(1) Third Party Contract (TPC) is the term used to define sponsorship arrangements between The University of Queensland (UQ) and external bodies in relation to the financial liability for charges incurred by a student whilst studying at UQ. These can be with domestic or international partners. (2) This Procedure supports the Student Fees Policy by providing a process for the financial administration of student sponsorship agreements with external third parties during a defined term. (3) This Procedure applies to coursework and Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students applying for sponsored enrolment and the various departments within UQ tasked with administering the contractual arrangement, the fees scheme, and international agreements. (4) The following requirements apply to the management of TPCs at UQ: (5) Via the UQ admissions process, applicants wishing to be admitted as sponsored students must provide evidence of sponsorship to support their UQ admission, usually in the form of a contract between UQ and the third party, or a Financial Guarantee (FG) or Financial Affidavit provided by the sponsor. This can be a visa requirement for international students to meet financial capacity under the Student Visa (Subclass 500) conditions. (6) Depending on the course of study the student is enrolling in, this FG or Financial Affidavit will be forwarded to the Sponsored Students Unit (SSU) or Graduate School to verify if the sponsorship organisation already has an agreement with UQ. If no current agreement exists the new sponsor will be asked to complete an online registration outlining their billing address details, level of financial support, and any conditions of sponsorship. (7) UQ’s Sponsored Students Unit (SSU) will assess the returned sponsorship registration and determine whether the application for a TPC is successful, including any conditions of sponsorship. (8) Should the registration process meet UQ conditions, a Confirmation of Enrolment (CoE) will be issued to the applicant, and, if applicable, a new TPC account will be set up in SI-net by the Student Billing team in Finance and Business Services (FBS). (9) Additionally, the SSU will: (10) FBS will create the TPC in line with the conditions of sponsorship outlined through the registration process. The TPC will be established according to one of two categories: (11) It will also outline the three fundamental entitlements that are carefully assessed during the sponsorship registration in relation to: (12) A fourth entitlement, living allowance entitlement, is also assessed at the point of registration for visa purposes, however it is not applicable when establishing a TPC. (13) Additionally, some sponsors outline their support conditions in $USD for which a conversion to $AUD is required to determine the tuition support entitlement. (14) As per UQ’s Student Fees Policy (‘Varying Fees’ provisions), some UQ registered sponsorship organisations have long-standing relationships with UQ and, over time, formal collaboration agreements have been established through Memorandums of Understanding, Research Collaborations and executive missions as outlined in the International Agreements Policy and Procedure. These have resulted in the organisations being entitled to tuition fee discounts. (15) Tuition fee discounts, or waivers, are applied at the student level by the FBS Student Billing team prior to the fee liability being transferred to the TPC SI-net account. Care is taken to manually apportion the waiver evenly across the units of study. (16) A list of registered sponsors and conditions, inclusive of fee discounts can be found in the SSU SharePoint site. (17) SSU ensure all TPC changes are completed by census date to bring in line with fee liability timelines. This may include TPC inactivation/cancellation for students who: (18) Regional Coordinators, SSU determine the AUD equivalent of capped foreign currency sponsorships using the conversion given on the date of the student’s FG. This is recorded in an Excel spreadsheet which is sent to the student’s TRIM record and recorded in the SI-net Scholarship module. (19) Short/over payments of capped amounts due to exchange rate fluctuations are communicated to SSU by FBS, and the assigned AUD capped amount is adjusted accordingly. (20) In some instances, International Admissions requires sponsored students with shared liability for their fees, i.e., capped TPC students, to pay a deposit upfront. SSU works with FBS to ensure this deposit stays locked on the student’s account for use at the end of their course of study. (21) The FBS Student Billing team invoice sponsors after each census date. This is achieved by running a report in SI-net shortly after census date to return all TPC accounts with a balance and cross-checking that balance to determine if it relates to the teaching period being invoiced. If a match is found that sponsor will be invoiced. (22) Sponsors can nominate to receive one of two types of invoices: (23) Sponsors are invoiced according to debt amount, with the largest being invoiced first, and are given 30-day payment terms. (24) The FBS Credit Services team actively monitor sponsorship accounts and follow up unpaid debit in line with standard UQ practice. (25) Overdue payments are reported to the Senior Manager, SSU on a regular basis. (26) The Chief Financial Officer is responsible for: (27) The Senior Manager, Sponsored Students Unit is responsible for: (28) Members of the Sponsored Students Unit are responsible for: (29) The Student Billing team in FBS is responsible for: (30) The Credit Services team in FBS is responsible for: (31) International Admissions is responsible for: (32) The Student Enrolments and Fees team is responsible for: (33) Compliance with this Procedure will be overseen by Senior Manager, SSU and the Manager, Collections and Receivables. (34) The Student Billing team, FBS, Regional Coordinators, SSU, and the Student Enrolments and Fees will periodically review this Procedure to ensure best practices are in place, and it provides for efficient and effective management of TPCs at UQ. (35) The activities relating to the successful management of TPCs are recorded internally according to the systems available to the teams involved:Financial Management of Sponsored Students Procedure
Section 1 - Purpose and Scope
Section 2 - Process and Key Controls
Top of Page
Section 3 - Key Requirements
Admissions and Application
Acceptance and Establishment
Creation of TPC
Tuition Fee Discount
Sponsored Student Management
Financial Liability
Invoicing
Debt Management
Section 4 - Roles, Responsibilities and Accountabilities
Chief Financial Officer
Senior Manager, Sponsored Students Unit
Sponsored Students Unit
Student Billing - FBS
Credit Services - FBS
International Admissions
Student Enrolments and Fees
Top of PageSection 5 - Monitoring, Review and Assurance
Section 6 - Recording and Reporting
Top of PageSection 7 - Appendix
Acronyms
Term
Definition
CoE
Confirmation of Enrolment
FBS
Finance and Business Services
FG
Financial Guarantee
OSHC
Overseas Health Cover
SSAF
Student Services and Amenities Fee
SSU
Sponsored Students Unit
TPC
Third Party Contract
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