, the Masters Degree, is where course designers most often misjudge. The knowledge is an advanced and integrated understanding of a complex body of knowledge in one or more disciplines, including research principles and methods. The skills are expert, specialised cognitive and technical skills to investigate, analyse and synthesise complex information and to generate and evaluate complex ideas at an abstract level, and to communicate them to specialist and non-specialist audiences.
The application demands creativity and initiative in new situations, high-level personal autonomy and accountability, and the capacity to plan and execute a substantial research-based project or piece of scholarship. Volume is one to two years for coursework, depending on the entry qualification, and three to four years for the extended Masters.
Level 10, the Doctoral Degree, requires a systematic and critical understanding of a complex field and a substantial body of knowledge at its frontier, with the expert skills to make an original contribution. Volume is three to four years.
How do you write learning outcomes at the right level?
The method is mechanical, and that is its virtue. Take the level descriptor and write one or more course learning outcomes for each of its elements, using verbs that correspond to the cognitive demand the descriptor names. Then write unit learning outcomes that build toward each course outcome across the sequence of study, and map every assessment task to the unit outcomes it tests.
The verbs are the tell. Level 7 outcomes are written with verbs such as analyse, apply, evaluate, design, synthesise and critically review, and they name the disciplinary knowledge being applied. Level 9 outcomes use verbs such as critically evaluate, generate, formulate, investigate and lead, and they name complex or abstract material and autonomous or novel contexts. Outcomes written with describe, identify, explain, list and demonstrate awareness sit at levels 5 and 6, whatever the qualification title says. A Master's course whose outcomes are built from those verbs is a Master's in name only, and an assessor will say so.
Two further checks catch most errors. The first is progression: unit outcomes in first year should sit below the course outcomes, and those in final year should meet them, so that the capstone assesses the course at its full level. A course in which every unit is written at the same pitch has no progression and usually sits below its level.
The second is assessment: each course outcome must be assessed somewhere, at the level, by a task capable of confirming it. A level 9 outcome about generating and evaluating complex ideas cannot be confirmed by a multiple-choice examination.
The level-mismatch trap
With the AQF levels explained, the mismatch trap is easier to see. It has three common forms, and TEQSA recognises all of them on sight.
The stretched diploma is the first, and it is the characteristic failure of providers moving from VET. An Advanced Diploma at level 6 is extended to three years and called a Bachelor Degree, but its outcomes still describe competent performance of defined tasks. The volume of learning is right and the level is wrong. The remedy is to design from the level 7 descriptor down rather than from the diploma up, which is the subject of our article on what TEQSA looks for in a new course.
The inflated Master's is the second. A provider with a strong bachelor degree adds a Master's by lifting the bachelor units, adding a project, and re-titling. The knowledge is not advanced or integrated, the skills are not expert or specialised, and the research element is a report rather than a substantial research-based project. Level 9 requires that the course as a whole operate above the bachelor level, and the descriptor's emphasis on research principles and methods, autonomy and abstraction has to be visible in the outcomes, the content and the assessment.
The volume-of-learning shortcut is the third. A Master's offered in one year to graduates whose bachelor degree is in an unrelated field, or a bachelor degree compressed to two calendar years by trimming content rather than by accelerated delivery, breaches the AQF's volume requirements. The AQF permits shorter durations only where the entry qualification justifies it, and TEQSA reads the admission criteria alongside the duration.
Working with the AQF as it changes
The AQF has been under review since 2019, and reforms to its structure, including the treatment of shorter qualifications and micro-credentials, continue to be implemented. Course designers should work from the current published framework and check the AQF website for the version in force at the time of design, since TEQSA assesses against the framework as it stands. The plain-English reading of the Threshold Standards does not change with the AQF's revisions, but the level descriptors and volume tables are the reference points, and they must be the current ones.
The AQF is not a bureaucratic overlay on course design. It is a description of what a graduate at each level can do, and a course designed to it is, almost by definition, a course whose graduates can do what the qualification claims. That is what TEQSA is checking, and it is what employers and further study depend on.
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Frequently asked questions
What AQF level is a bachelor degree?
Level 7. It requires broad and coherent theoretical and technical knowledge with depth in one or more disciplines, cognitive skills to analyse, synthesise and solve complex problems, and application with initiative and judgment in professional practice, over three to four years of learning.
What is the difference between AQF level 7 and level 9?
Level 9, the Masters Degree, requires an advanced and integrated understanding of a complex body of knowledge including research principles and methods, expert and specialised skills, and application with creativity and autonomy in new situations, including a substantial research-based project. Level 7 requires broad and coherent knowledge applied with initiative in professional practice.
How long must a Masters degree be under the AQF?
One to two years for a Masters by coursework, depending on the entry qualification, and three to four years for an extended Masters. Shorter durations are permitted only where the entry qualification justifies them.
What happens if learning outcomes are written at the wrong AQF level?
TEQSA will find that the course does not meet Standard 1.4 or Standard 3.1 and will issue a request for further information or decline accreditation. Outcomes written with low-level verbs such as describe and identify in a bachelor or masters course are the most common cause.
Dr Brendan Moloney is CEO of Darlo Higher Education, Australia's largest specialist TEQSA consultancy. He holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne, is a Cambridge University Press author on governance in higher education, and has advised private providers on registration and course accreditation for more than fifteen years.